PackPlus, a total packaging, processing and supply chain event, pulled a huge crowd of trade visitors from across India and abroad this year. The expo, held at Pragati Maidan, drew around 16,500 visitors in four days. The event brought the entire packaging industry under one roof and witnessed exhibitors from distinctive categories like rubber rollers for gravure, gravure printing machines, machinery for flexible packaging and films for the same, ERP or integration systems suppliers, corrugated box manufacturers and machinery suppliers and manufacturers, plastic packaging solutions like tapes, shrink films and others, filling and sealing machinery, packaging material manufacturers, suppliers and technically intelligent systems for uniform printing.
Packaging conclave
On the second day of the expo, on the sidelines of the main event, an International Packaging Conclave 2017 was jointly arranged by Print-Packaging.com and Siegwerk. The conclave focussed mainly on the theme, ‘Safe Packaging for a Better Tomorrow’. The conclave observed that the rapid growth of food and pharmaceuticals industry has resulted in demand spike for all kinds of packaging materials, which has led to worries and concerns over safety of the packaging material and compliance with the standards. The experts at the conclave observed that the primary role of packaging materials is to safeguard the product from physical, chemical, or microbial contamination. However, the potential risk
of the packaging material as a source of chemical contamination is often overlooked. The source of such contamination can either be the substrate, or the inks, or the adhesive used. Hence, to achieve total product safety, it is necessary for all the partners in the packaging material supply chain to deliver an integrated risk-free solution.
Kandarp Singh, managing director, Tetra Pak, stated that integrated solutions could help mitigate the risks of contamination. He said, “The entire supply chain in the food industry needs supervision. Supervision right from the stage of sourcing to manufacturing. We need to work in conjunction with partners to make sure that food safety is secured from the beginning.”
Kumar Anil, advisor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), said that the country’s apex food regulator was working on draft regulations pertaining to packaging, labelling, advertisements and claims and soon there will be a discussion on this subject. He also urged the industry to participate in the consultations with the authority while drafting the regulations.
BST Eltromat team at PackPlus 2017, Delhi. Photo PSAAce Products, manufacturer and exporter of packaging machines and materials, showed a new range of packaging machines which included the Excelpack Series L Sealer, APLS 1520 and the newly launched two-in-one chamber-type shrink pack machine, APC 5540HD and Purewrap Cling Film, which is a food grade cling film developed in Malaysia and manufactured using selected highquality resins of 10 microns onward.
Neetu Arora, director, Print-Packaging.com, the organiser of the show, said, “The show at New Delhi has always seen a rise in the participating companies, product launches and growing visitor attendance. The industry keeps on creating new opportunities and PackPlus gives them a road to reach the right people. We are glad our hard work always shows and our success speaks volumes of our dedicated approach.”
Inspection systems, robotics and rubber
Vibgyor Technologies had inspection systems for food, pharmaceuticals, textile, packaging and other related industries. Its inspection systems were supplied by Mettler Toledo India, which manufactures several ranges of inspection systems concerned with metallic components. Vibgyor has delivered its inspection systems to some of the leading tea packaging plants in north-eastern India following the new law of FSSAI to install metal inspection systems to detect metallic components in tea.
E+L stand at PackPlus 2017, Delhi. Photo PSAMumbai-based Hemtek presented GlobalVision Proofware, designed to eliminate errors on packaging, such as color differences, broken texts, multi-language spell checks, missing or added texts, and barcode verification. The system designed by the company is widely accepted by leading consumer goods companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and printing firms across the world. Encon Systems had its robotic arms on display. The company is the leading Indian distributor of Universal Robots, headquartered in Denmark. The three robots displayed were easy to program as the company claims that any Android mobile phone user can program the robot which rotates twice in 360 degrees. The applications of these robots are more suited to environments where human intervention is usually not preferred like those in the pharmaceutical processes. Apart from maintaining hygiene, it has served other industries like automobile, food, chemical and others. The robots have also served well in the end-of-line packaging, which is the last stage of inspection. These robots can be modified with camera inspections, optical sensors, scanning and others. Another interesting part of the event was rubber rollers and shafts. Almost all the major manufacturers and suppliers of the rubber industry were present at the event. As many as 10 major players from the state of Gujarat participated in the show. Rinku Patel, director, Anar Rub Tech, stated, “At PackPlus 2017, we are looking at the converting industry wherever there are applications of rollers. This exhibition has players who are manufacturers of rotogravure printing machines and flexographic machines; therefore, they are our potential clients.”
