Everyone who visited Uflex Limited’s stand at PackPlus 2017 exhibition in New Delhi, which took place between 3 and 6 August 2017, saw a wide and comprehensive range of packaging/converting machinery and value-added flexible packaging solutions heralding new business opportunities for the packaging behemoth. At the event, the company’s engineering, holography and cylinder businesses had a joint stand displaying latest developments in their respective segments. This year as many as four machines were displayed by the engineering business while the holography business displayed some highly efficient path-breaking brand protection solutions for fighting counterfeiting or body-doubling as well as for increasing the aesthetic and decorative quotient of products sold in the market.

Uflex’s engineering business displayed its state-of-the-art electronic line shaft printing station and the improved version of its Pick Fill and Seal (PFS) machine for packing products in preformed pouches. The Uflex PFS machine is a fully automatic, intermittent motion, 10-station rotary indexing filling and sealing machine to pack powder, granules, and pastes in pre-formed pouches like center seal pouch, 3-side seal pouch, stand-up pouch and zipper pouch. “The all improved PFS machine displayed at the exhibition is a low-noise machine. Earlier the pouches were opened by using air pressure so the noise was prominent. Now the noise has been significantly reduced by introducing vacuum pulling for opening the pouches,” said Ajay Tandon, president and chief executive officer, engineering business at Uflex Limited.

The other machines displayed by the engineering business at PackPlus were Form Fill and Seal (FFS) collar type machine, and Eco Slit 450 slitter machine. “We have improved the speed of our FFS collar type machine which is on display here,” said Tandon. The Eco Slit displayed at the exhibition had marked improvements over its erstwhile version in terms of quality aspects, robustness of structure and better reliability making it a value-for-money slitter for mid-range converters. “Today high-end slitters can run anywhere between 600 to 700 meters per minute while Eco Slit can run up to 450 meters per minute at half the price of those high-end machines. So it is a very good value-for-money proposition for mid-range convertors,” said Tandon. Summing up his talk with us, Tandon said, “The engineering business of Uflex manufactures a whole gamut of converting (like rotogravure and CI Flexo printing, laminating, slitting, and rewinding machines among others) and packaging machines (like HFFS, VFFS etc) making us all the more competitive and solution-oriented for convertors and brands alike.”

The Uflex holography business displayed security holograms, security paper labels and other high quality brand protection and aesthetic enhancing security packaging material at the PackPlus exhibition. It also showcased new innovations including Fresnel lens, zinc sulphide holography, sterling lens and complex impregnable hybrid holograms produced by combining two to three holographic designs together. Some other products that were on display were for the convertors of carton packaging. These included transparent, metallized and semi metallized films. Uflex holography business manufactures several security features like different types of security tags, various texture designs, holographic transparent films, thermal films, hot stamping foil, Fresnel lens for convertors of flexible packaging and cartons (secondary packaging) just to name a few. “Our new products garnered a good response at PackPlus,” said GP Pathak, vice president operations and new product development at holography business, Uflex Limited. “All the displayed products have a number of security features for brand owners as well as end users.”

The cylinder business of Uflex showcased special purpose laser engraved embossing cylinders at the event. “It can be seen that people are gradually moving towards laser engraved cylinders for saving on ink. The laser engraved cylinders offered by Uflex with modified cell structures result in a significant reduction in ink consumption at convertors’ end,” said Rakesh Jain, general manager – marketing, cylinder business, Uflex Limited. Talking about the gravure industry, Jain said that the number of good and efficient gravure printing presses is steadily increasing in India; therefore, the demand for rotogravure cylinders is quite promising.