Evolution of self adhesive label producing technologies in India

Evolution of self adhesive label producing technologies in India
Historical initiation!

 

In 2006 I chronicled the history of self adhesive label in India, to collect inputs from veterans who were the initiators of these products, I went to visit Jeetubhai in Mumbai, the first Indian to start self adhesive label production in roll form in India. Now as I prepared to put together the whole process of evolution from early seventies to now, yet again, I decided to call the grand old man Jeetubhai who is now 78 years old and get his inputs. Yes, he did oblige! When I asked him what technology the industry employed then and where it has reached today. He started laughing and said, “I don’t understand the technology being employed now, it is all different but how we printed then is still fresh in my mind!” He printed on flat bed machines that worked more or less like a rubber stamp but today the flexo rotary printing technology is very advanced and continuously improving. His son and grandson take care of their label printing business which employ flexographic printing techniques and talk about it but Jeetubhai loves to be with what he did in his days. My own experiences from those early times make it easy for me to recall the process used at that time.


The first self adhesive label printed in India was not in roll form but in sheet form,

 

 

using screen printing process by Manohar Lal Bhatia. Even the screen process at that time was primitive those days and has transformed dramatically over the years. I can describe it because as a young man I did try it out in my laboratory in the factory with my own hands and printed labels for our consumer products. I also trained my workers on how to do it. Stickers that later transformed into labels, were the forte of screen printers. The pre-press those days was very basic, there were no computers to do the designing. I fondly remember the designer who made the artworks, were referred to as artists, they were the artists in the true sense of the word. They would create a concept in mind and draw it on paper, make a couple of variations and present to the brand owners. Not like today when you just walk to a computer, use designing software and in a few moments we have a design that we can use. Having made the design, there was need to get the type setting done, don’t ask me how all they did that, the youngsters will feel we are from jungles. We had to be the proof readers ourselves and any change, called in for a lot of effort, not like today, just hitting a few keys on the computer. Once the basic design stage was over the vertical cameras were used to produce the bromides which had to be pasted on the card boards alongwith the cuttings of typesetting to arrive at the final artwork.  The cameras were then used to make the negatives. To prepare the screen for printing we needed a wooden frame, a nylon bolting cloth, a thin rope and nails to fix the bolting cloth or the silk screen on the frame. Once the frame was made a solution of Potassium Dichromate in a solution of PVA was coated on this screen and dried in darkness. Once dried, the negative was pasted on it with tape and the frame was kept in sun for an hour to expose the screen. After this it was washed to open the screen. The screen was now ready for printing. If some portion had to have another colour it was blocked by remoistenable paper tapes and later the process reversed to print the blocked matter. The screen would be fastened to a wooden table with a door hinge and a rubber squeeze was used to spread the ink on the screen and print the exposed matter.  Once screen printing was done the paper was turned around and this time again screen printed with an emulsion based pressure sensitive adhesive DM45 supplied by Hoechst Dyes and Chemicals, later by Mafatlal Industries Ltd. These gummed sheets were put in racks to air dry and then release paper was pasted on them. The sheets were then again turned upside and on a glass sheet with help of a shaving blade and a steel rule the stickers were half-cut to produce finished stickers, ready for use. As time went on, all that changed; the wooden frame became that of aluminum, manual screen printing became semi automatic, then automatic and then on to rotary screen. The Potassium Dichromate solution was replaced by state of art photo sensitive films like Five Star from Autotype or Chromaline, the rubber squeezes were replaced by specially formulated polymer ones for different types for desired results. The negative generation came directly from computer to print in matter of minutes! Automatic screen printing of products, paper web and products became all possible.

 

 
In 1972, Jeetubhai had already joined hands with his income tax consultant and friend P P Bhagat to form a Company called International Trading Company at Kalyandas Industrial Estate in Worli, to install his Japanese flat bed label press to print labels in roll form. It took him quite an effort that time to get the pre-press done. While the design making and producing the negative/positive process was same as that for screen printing process, yet the complication arose because these machines used copper or zinc blocks to print.
General printers who used the treadle machines were also using such blocks mounted on wooden base but these Japanese machines needed unmounted blocks with much deeper etchings. Jeetubhai had learnt about these requirements during his trip to Japan before the delivery of the machine so he could impress upon the block makers to perfect the technique to produce blocks suitable for his application. Flat bed cutting dies also posed a big problem as the general printers were using dies made with 1” wide blade rule on wooden bases while these machines required a Bakelite base with 8mm blades that were not available in India. “Necessity is the mother of invention” Jeetubhai located a die maker with workshop in Mumbai’s redlight district and who was ready to take the challenge to develop these dies. Jeetubhai spent many late nights in the area sitting in the die-makers workshop trying to get the dies right. They finally used a slotter to cut the 1 inch blade to 8mm and fix on to the Bakelite plate and produce the workable die. Those days Jeetubhai grew a beard so that he would not be recognized for frequenting the redlight area by any acquaintances. His indulgence and persistence paid, Jeetubhai could print and die-cut the labels in roll form.

 

As more people installed such label presses the infrastructure to support this process
also developed. The block makers at this time could do the colour separation and provide blocks for multicolour line and even halftone jobs. By 1980-81 Surinder Kapur at R K Papers Mumbai, had switched over to Nylo (Polymer) Plates for printing on these flatbed machines. They were also the first company to have installed a plate making machine in-house for captive consumption. Around this time the semi rotary letterpress label press with multiple rolls to spread ink and achieve fine printing had arrived in India. This was followed by the intermittent letterpress and later by full rotary letterpress with servo motors. In 1983 Vinayak Sood of Liddles New Delhi had installed a preowned Mark Andy flexo rotary label press. This was beginning of an era of faster label production up from the slow letterpress technology. Here just one anilox roll would deliver the measured quantity of ink to the polymer plate which in turn would print the image on the paper in a fully rotary continuous process. The printed web was also die-cut in-line at the same speed with the help of solid cutting dies and later by flexible dies mounted on magnetic cylinder. Polymer plates for narrow web label presses were initially not available and had to be imported. The wide web industry was using crude rubber sheet moulded to form the printing plate. As flexo printing evolved polymer plates for flexo printing also became available locally. As for cutting dies; solid dies, magnetic dies and flexible dies are even till this day, largely imported. However there are at least two small scale manufacturers who offer magnetic cylinders and another company in south India, has invested in a project to produce flexible dies. The established label printers still prefer to use imported dies that are reliable and available in three working days of ordering. It was only in 1993 that the first brand new Mark Andy label press was installed by Patel Printing Press in Ahmedabad. I could get some of these vital inputs from an industry veteran, Sudhir Sawant who has been servicing the equipment needs of the industry for long years. Sudhir used to work for EAC Graphics when they were agents for Mark Andy in India. When Heidelberg acquired EAC around 1999, Sudhir started to sell Gallus label presses, later he joined Reifenhauser to sell Gidue label presses. The narrow web flexo technology further evolved into UV flexo when Amar Chhajed at Webtech Mumbai, bought the first all UV Mark Andy in 1999. This facilitated printing with specially formulated UV inks which dried on exposure to UV light from UV lamps. Filmic label production got a shot in arm with the arrival of this technology. Amar has many firsts to his credit, he installed the first MIS in the narrow web label industry, specialized software from Shuttleworth dedicated to the print industry. He was also the first one in this industry to install an AVT defect detection systems.  He followed it up by being the first label printer to install a computer to polymer plate making system from Kodak for captive use. Originally the flexo printing was very elementary and did not match up to the standards of offset. It was only after 1990 that advances have been made to the quality of flexographic printing presses, printing plates and printing inks. Most of the development in flexographic printing is attributed to photopolymer printing plates, including improvements to the plate material and the method of plate creation. Digital computer to plate systems has done well for the industry. Companies like Asahi Photoproducts, AV Flexologic, Dupont, MacDermid, Kodak and Esko have pioneered the latest technologies, with advances in fast washout and the latest screening technology. In India the credit for upgrading and bringing flexo printing to a quality almost similar to that of offset, goes largely to Dupont and Esko  I received a important inputs from Prasenjit Das, Sales manager at Dupont Packaging Graphics and Shrihari Rao, Sales Director at Esko, I reproduce their inputs as written by them below;
 
