With a core focus on digitization of the printing and packaging industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Tata Communications Centre for Digital Transformation organized a conference on ‘Digital Transformation in Printing and Packaging Industry.’ The conference took place on 9 June 2023 at Indian Habitat Center in New Delhi and attracted a good number of printers and packaging converters, suppliers, and expert speakers on the subjects of automation, the use of digital technology in security, track and trace, and active packaging and on the issue of sustainability. The conference was an amalgamation of senior representatives from the FMCG sectors, printing and packaging converters, technology providers, and related companies.
SN Venkataraman, chief executive of ITC’s Packaging and Printing Business, introduced the conference agenda by saying that the ‘digital backbone’ of the printing and packaging industry, which began perhaps with computerized prepress and imaging technology, is now growing and extending itself across the production workflow as all machines are controlled by algorithm and generate data. Digitization is now extending packaging beyond its role as a container as it reaches and connects brand owners and consumers, where information can flow in both directions.
Pointing to some of the challenges that the packaging industry faces, Venkataraman said that since the festival season drives the demand for the packaging industry, it has to scale up from x to 3x from July to November each year. He pointed out that the converting businesses often feel squeezed between the rising prices and more stringent conditions of their suppliers, and their customers – the FMCG companies who keep trying to lower the cost of packaging.
Digitalization and automation
The day’s first session moderated by Venkataraman discussed the digitalization and automation of the industry and its supply chain. Tim Klappe, Asia head, MPS Systems, along with Babu Rao Guduri, Joint director, Indian Institute of Packaging, and Abhik Tandon, associate partner, McKinsey & Company, discussed some of the latest trends and technologies, giving insight into the challenges of sustainability, cost pressures, supply chain disruptions, and most of all, the culture and mindset within the printing and converting plants.
Addressing the need for creating the conditions for change, Tandon pointed to the need for investment in building capabilities. “A change in mindset is needed.” he said, adding “Skillsets and tools must be upgraded and for this training is essential.” He explained that motivation can come from the right kinds of rewards and also that the senior leaders of a company can lead by example, “Role modeling by the CXO for instance.”
Waste management and EPR
The discussion of the detailed Extended Producer Responsibility in Schedule 2 of the government’s waste management rules as amended in February and June 2022 was extremely timely and valuable. Sunil Panwar, CEO, of Symphony Environmental India, and Yogesh Chandra of the Central Pollution Control Board, Abhishek Garg, Founding Partner, A A Garg & Co, explained, “EPR entails the commitment made by a manufacturer to facilitate the implementation of a reverse collection mechanism and the recycling of post-consumer waste at the end of its life cycle. The primary objective is to reintegrate the waste back into the system and recover valuable resources contained within. In order to achieve this objective, an organization must develop a comprehensive strategy that accounts for all the environmental costs associated with a product throughout its entire life cycle and incorporates them into the market price.”
Chandra shared updates on the government portal for the implementation of plastic waste management, giving data on the current registrations in each of the categories of importer, producer, and recycler. The difference between bio-degradable plastics and compostables was also knowledgeably addressed by Panwar. It was acknowledged that by ‘compostable’, what is meant is industrially compostable products that can be 90% decomposed in three years. Panwar also raised the issue of the CPCB certification system looking at speeding up the process in the case of bio-degradable additives and materials, since the five-year time taken for full degradation is rather long for implementing the use of what could be useful methods and solutions.
Customer service, supply chain, and operations
Pooja Arora, vice president – Procurement and Infrastructure of Blinkit Commerce, moderated the session discussing digital opportunities in customer service, supply chain, and operations. Vijay Parekh, MD, Genius Flexo, Magesh Bakshi MD, Bakshi Mark, and BS Chandrashekhar Cluster Sales head, South, Heidelberg, comprised the panel. While this session discussed the imperatives of costs, pricing, quality, and timeliness as evinced by Arora, Pareek indicated that with due respect, the brand owners are unnecessarily and unwittingly driving down the prices of packaging materials and labels (and hence economizing on digitalized equipment).
This regressive pressure has the effect of preventing technology upgradation and undermining the possibilities of incorporating data-driven feedback on reliability and quality of output and the inline integration of innovative packaging materials that can actively contribute to supply chains from farm to fork. It was also pointed out by the audience that henceforth, the cost of packaging has to include the cost of EPR – “The challenge of packaging is no longer just from concept to shelf, but from concept to recycling, or the financial penalties spelled out in the Indian EPR rules will have to be added to what is wrongly being seen as the lowest price of packaging.”
Chandrashekhar showed his Heidelberg multicolor offset Push to Stop automation video and said that even the best printers in the world are achieving OEEs of only 27%. However, his best argument was that he recently sold a press to an Indian customer that had achieved an OEE of 54%. “We only showed the data to the customer who was earlier questioning the need for automation,” he said. “No other persuasion was needed; he bought the machine after seeing the performance numbers of his own machine running in his plant.”
Active and intelligent packaging and sustainability
The last panel discussion moderated by Barun Banerjee was especially interesting since it discussed the use of digital technology or its convergence with packaging for active and intelligent packaging and sustainability. Himanshi Khaneja, head of Packaging Development and R&D at Mother Dairy said that for her company, digital has to an extent meant the implementation of active and intelligent packaging for extending the life of perishable food products with the use of anti-microbial films. Apart from the improved consumer experience, she said that the shelf-life of flavored milk has been extended from 28 to 90 days. Additionally, her company is working on three new projects including one where the digital codes on the packaging will guide users to place the packaging materials in the appropriate waste stream for recycling.
Ajay Rao Rane of Domino, together with its partner Scantrust, has implemented a QR code plus QR graphic on the containers of ExxonMobil lubricants as an anti-counterfeiting measure. Barun Banerjee recounted some of the recent packaging innovations that he was part of at Nestle India (a company from which he retired recently) pointing out that, “Everything has to be through the mobile phone.” He suggested that Nestle’s use of Augmented Reality incorporating scenes from the movie Avtaar was one of the first in the country. Recounting several other innovations, he said, there is, “A need in the market for newness – with the use of these technologies, you will see a spurt in business growth.”
Food supply chain from farm to fork
Pawandeep Sahni of Omet India made a lively connection with the audience with a couple of videos showing the role of the food supply chain from farm to fork. These revealed the use of digitally printed electronic batteries and labels that send digital information right from the bins into which fruit and vegetables are harvested and sorted through the supply to the processing and markets to the consumers.
Manish Gupta National Marketing manager for Production and Industrial Printing at Konica Minolta suggested that modern supply chains and marketing, and hence the packaging materials and labels, will increasingly be sensorial and allow the use of all five human senses.
The conference capably addressed complex but timely topics to an interested and curious audience. Notably, the topic of Active and Intelligent Packaging arose several times during the event. In the last session, examples of smart or active and intelligent packaging showed its use globally and in India for extending the life of perishable food, for anti-counterfeiting, and for customer engagement and differentiation.
