“India is strategically an important market for Armor. It is one of the fastest growing markets in the world,” says Mark Day, vice president and general manager – Asia, Armor. A worldwide leader in thermal transfer ribbons, Armor has a strong team in India. “In terms of manufacturing, we started our operations in India in Bengaluru in 2014, and we are growing quite well.” Armor will move into a new 45,000 sq. ft. factory, also in Bengaluru, by the end of this year. “The new plant will bring in a lot of benefits to our customers,” says Day.
Thermal transfer is the world’s most popular printing technology for the marking of variable information on labels and flexible packaging—barcodes, logos, text, expiry dates and batch numbers. This data is important in order to identify a product, to ensure its traceability throughout its life cycle, and to provide all important information for end users. It is one of the most reliable solutions for printing on flexible labels and packaging identified by the naked eye or using a barcode reader.
He explains that the idea behind their participation in the Labelexpo show was to promote their complete range of thermal transfer ribbons to the trade industry in India, and also develop partnerships with their customers and help them take their products to market in terms of best-in-class products.
He shares, “We have a very strong team in Armor India, who knows the market very well. So we have been able to hit the ground running. We were previously looking at the Indian market from Singapore in export style but now, with our base in Bengaluru, we have plenty more to offer to our customers in terms of time, cost benefits, improved supply chain and much more.”
Armor has 40 employees at the moment. “The label market in India is growing at an exponential rate. Our strategy for the next two years is to increase our market share,” says Day.