Prasenjit Das:
 
DuPont has always been in the forefront when it comes to leading the flexo industry, by introducing and upgrading the technology in the area of plate making. It all started in 1975 when DuPont 1st introduced Cyrel* Photo-polymer Plates to the world. From that day till today the journey never stopped. The same has influenced Indian flexo printing industry as well. :
 
  • In mid 90's DuPont Cyrel* Plates were introduced in India. At that time it was in the form of analog plate.
  • In 2002 Numex Blocks, Mumbai bought the 1st CDI (Cyrel* Digital Imager) in India and thus DuPont introduces digital plates in India, which brought revolution in high quality flexo printing in India as well.
  • In 2006 DuPont introduced its revolutionary technology Cyrel* Fast in India when the 1st unit was installed in Color Dot, Chennai. Today we have more than 10 installations in the Indian sub-Continent.
  • Meanwhile DuPont introduced plates like HIQS, DPR, NOWS in solvent and DFQ, DFM in Fast (thermal) portfolio, targeting label and flexible packaging of India.
  • And the Journey continues :
 
Shrihari Rao;
 
India moved from conventional Flexo to Digital Flexo (Standard resolution) way back
in 2002 with NUMEX being the first to invest in ESKO CDI 2530 – Digital imager with the workflow (Software). It took a while for the momentum to catch up as the demand for high quality, also the cost of digital plates did not justify/boost the growth of Digital Flexo. However still, NUMEX’s consistent push and education in the market with industry leaders like ESKO and DuPont started yielding results in 2004 when NUMEX upgraded to a bigger size CDI 4835. COLORDOT – Chennai and VEEPEE – Bangalore, were the next to invest in ESKO’s CDI 4835.  From 2005 many new SERVO based presses started its foothold in India raising the need for Quality plates.
 
Pinmark, Shilp Gravure, Creative Graphics and other FLEXO trade shops,  followed the suite with ESKO and alternate solutions. Today, all the major Quality driven trade shops in India are on ESKO CDI technology and HD Flexo. VEEPEE (serving PragatiPack) has just installed the latest and greatest from ESKO moving to HD Flexo Ver 2 with in-line UV2.  NUMEX installed the first of its kind in South Asia – a Digital imager with SLEEVE and PLATE possibilities.
 
New entrants like System Flexo, SAI Enterprises have invested in ESKO CDI technology because of the vast FLEXO experience that ESKO and DuPont brings to the Label/Flexo markets. Captive investments were made by forward looking Label printers like WINTEK, WEBTECH, SELJEGAT, EIH PRESS, REYNDERS, ZIRCON, ANY GRAPHICS, REGAL CREATIVE, ESSEL PROPACK, 3D TECHNO PACK, etc. ZIRCON & WINTEK were the first two companies to be HD CERTIFIED. ESKO developed CDI in the year 1996 and since then the product has gone through several phases of development. Today SHILP GRAVURE, who was the first ESKO customers in India (1997), have upgraded to the latest and greatest from ESKO (CDI 4260 with HD FLEXO) without change in technology – Completely investment protected.
 
To conclude, we must say that Esko’s CDIs with HD Flexo has brought the quality levels of label printing in India to the next level matching Gravure and Offset quality.
 
The label industry in India found a new direction when New Delhi based Goodwork company installed the first combination press Gallus with in-line rotary screen printing alongwith flexo printing. As we entered the new millennium in 2000, young Chandan Khanna at Ajanta Packaging, coming from a family of seasoned offset printers announced installation of India’s first waterless offset intermittent label press at their Daman factory. It was natural that coming from a family so involved in offset printing, he preferred to indulge into label printing with the same technology. As more and more offset printers started to romance with the self adhesive label industry, the concept of inline converting attained a new meaning. Offset printers are used to moving their material around their factories for different processes. Shifting stacks of sheets from printing to foiling, to varnishing to embossing to lamination, to die-cutting, etc. is or was an accepted process. When the offset printers indulged in label conversion they realized the convenience of in line converting. On the other hand the label printers wanting to expand into packaging wanted their manufacturing to deliver like in labels, all in a single pass! These wishes and aspirations brought about the demand and installations of combination presses having decorative capabilities to finish the product in line in a single pass. Established offset printers opted for combination presses. Veekay graphics in Mumbai opted for a flexo with offset capabilities.
The culmination of all this was announced with Pragatipack Hyderabad installing an
Omet Varyflex with capabilities to print flexo, Rotogravure, cold foil, hot foil, emboss, automatic register control, die-cut and sheet. Printers like Zircon have followed it up with even advanced features. Taking the industry a step ahead, ETI converting in Canada has signed up with a printer in India to produce linerless labels.
 
The last two editions of Labelexpo Europe at Brussels and then Drupa this year indicate the move of print from conventional to digital. Benny Landa’s show at Drupa got printers across the various segment wondering when his “Nanography” will impact the print industry to become the preferred print technology.
 
