For India’s largest global flexible packaging solution company Uflex, drupa 2016 is far from over. Uflex chairman and managing director Ashok Chaturvedi attended the event himself and on his return from Dusseldorf said, “This year, the world witnessed a paradigm shift at drupa. . . . this year the focus was substantively tilted towards packaging with almost 35% of the attendees expressing interest in the latest packaging technology and products. Being India’s largest global flexible packaging solution company, heads of all the business verticals at Uflex namely Film, Packaging/Converting, Holography, Engineering, Cylinders and Chemicals were present with their respective teams during the event and had some very insightful discussions with prospective clients who are more evolved, better informed and are looking at a one-stop shop addressing all their flexible packaging requirements. . . with many guests now visiting our manufacturing plants to take the discussion to the next level, drupa is far from over for Uflex. The action has just begun.”
Taking the case of anti-counterfeiting and brand protection solutions that were exhibited by the Holography business vertical of Uflex, over 1,600 visitors came to the stand of which close to 600 are active queries. “We have successfully closed several transactions and are in touch with many more prospective clients to bring them on board,” says Pankaj Bhasin, executive vice president, Holography Business. The highest number of enquiries for brand protection solutions came from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman followed by the Latin American countries. In an encouraging first, the African subcontinent and CIS countries also expressed strong interest for anti-counterfeiting solutions.
Holographic thermal lamination film was also displayed at the Uflex stand at drupa. The extrusion coated surface with low temperature melting resin enables the lamination of this film to paper board by heat and pressure without the use of any adhesive. Available in PET and BOPP variants, these films increase shelf appeal while simultaneously combating counterfeiting. The live demo of the thermal lamination machine at the stand created an instant buzz for the technology.
Uflex Holography’s hot and cold stamping foils that are widely used by the printing, packaging and textile industries for visual appeal and brand protection attracted many enquiries from Turkey and the UAE. Recombined holograms have received tremendous interest since drupa 2016. In a typical recombined hologram, various anti-counterfeiting features are all clubbed onto one holographic strip offering unmatched brand protection against plagiarism. Thus a recombined hologram can have unigrams, 2D barcodes, QR codes, nano-text, 3D modulated depth effects, Fresnel lens, embossed text effects, Guilloche patterns and other features on a single strip.
“With counterfeiting costing more than 2% of the global economic output or around US$ 1.8 trillion a year, the demand for brand protection solutions is at an all-time high. We are doing all that it takes to tap this demand. Holography is a specialized business that requires cutting-edge technology to protect the brand equity of clients. Having full grip on technology and innovation we have declared a full-fledged war against counterfeiting with more and more corporations approaching us for brand protection solutions,” added Bhasin.
Ajay Tandon, president and CEO of the Engineering Business at Uflex comments on drupa 2016, “The response for all the machines displayed, that is, gravure printing, lamination and slitting machines has been exhilarating. Negotiations are on to successfully close the business enquiries that originated during drupa. What I particularly noticed about this year’s event is the fact that even though the footfalls were less in number, they were meaningful and with serious enquiries. Moreover, here we are talking about capital-intensive packaging and converting machines, therefore decisions cannot be made overnight by buyers. We offer bespoke engineering solutions to our clients that require lot of deliberation and discussion. I am happy to say that while we have been able to close some enquiries already and talks are on with almost 50 global clients to bring them on board. Our team is busy giving drupa 2016 a strong sense of successful closure.”