Valco Melton displayed its gluing systems, which were demonstrated with a view to redefine the gluing process efficiently and cost-effectively. Valco Melton is also a distributor of ERO, an Italian manufacturer of gluing and glue inspection systems. Ravi Kiran, director, Valco Melton Engineering India, said, “We have a good presence in the European and American regions, and we have directed our efforts in the Indian market as well. As Indian exports are increasing, there is a need for inspection and we have one of the finest inspection systems which can aid in India’s development and growth.” The company also manufactures its own D Series Melters of which D4 system was displayed at the stand, which is suitable for packaging, graphic/print finishing/product assembly, and labelling of
diverse paper converting applications. Kiran added, “Our melters come with an LED panel, spur gear pump with fixed or variable speeds, key-to-line and a multifunctional control system.”
Automation
Encon Systems displaying its roboticsolutions for packaging. Photo PSA
Omron, a global leader in advanced industrial automation, showcased its key offerings for the packaging industry. The company’s stand designed around the theme ‘Sensing & Control + Think,’ which showcased Omron’s strengths as a PackML compliant solution provider with exhibits such as the Pick and Place Robot, Sysmac Integrated Platform, Scalable Packaging Solution, Traceability Solution, Limit Switches, and Mid-Range Solution. The Pick and Place Robot acted as a great interactive attention puller; the whole ensemble helped the company to connect with many stakeholders, including OEMs, end consumers and system integrators spread across varied industries such as food and beverage, pharma, FMCG, etc.
Another company, AV Automation showcased a range of automation equipment that drew a huge crowd to its stand. Bhushan Diwan, director, AV Automation, stated, “We are here with our Baumer made sensor solutions, Puls electronics from Turkey for weighing solutions and Weiland Electric.
PackPlus also saw a number of business deals. Banke Bihari Packaging finalized Flexibiz CRM Solution. Preeti Sabharwal and the company’s marketing team had detailed discussion with Vaibhav Bansal, senior consultant at Kiran Consultants, who provide Flexibiz CRM and ERP products, specialized for the packaging industry. Kiran Consultants has been providing software solutions to leading packaging companies like Uflex since 1988. Zed Pack, a sister company of Banke Bihari Packaging will also be using Flexibiz CRM Solution.
Printing
Omron automation stand at PackPlus2017, Delhi
The event saw a good number of flexo players like Multigraph and Polygraph among the main highlights. Hinting on growth of the flexo machines, Rajesh Bhanawat, a visitor and a dealer of Flexo machines based in Ludhiana, said, “Every state which has a good industrial zone has 4-8 flexo machine manufacturers. Now getting a machine is very easy. Rising competition among these companies is improving the quality of the machines manufactured as every company wants to make the machine unique. This is a very good time for flexo businesses in India and even in Brazil as it has a similar market. Seeing so many players exhibiting flexo printing machines is a good feature of PackPlus. This is where we get a lot of players to associate with.”
QuadTech displayed its color management software, ColorTrackWorkflow, which is acclaimed globally for its consistent and unique capabilities to make printing more uniform, effective and make packaging display look more attractive. Hemant Desai from the company claimed that their software is popular among the entire printing fraternity and the ones who are conscious about their perfect impressions or prints and accuracy are long-term users.
“We have been participating in PackPlus for the past 5 years and have seen it growing by every year. This year we have received very good enquiries and six deals are already finalized. We will certainly be participating in PackPlus 2018 and all its future editions,” said Heena Mistry, manager – marketing, Control Print India, Mumbai.
New Launches
PackPlus also saw launch of some exciting new products. The list included Modtech Machines (P) Ltd., which launched robotics case erector and case packer while Uflex Engineering offered high-speed solventless lamination machine, high speed slitting machine with turret system, pick fill seal machine and high speed extruded snacks packing machine. Bagla Group launched high-speed automatic shrink wrapping machines from Minipack, Italy and Pap Tech Engineers and Associates unveiled packaging and corrugation testing equipment.
Many first-timers
VM Technologies displaying itssolutions at the event
Many first-timers to the show, like BST Eltromat, also recorded good success at the event. Khushal Patel, director – sales & marketing, BST eltromat, said, “We are exhibiting our demo machine for the very first time. We have kept our four major machines for demo. Our flaghip machine IPQ Center is a feature for central control with various quality features and 100% defect detection. We have received very good response between 950 and 1200 visitors. On the other hand, the associates and dealers have asked and enquired for the machinery.” Other than IPQ Center, the company also displayed Powerscope 5000, an entry-level machine. Vijay Adlakha, director of Faridabad-based Infinity Advertising Services said, “We exhibited at PackPlus for the first time and got 500+ leads. The show was even better than what we had expected. The response was very good.”