I witnessed EFI Jetrion at Drupa and wonder how soon this technology for making
labels will overtake the present trends. The Jetrion is a plate less and tool less converting technology. It converts the labelstock with command from computer to print, die cut, remove waste matrix, laminate and rewind. It provides the option of higher speed shorter runs, separating the different labels with a turret rewinding system. Gone is the need for making artworks on paper, converting them into, negatives or positives, making screen or block or plates. It is just designing on a computer screen and giving the command to deliver labels. You can deliver while the customer is waiting at your office! Indian label printers like Janus and Webtech have installed digital label presses. There are others who have followed their footsteps but this technology has yet to take off in India. The technologies continue to evolve while the printers and the machine builders need to keep on developing new processes. The contribution of the likes of Manohar Lal Bhatia and Jeetubhai has to be acknowledged as the pioneering work they initiated, brought the label industry in India to this level of evolution. The integration of new and diverse innovative printing and converting technologies to print, decorate and finish in-line in a single pass has been steadily accepted and patronized by the Indian label industry.
 
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 September, 2012 For purpose of adaptation and space constraints, the above article was edited and published in FlexoTech Magazine of Whitmar Publications Ltd. published from Kent UK. To read the published version, please click on the link below;
 http://www.paperandprint.com/flexotech/features/flexo-2013/march-2013/self-ad-label-in-india.aspx
 
“Unauthorized use or publishing of this article is prohibited”

 

Labelstocks: Manage moisture to control curl.

Labelstocks: Manage moisture to control curl.
Self Adhesive Sheets
In the late 1970s early eighties, I was just a commercial siliconiser selling reams of release paper or silicon paper in sheets to screen printers producing stickers. Those days only a handful of labelstock producers existed in India so supplying in roll form came a few years later. While my product found general acceptance in quality yet once in a while a customer would come back with a strange problem. They complained of either tubing or curl in the final gum sheets that they made using my product. These sticker manufacturers would coat with a screen, a pressure sensitive adhesive on the back of a semi gloss or chromo art paper, air dry in racks and then paste the release paper on the back to protect this pressure sensitive adhesive and produce pre-gummed sheets. These sheets eventually were screen printed and half cut with a shaving blade to make stickers. Since this tubing and curling problem was rather occasional and came to me rarely, it was something that did not lead to total rejection. Strange as it seemed, the complainants would go silent after a few days of the initial rhetoric. Another fact that has stuck to my mind since then is that the same customers would state that similar paper coming from Mumbai did not have such problem. As is normal, in the initial years of business, I presumed that these few customers were biased and were speaking for my competitors in Mumbai. Some years later in the mid eighties I developed saturated paper liners on various papers including sack Kraft and newsprint. Interestingly, I exhibited a newspaper converted to be a release paper in the first Screen Print Show at Nehru Centre Mumbai in the year 1994. When I started to sell these saturated release papers with a rough and porous back, I was surprised to note that not a single complaint came for curl or tubing! At this time the chemist in me woke up and I decide to research the process.
sheet with curl
Production of release papers requires coating of a non absorbent web of paper and curing in an oven at elevated temperatures in excess of 160 degrees Celsius. Everyone knows that water or for that matter moisture becomes steam at around 100 degrees Celsius. These curing temperatures are definitely much higher than normal drying temperatures required for paper conversion and processing. In such a scenario when the paper exits the chamber it has lost a lot of moisture creating an imbalance in the paper’s inherent moisture levels. At this time we also realized in our production that the paper at the unwind station was 1015 mm and after exiting the hot oven it had lost 10mm of width due to moisture loss and measured only 1005mm. This fact lead me from the problem to the realization that it was the loss of moisture that caused the paper to shrink and when this paper was laminated to the gummed sheet and left in the open, it picked up moisture from the atmosphere to regain some of its lost width. This explained the curl or the tubing. In case where the adhesive coated face is well laminated to the release paper and kept under pressure, the face remains the same in width while the release regains moisture and expands making edges to lift leading to curl. In case where the laminate was not firmly enjoined uneven expansion of release liner lead to tubing. While producing labelstock in reels the two papers are brought together under pressure through a laminating nip and then tightly wound in reels. In this case when sheeted after resting and stabilising, due to moisture imbalance the sheets would curl, there will less or no chance of any tubing. In the early days of label stock manufacturing in India people preferred to use only glassine liners for their labels or stickers. CCK backing papers with a rough backing were always looked upon as a cheaper alternative. Further indulgence brought the realization that papers that had a rough and somewhat porous backing could regain moisture fairly quickly from the atmosphere and that laminates with these release liners did not have curl.
Drytec Steam Humidifier
Once I understood the basics of curl it was time to study the phenomenon more technically to find and implement solutions that would enable us in producing release papers and eventually labelstocks without curl. Since silicone coating and subsequent high temperature curing resulted in a coated paper that was deprived of its natural moisture content required for its stability, it became imperative to re-moisturise or re-humidify the paper as it exited the hot oven after curing. This also explained the reason why the papers supplied by Mumbai suppliers did not curl. Mumbai is a city surrounded by sea and when release paper is produced and stored in a moisture laden and humid environment, it gets substantially humidified in production, warehouse and in transit. This was the reason why the sheets of release paper coming from Mumbai did not curl. Paper is made from slurry of fibers dispersed in water. Major part of the water is removed in the paper making process yet the final product has the ability to gain or lose moisture in subsequent storage or converting processes until it reaches a stable position. Absorption of larger amounts of water than what is required for stability causes wrinkles.  The water content in papers varies between 2-12% depending on the type of paper. However a normal stable paper contains 5-7% moisture. Cellulose fibers that are the predominant part of paper are hygroscopic in nature, absorb moisture from the atmosphere when humidity is high or lose moisture when it is hot and dry. However on continued storage the paper does attain stability.  It is hence advisable to use paper that has been rested for a while to attain moisture equilibrium. Paper dimensions decrease when moisture falls and increase at higher levels. Increased moisture content makes the cellulose fibers to swell and increase in dimensions. The diameter of the fibers increases 2-5 times more than the length of the fiber. For this reason we see a marked change in the width of the paper when moisture levels change.
Re-humidification of release paper after silicone coating and curing can be done in many ways. Some of them are listed as below;
1.      Re-humidifying with a steam chamber
2.      Mist or fine spray of water
3.      Water coating the back of the silicone coated paper by reverse gravure.
Water Coating on the back
Steam re-humidification is done by jets of steam pushing steam into the paper. These jets are pushing the steam in the reverse direction of the web movement on a steel plate. This process has a drawback, steam condenses and falls as droplets on the web causing unwanted wrinkles. The mist/fine water spray also gives uneven coating and creates points where excessive water droplets create wrinkles. The reverse gravure is perhaps the most convenient and workable method of re-humidification, though some speed is compromised in this process.
We have so far dwelled in controlling curl only in the silicone release paper but in our effort to achieve a perfect layflat laminate of pressure sensitive adhesive labelstock, this is only half the job done. All layers of the labelstock contribute to the finesse and quality of the final laminate. For it to be a perfect layflat sheet each parameter has to be handled carefully. The face paper is normally not subjected to any heat or any further processing in labelstock manufacturing operations. It comes to the coater from the warehouse where normally it has been resting for a while and has attained stability. However still, if it is a fresh supply of paper from the paper mill, it is necessary to check the moisture content, which maybe high. If the moisture is high and having bought the paper by weight, we are paying excess for the weight of water. Subsequently the moisture laden face paper in the labelstock will eventually lose the water and shrink causing the labelstock to curl because the backing layer is stable and constant in dimension. In the event that we use a stabilized face paper and a humidified release paper, we have also to be careful about drying the adhesive coating. If the adhesive coated release liner in the transfer coating process, coming out of the drying tunnel is too wet the liner and the laminate will curl with edges bending downwards. However if the adhesive is too dry the edges will curl upwards. In the case of emulsion adhesives, experienced operators can control curl to a great extent by controlling speed and temperature settings. The drying chamber itself becomes the humidification chamber as 50% 0f the adhesive is water that is evaporated in the chamber. Care needs to be taken to maintain the water content in the chamber’s air circulation low as air saturated with water vapor in the chamber will hinder proper drying of adhesive and eventually cause curl. In the event a labelstock manufacturer is using a hotmelt coater, the parameters are different. There is no drying chamber with water vapors. The hotmelt adhesive is applied through an extrusion die on to the release paper with a chilled backing roll. The hot molten adhesive adhesive solidifies to the desired state and passes on to the lamination nip and the rewind station. The operation is short clean and quick but here the curl control and also tubing in the liner depends on the release paper. The release paper used for hotmelt has to be stable and humidified properly before it is taken on to the coater.
Layflat Laser label sheets
with CCK Release Liner
The type of release base paper also makes a difference in regards to curl. Like I said earlier India has been a market where largely glassine was the preffered backing. Also a huge market for pre gummed self adhesive sheets for offset printing has evolved and glassine being a highly super calendered paper does not absorb moisture quickly. For this reason it is more prone to curl with slow absorption of moisture from atmosphere. Hence it has, over the years lost its place as a preferred backing for sheeted self adhesive materials. It is an ideal liner for labels in roll form to be used in automatic dispensing. It also has excellent die-cutting properties. Clay coated bleached Kraft on the other hand has a rough and porous backing. It rehumidifies well and on resting also picks up moisture from atmosphere to attain stability. Sheets produced with this liner are layflat. It is a recognized fact now the huge Indian sheet market has totally transformed and customers insist on sheets with CCK backing. One side PE coated or polycoated paper has also good layflat properties but with environment concerns evident, use of plastics need to be curtailed. Still the PE liners are used for avoiding curl.
Even though equipment manufacturers continue to upgrade the coating and laminating machines to eliminate or reduce human intervention in producing a good laminate yet I personally believe that an experienced operator still remains the artist who can create a good release paper and a perfect laminate thereafter such that it would layflat to be a printer’s delight.
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 February 2013.

Baldev Singh Jandu:Jandu coaters create 170 million square meters additional annual capacity in self adhesive labels!

Baldev Singh Jandu:Jandu coaters create 170 million square meters additional annual capacity in self adhesive labels!

 

In the early 1950’s Boor Singh Jandu left his small village in Gudaspur District of Punjab to settle and find work in an Independent India’s national capital New Delhi. A simple and honest Boor Singh found employment as a carpenter in a furniture producing company based in South Delhi where he continued to work for almost 30 years. He was man committed to his profession, in the initial couple of years he used to pedal his bicycle daily all the way to his workplace in Faridabad, some 40 kilometers away from where he lived in central Delhi. He was a hard working man and had to support his fairly large family living in their village in Punjab. He had five sons and two daughters. Those were difficult times but the family’s faith in God helped them move on in life. When I met Boor Singh Jandu sometime in the middle of 1980’s, I was overawed by his simplicity. When I asked him about his profession, he had no hesitation in saying that he was retired now but used to work as a carpenter. He was proud to say that he did all the woodwork in the executive offices of Faridabad based Escorts Limited. He had worked on some prestigious projects like Vigyan Bhawan as well. His second son, Baldev Singh Jandu was an ambitious lad; he did not have much interest in school but aspired to have his own business. One day, while he was still in class 10th (Matriculation, as it was called) he decided to quit school and move to Delhi in pursuit of his entrepreneurial ambitions. Intensely committed to his ambition and focused to succeed, he moved on with hard work and fervor. He found success over the years and today he is a much sought after man in the Indian Label industry. His efforts over the years have given him the leading position of being a unique indigenous equipment supplier contributing amazing capacities in India for production of self adhesive labels and labelstocks.

 

 

Baldev Singh Jandu was barely 19 years old when he moved to Delhi in 1969. He took up employment as a helper in a company manufacturing lathe machines. This was his first step in the engineering industry. Enough for him to observe and assimilate the various processes involved in machine building. A year later when he realized there was not much more here to take him forward, he left this job and moved on to work for another company that used to produce paper converting machines. This was his training ground and foundation laying for his eventual business that he aspired to setup one day. Two years later he was restless and realized he had learnt what he could from this company and it was time to take the first step to start his own small private workshop and work for himself. In 1972, Baldev found a 100 square feet premises which the owner was willing to rent out along with the lathe machine installed there. Without any seed capital, this was the best options at just Rs.300.00 per month. Soon he was running his small engineering business doing small jobs for industry. Hard work, honesty and commitment inherited from his parents delivered results and brought success. Another two years later he moved to a bigger place and there was an imperative need to buy his own lathe machine. Money was short so his maternal aunt, who had faith in his capabilities, mortgaged her necklace for Rs.1200.00 to help Baldev acquire his first lathe machine. After another two year period elapsed, he was now ready to officially create his startup venture “Jandu Engineers” where he started by offering repair and maintenance service to the paper converting companies. Soon came the turning point of his career when he bagged an order for a rotary printing press that involved both gravure and flexographic printing processes. He successfully delivered the machine and this first customer for a Jandu machine is still his regular customer even now after over three decades. Customer retention has been the forte of Baldev Singh and his simplicity helps people from all walks of life to communicate with ease. If it is a helper on the shop floor in his factory, he knows what the aspirations are as he himself has risen from that level. If it is the owner of a paper mill still the communication is free, frank and informal. He has risen from grassroots and is proud of it. Once the first machine was delivered and successfully installed, there was no looking back. With the advent of BOPP films being made in India initially by MM Rubber Co. at their plant in Ranipet, sometime during the end of 1970’s and early 1980’s the sheet offset printing industry started shifting from varnishing their jobs to over laminating with BOPP film. I still remember the flyer that the BOPP manufacturers made with a face of a popular model, half laminated with film and the other half without lamination. It made an impact fairly fast.  In 1982 Baldev Singh saw the potential in this process so he developed a sheet lamination machine which was perhaps the first in North India. The equipment was so successful that in the next couple years he sold 500-700 machines, he lost count he laughs.

Ploughing back the fruits of this success and in an effort to create wealth for his startup venture, he bought the very plot of land on main Vikas Marg in East Delhi, where they were on rent at that time. There is an interesting story about this property acquisition. This property was in two parts a 225 square yards area that was in possession of Jandu’s and another 25 square yards. Due to financial constraints Baldev bought the 225 square yards for Rs.8.00 lakhs leaving the 25 yards to be acquired at a later date when comfortable. Six years later they bought the remaining 25 yards at a price of Rs.14.00 lakhs! This price for 25 square yards was 50% more than the price of 225 square yards earlier. Today the whole plot is worth over Rs.10.00 Crores. In 1984 a year after I personally struck friendship with Baldev Singh, he expanded his product range to include Gravure presses, Sheeters and Slitters upto 100 inches width. During the same year he came in contact with the late Hari Gupta of HP Labellette Pvt. Ltd. one of the earliest entrants into self adhesive labelstock manufacturing with his 500mm Japanese coater. Hari Gupta took an instant liking for Baldev Singh due to his simplicity and eagerness to take up challenging assignments. He was instrumental for changing course for Jandu Engineers. He placed an order for a coater/laminator to produce silicone release paper and self adhesive labelstocks. He also provided drawings and catalogues of his Japanese coater to help Baldev Singh build the equipment. This first coater made by Jandu was his formal entry into the mainstream self adhesive label industry.

 

 

 

 
 
Jandu Engineers continued to make developments as time warranted. For this in 1986 Baldev Singh went to Drupa in Germany to learn more about the coating processes being employed the world over. He was a fast learner and had the capabilities to improvise so as to produce and deliver cost effective and consistent quality indigenous equipment to Indian paper converters. 1985-1990 period was also an interesting one for Jandu. This time the Indian packaging industry was shifting from paper tapes to BOPP tapes. The entrepreneur in Baldev Singh, encashed the opportunity by supplying numerous BOPP tape manufacturing machines complete with coating and finishing equipments. In 1992 Baldev Singh’s friend, Charanjeet Lal Mahajan who worked in Delhi electricity department, reposed faith in his development acumen and placed an order with him to produce a rotary flexographic label printing press, something like a Mark Andy press. Mahajan’s three sons were already trading in labels for hand held labelers; he wanted them to initiate their startup manufacturing venture Prakash Labels.  He also paid an advance of Rs.1.00 lakh for him to travel and study the label press. Baldev Singh through reference went to the Rotometrics die manufacturing facility in USA. He saw their die testing equipment, a Mark Andy press. He was not sure that he had learnt enough to build workable equipment so on the way back he stopped in London where a friend arranged for him to see a used press. He returned to India but was still unsure and felt he had to see a press running substantially to learn the process. Two months later he was back in England, this time again to visit a die manufacturer in UK who agreed to show him a running press. From his point of stay in London he had to take a train, then a bus and thereafter walk a few kilometers to locate the company. He was firm in his goal and the effort was worth it. He saw the press and was lucky to get photocopies of the catalogues of the machine. Confident from his sojourn he returned to Delhi and proudly states, “In six months thereafter I built and delivered India’s first rotary flexo label printing machine to Prakash labels”.  It is a matter of interest that Prakash labels have also grown steadily over the years to be perhaps one of the largest converters of labelstock in the country producing Price marking labels, garment labels and EDP labels. They have 9 Jandu Presses as of date besides some other international brands. In 1997 there were just a few labelstock producers in the country mostly coating 20 inches and 30 inches width, Jandu supplied his first one meter coater to Delhi based Weldon Celloplast. Thereafter there have been many landmark achievements in indigenous equipments; a chromoart paper coating plant to run at 200 meters per minute supplied to Sudhir Papers Bangalore, the first 3 roll solvent less platinum catalyst  silicon coating unit to Weldon, first 60inch solvent less silicone coater to Sterimed, a 60 inch coater for labelstock to Stayon Papers, the first 5 roll silicone coater to NG Papers, Jandu’s first modular label press supplied to Prakash Labels, he is building a high speed 500mm sheeter to run at 300 strokes per minute and recently he supplied an emulsion adhesive/Silicone coating plant to Iran besides having sold finishing equipments to Nigeria, Tanzania, Srilanka, etc.

 

 

 

Baldev Jandu has come a long way from his days in the village in Punjab. He laughs out mentioning difficult times like leaving his motorbike as security for raising just Rs.1000.00. He is a deeply religious and social person, going to Gurudwara almost daily. He is a philanthropist; he has contributed his bit to family member’s in hours of joy and pain. His two younger brothers were initially working in his company but later he encouraged and helped them start their own companies to produce somewhat similar equipments.  He does not fall shy of being at the side of customers, friends and relatives when a need arises. Jandu Engineers presently operates out of a 15000 square feet factory in Noida, U.P. Imperative need to deliver against a long list of pending orders have compelled him plan another 10000 sq ft factory in Greater Noida where land has been acquired and construction will begin soon. The earlier 250 square yards plot at Vikas Marg has been developed as a commercial building nearing completion. He plans to move his corporate office on one floor besides leasing out rest of the building. His son Gurdev has been actively involved in his business ever since he graduated from Delhi University. Wife Mahinder Kaur and daughter in law Dimple are a source of strength for him as homemakers. Interestingly the third generation, the grandchildren are growing up fast and after finishing studies, wish to professionalise the company. Gurdev’s daughter Parmeet is pursuing MBA at Amity Business School in NOIDA and son Prabhjyot is growing up as a smart teenager still in school.

 

 

As of now 120 Jandu Label presses are in operation in India, 10 out of which have been sold in the last 12 months. The final and glorious moment that came to Jandu Engineers is that in this financial year he will have completed the sale of 16 coaters just for production of self adhesive labelstocks. These are besides the many coaters supplied earlier and catering to the growing demand of labels in India. I sat down with Baldev Singh Jandu to calculate the capacity these new coaters will add to the existing capacity in the country. Though he says his coater are being now designed to run almost 100 meter per minute, yet I calculated at an average speed of just 50 meters per minute, two 8 hour shifts and a 25% down time. I was stunned and Baldev Singh was amazed, he created such capacity spread across the nation.  When these customers will eventually achieve this capacity in production and come back for more equipments, will evolve as time moves on, but the total capacity addition as a result of installing these sixteen coaters will be, “170 million square meters” per year!

 

 

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 January, 2013.

 

Norman Joseph Woodland, co-inventor of barcode, RIP!

Norman Joseph Woodland, co-inventor of barcode, RIP!
Norman Joseph Woodland
On the 15th of December 2012 I came across a small news item, somewhere on the 17th page of the Delhi edition of Hindustan Times, it reported the demise of a man who made path breaking contribution by inventing the barcode which has since evolved over the years to change the way products are labeled and packed for modern day retail. His invention has facilitated not only quicker point of sales invoicing but also inventory management, track and trace operations and many other industrial processes. Norman Joseph Woodland, the co-inventor of barcode, passed away in Edgewater, New Jersey, USA on the 9th of December 2012 at the age of 91 years.
Born on 6th September 1921 to Jewish parents, Woodland earned his B.Sc in Mechanical engineering from Drexel University, where he later joined as a lecturer in 1948-49. One day his colleague Bernard Silver heard a super market executive asking their dean to develop a system to automatically capture product information at cash counters to facilitate quicker sale process. While the dean refused yet Silver found the idea extremely appealing and also convinced Woodland to join him in creating a viable product. Woodland quit his job and moved to Florida to spend time on the project. One day sitting in a chair on the beach he pondered over the project at hand. To represent information visually, he realized, he would need a code. The only code he knew was the one he had learned in the Boy Scouts. What would happen, Woodland wondered one day, if Morse code, with its elegant simplicity and limitless combinatorial potential, were adapted graphically? He began trailing his fingers idly through the sand.  “What I’m going to tell you sounds like a fairy tale,” Woodland told Smithsonian magazine in 1999. “I poked my four fingers into the sand and for whatever reason — I didn’t know — I pulled my hand toward me and drew four lines. I said: ‘Golly! Now I have four lines, and they could be wide lines and narrow lines instead of dots and dashes.’ ” He along with Bernard Silver patented the barcode in the shape of conclavic rings of varying widths. Unfortunately, since they could not develop a cost effective or viable scanning device and being pessimistic of the way forward, they sold their invention for 15000 dollars, which was all the money they made from this patent. Woodland thereafter joined IBM in 1951 and remained there till his retirement in late eighties. In between in 1960 his patent had expired. Almost 20 years after he joined IBM his colleague at IBM George Laurer with support from Woodland created the present day barcode. It is the zebra like band of vertical lines of varying thickness. These could be scanned with the help of microprocessors and laser scanners that had been developed by that time and made the product viable and cost effective. On the 26th of June 1974, a supermarket cashier in Troy, Ohio, USA became the first person to scan a barcode on a 67 cent pack of Wrigley’s Chewing Gum.
The technology has since evolved and changed the way how products are retailed and supply chain is managed. Now an estimated 5 billion barcodes are scanned in millions of retail outlets around the world. A man whose pioneering effort has impacted the label and packaging industry positively and to gigantic proportions adding to its growth has passed away. We salute the noble soul… Norman Joseph Woodland “may your soul rest in peace (RIP)”
 
Successful exhibitions are normally linked to the cities and the venues where they have been traditionally held and found success. Drupa, the biggest printing industry show has always been held successfully at Messe Dusseldorf, Labelexpo Europe continues to attract the world of labels every two years to the expo centre in Brussels and all editions of Auto expo are destined at Frankfurt. India has lacked exhibition venues and New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan is the only destination which has most of the successful and large shows. Unfortunately the state owned venue with it monopolistic attitude has rubbed many a show organizers on the wrong side. Due to this reason many organizers who had successful shows at this venue seem to be moving to the new and more international Greater NOIDA Expo center even though it has locational disadvantage. In recent times two of the major print and packaging related shows that were highly successful at Pragati Maidan have moved away. PackPlus was recently held at Greater NOIDA Expo Centre and the huge IPAMA organised PrintPack India 2013 will also be held at the same venue from 23rd to28th February 2013.  The venue has a disadvantage as it is far from New Delhi and has no airport, train or metro station in its vicinity. Even no organized or government sponsored/owned regular bus service is available. Persons from Delhi or those arriving from other cities have to hire all day taxis to reach the venue. Defying all disadvantages the organizers of these events have shifted the shows to this venue. In clear contrast the organizers of Labelexpo India, the UK based Tarsus Group, who had an extremely successful show in the end of October 2012 at Pragati Maidan despite indicating a change of venue for future shows decided to announce the next show two years hence again at Pragati Maidan.
 
Anil Arora
 
Anil Arora of PackPlus was beaming after the show ended. He was pleased that he successfully blasted the myth that visitors will not come to Greater NOIDA. He had advertised and arranged transportation from metro stations in NOIDA to bring visitors comfortably to the venue and also for return. With a footfall of 5213 visitors who made the effort to come, he is happy that they were an extremely focused lot who came and his show has delivered the results expected by over 200 exhibitors showcasing at this event. The bigger and established printers and those from the established packaging companies were not very evident at the show however many from the end user segment marked their presence adding value to the show. It is a show with lot of promise and the next editions are bound to grow bigger. The exhibitors were a mixed lot catering to many segments in the print, packaging and product packing industry. The label industry was also present. Those from the label industry, who exhibited included Reynders, Anygraphics, Pacedge Labels, Saiprographics, Insight communications, Weldon Celloplast, etc.
 
Dr. Ramani Narayan
On the sidelines of PackPlus, a very successful International Packaging Conclave was organized on the second day of PackPlus at Radisson Blu, Greater NOIDA. It received a good response with 110 attendees arriving from all parts of the country. The conclave started with the key note address by Prof. Ramani Narayan, distinguished Professor, Michigan State University. I and all other delegates were very impressed by the presentation of Dr. Narayan, the clarity of his expression left the listeners spellbound. His pleasant nature was experienced by many who interacted with him during the networking sessions.  The Conclave proceeded towards the first panel discussion on ‘Packaging Solutions: Benefits of Integration & Collaboration across the Value Chain.’ The second panel discussion delved deep in automation highlighting ‘Future Demands on Automation for Packaging- to which Open Technology is the Answer’. The third and the final panel discussion focused on ‘Sustainability- the Future Imperative: Approached & Case Studies’. Concluding with the roundup by Mahendra N Patel, Chairman, Mamata Machinery, the Conclave summed up to big success. It was very interesting to see the delegates were glued to their seats even till 8.45 PM when the last presentation ended. The conclave was attended by known names in the Packaging industry and senior level executives from Coca Cola, Nestle, Kraft Foods, Castrol, GSK, etc. The evening ended with a networking dinner leaving fond memories of comradeship.
 Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 December, 2012

Labelexpo-India 2012; Amazing, Vibrant and Rocking!

Labelexpo-India 2012; Amazing, Vibrant and Rocking!
 
“Labelexpo-India 2012, was an amazing and vibrant show. One stroll around, left visitors in awe! The quality of the spread, ambience, and the diverse offerings from a global list of renowned suppliers of materials, toolings, equipments and printing presses made it a wholesome treat for the label printing fraternity. Truly a show, that was the best Labelexpo in India so far”
 
In these few words I summed up my comments on the recently concluded Labelexpo India. It is a show that has gradually grown to a standard that was missing in the previous editions. One could hear the visitors expressing satisfaction at the quality of the exhibits. As many as 20 label presses were working at the show and were catering to the needs of a multitude of printers from various segments. There were those who looked for the state of art high-end expensive equipment and there were also those whose who had smaller budgets and wished to buy value in what they could afford. The show offered options to all. I would like to commend the organisers for the diverse mix of focused exhibitors at the show, such that it did certainly contribute to the vow factor. The layout was well spread and the warmth of the label industry's fellowship emanated a great feeling of comradeship. Even the founder of this show Anil Arora commented, "It is a very good show" Anil and his wife Neetu founded this show as India Label Show and later, UK based Tarsus acquired it in 2007. While the 2008 show in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attack was held as India Label Show, in 2010 edition they renamed the show as Labelexpo-India. The 2008 show was held at the onset of the economic slowdown yet it did pull through well. In the 2010 show, the euphoria did buildup well as the slowdown was tapering off and now in 2012 it has reached a pinnacle with the markets expanding and consumerism on the rise. The Labelexpo-India has become an important marketplace for the label industry in India and South East Asia where printers converge to witness and check on their imperative needs to aid their expansion plans at one place. The quality of exhibits was excellent and we can expect the show to be bigger and better in times to come. The Tarsus team was well synchronized and did their work in an efficient manner without any serious snarls which are normal at busy shows. The weather was also conducive with temperature a little lower than what it is at this time of the year, making it very comfortable for visitors at the show.
 
Inaugurationof Labelexpo-India 2012
The labelexpo-India 2012 was inaugurated by on the morning of 29th October 2012 by Mike Fairley, The LMAI team, Tarsus officials and members of Delhi Printers Association. The final numbers from the organisers state that 8,037 visitors came to visit the show which is 33% up from the previous Labelexpo. 53% of the exhibitors have confirmed participation in the next edition with a commitment for bigger stalls.  
 
Mike Fairley Inaugurating Weldon's Stand "Technology Bar"
After the inauguration of the show Mike Fairley inaugurated the “Technology Bar”. Weldon Celloplast had put up a unique stand labeled “Technology Bar”. All their principals were serving technology from bar counters allotted to them. At this time Mike also released Weldon’s 120 page hard-bound Technology Brochure.



Ferdinand Ruesch with RVS and Gururaj of ITW
With India’s growing literate population expected to drive in high demands, the international suppliers of materials, consumables and equipments are very focused in their attempts to get a bigger slice of this market. The importance given by these leading suppliers was evident by the fact the senior level managers and owners of many companies were personally present to meet the Indian label printers. From amongst the leading European label press manufacturers, Ferdinand Ruesch owner of Gallus was seen not only interacting with visitors at his stand where Gallus ECS340(sold to Wintek, Division of ITW) was displayed but also visiting other competitors stands observing different technologies being offered. In words of Sudhir Sawant at Gidue, “None other than Ferdinand, Ruesch owner of market leader company like Gallus visited Gidue stall multiple times to see live demos of Gidue Combat I” Federico Annunzio and Cristina Tofollo the owners were present at Gidue stand.
 
Mike Fairley and Roger Pellow in discussion with Omet
President Antonio Bartesaghi
Antonio Batesaghi, President Omet and Marco Calcagni Sales Director, despite preoccupation made sure to be at the “Technology Bar” the branded Weldon/Omet Stand where their Omet X4 label press was on display. Peter Erickson COO Nilpeter and Jakob Landsberg Marketing Director Nilpeter were conspicuous by their presence to promote their Nilpeter FB3300 assembled in their Chennai facility and sold to Ajanta Packaging. Even though they did not bring a press this time, Bibiana and her mother owners of the Spanish press manufacturer Rotatek were at the Creed stand. Mike Russel and Mary Sullivan, senior managers of Mark Andy lead the team at their stand showcasing MA-P5 sold to Wonderpac, Delhi. Canada based ETI, UK based Edale and MPS though present at the exhibition, did not display any press. There was a host of Taiwanese and Chinese equipment suppliers.
 
 
Multitec Stand
Indian press suppliers put up an impressive show! Multitec showcased two presses, one the regular entry level flexo press with hot air and the second a new launch VSI which is all UV with chill drums and a short web path of 1.10 meters between two print stations. This company is progressing very impressively and I see them growing technically each year. Other machine builders who showcased presses were Faridabad based Webtech and Alliance Printech. Ahmedabad based R K Machines displayed their flexo press and other equipment. Other Indian press manufacturers Jandu and Apex Rotatech did not have working presses in their stands. Other important exhibitors at the show include Xeikon, EFI, Epson, Martin Automatic, Dupont, Esko, Matho, Rotometrics, Lartec, Electro Optics, Nikka, Berhalter, Vetaphone, Ace, etc. 
 
 
Jussi Vanhanen President UPM Raflatac 
Anil Sharma MD Avery Dennison
Top management of both Avery Dennison and UPM Raflatac were present at the show throughout. Indian material suppliers included SMI, Stayon Papers, Sticon papers and Weldon. The list of exhibitors was 200 strong and it is difficult to list all.


Gautam Kothari (Interlabels),
Gururaj Wintek, Karl (Reynders)
Sanjeev Sondhi (Zircon) & Harveer Sahni (Weldon)
 
Indian label printers came from all corners of India. With market being in a growth curve suppliers were seen wooing the industry’s leading printers. I was able to identify many of them. From North Sanjeev Sondhi of Zircon, Ajay Agarwal from Syndicate labels, Prem Khanna from ROPL, Karl from Reynders, Priyata Raghavan from Sai Packaging, Kusum Dunglay from Reydun, Sudhir Jain from Jain Transfer, Pavail Jain from Monarch, Kulbhushan Gossain of Unipack, the Holostik team, Rajesh Chadha Update Prints, Kuldip Goel from Anygraphics, K K Bajaj of Regal, Mahajans from Prakash Labels and Gaurav Goel of Gopsons are some of the printers who I met personally.
 
As from East India I could only spot only Rajneesh Jain from Secure Print Kolkata. West India probably had the biggest contingent with representatives from Interlabels, Webtech, Ajanta, Creative Labels, Sicon Packs, Superlabels, Mudrika, Total Print, Printmann, Synpack, Tayabi, PPL-Huhtamaki, Precise Labels, Janus, Renault, Mahrishi, Astron, Letragraphix, and a more. The contingent from South had representatives from Seljegat, Wintek (ITW), Pragati, Arunodaya, Team Labels, SGRE (Positive Packaging), SPP, Better labels and Sai Security, etc
 
 
At the end of second day of the show leading suppliers threw parties at various venues in the city for their customers.
Vivek Kapoor President LMAI
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The third evening was another fun part of the show. The entire label fraternity converged to Hotel Le’Meridian for the LMAI awards night.
 
LMAI Executive committee on the stage
The organizers emphatically state that they gave only 500 passes for the event which was by invitation only but they had over 700 guests! Obviously no one wished to be left out and miss the fun. The evening was compeered by actress Pooja Bedi and there were lively performances by Punjabi folk dancers. The awards were given to printers in some 27 categories. Roger Pellow in his speech declared that this was the last official visit of the Label Guru, Mike Fairley due to his progressing age. I personally was overwhelmed when Mike in a nostalgic speech that evening, reminiscing old times he said, “My relationship with the Indian label industry started some thirty years ago when one afternoon the doorbell of my home in London rang. I opened the door; there was this gentleman from India standing in front of me. His name was Harveer Sahni, he wanted to subscribe to my magazine Labels and Labeling and also share with friends in India….” I was so stunned by Mike’s sharing the memories of my first meeting with him that I was speechless for a while. Douglas Emslie the Group Managing Director of Tarsus who was sitting next to me, had a smile on his face and asked, “Did you know Mike would say this?” I just shook my head, I had no words.
 
Funtime!
As the evening progressed while the last of the awards were being given to the executive committee of LMAI, the music came on and while still on stage the LMAI team broke into a dance. Thereafter there was no stopping. One by one, people were heading to the stage and the party was in full swing. It also happened to be the birthday of Gallus owner Ferdinand, I had the pleasure to shake a leg or two with him.
 
Roger Pellow adding fun to the evening!
 
Roger Pellow is always a hard working professional but when he parties, it is fun all the way! He was dancing his heart out and pulling all to the floor. All young and old were having a fun time, forgetting the competition they were all comrades enjoying the fruits of companionship!
 







 
Chandan Khanna and KD Sahni of Weldon in lighter moments





 
 




Written and reported by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited

Huhtamäki Oyj acquires controlling stake in Webtech Labels in India

Huhtamäki Oyj acquires controlling stake in Webtech Labels in India
 
Amar and Jitesh Chajjed receiving the Technology award at Weldon
stand at Labelexpo India, from Ivan Bonev, Nikka Reserch for being
the first in India to invest in online inspection systems.
Mumbai based Webtech labels lead by Amar Chhajed and cousin Jitesh Chhajed is yet another leading label company that has been acquired by an internationally renowned company Huhtamaki Oyj's subsidiary in India PPL Huhtamaki. This is in line with the trend, that international label and packaging producing companies continue to consider India as their most important destination for market expansion. In my last post two weeks back titled, "Joint Ventures, Mergers, Acquisitions & International Partners, still Positive in labels" I mentioned, "Meanwhile constituents of the label industry are talking in hushed tones about another deal that has taken place but since the stake holders do not confirm publically, it remains gossip that goes on." This was it! I could not disclose the names as ethically it was wrong to disclose while the formalities were in progress. It is now official.
Webtech was established by Amar Chhajed in 1998 and in just fourteen years he built the company to international standards, fit enough to be invested in by world leaders in packaging. I wrote on Amar Chajjed in August 2010 in my post titled, "AmarChhajed…we are available 24 hours!" I could forsee at that time this company rising to global levels. I reproduce below the official press release;
 
 
Suresh Gupta, CEO
PPL Huhtamaki
Huhtamäki Oyj's subsidiary in India has acquired 51% of the shares in privately held Webtech Labels Private Limited for a debt free purchase price of approximately EUR 7 million. Webtech Labels Private Limited is specialized in manufacturing high-end pressure sensitive labels, especially to pharmaceutical customers. The annual net sales of the company are approximately EUR 10 million. The acquisition complements the Flexible Packaging segment's existing product portfolio. "We continue to implement our growth strategy, and we are pleased to add this expertise to our offering in a fast-growing market such as India," says Jukka Moisio, CEO of Huhtamäki Oyj.
 
For further information, please contact:
Jukka Moisio, CEO, tel. +358 10 686 7801
Timo Salonen, CFO, tel. +358 10 686 7880
Katariina Hietaranta, Head of Group Communications and IR, tel. +358 10 686 7863
 
HUHTAMÄKI OYJ
Group Communications
 
Huhtamaki Group is a leading manufacturer of consumer and specialty packaging with 2011 net sales totaling EUR 2 billion. Foodservice and consumer goods markets are served by approximately 14,000 people in 62 manufacturing units and several sales offices in 31 countries. The parent company, Huhtamäki Oyj, has its head office in Espoo, Finland and its share is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. Additional information is available at www.huhtamaki.com.

Reported by, Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi 

Huhtamäki Oyj acquires controlling stake in Webtech Labels in India

Huhtamäki Oyj acquires controlling stake in Webtech Labels in India

Mumbai based Webtech labels lead by Amar Chhajed and cousin Jitesh Chhajed is yet another leading label company that has been acquired by an internationally renowned company Huhtamaki Oyj’s subsidiary in India PPL Huhtamaki. This is in line with the trend, that international label and packaging producing companies continue to consider India as their most important destination for market expansion. In my last post two weeks back titled, “Joint Ventures, Mergers, Acquisitions & International Partners, still Positive in labels“.

I mentioned, “Meanwhile constituents of the label industry are talking in hushed tones about another deal that has taken place but since the stake holders do not confirm publically, it remains gossip that goes on.” This was it! I could not disclose the names as ethically it was wrong to disclose while the formalities were in progress. It is now official.

Webtech was established by Amar Chhajed in 1998 and in just fourteen years he built the company to international standards, fit enough to be invested in by world leaders in packaging. I wrote on Amar Chajjed in August 2010 in my post titled, “AmarChhajed…we are available 24 hours!” I could forsee at that time this company rising to global levels. I reproduce below the official press release;

Huhtamäki Oyj’s subsidiary in India has acquired 51% of the shares in privately held Webtech Labels Private Limited for a debt free purchase price of approximately EUR 7 million. Webtech Labels Private Limited is specialized in manufacturing high-end pressure sensitive labels, especially to pharmaceutical customers. The annual net sales of the company are approximately EUR 10 million. The acquisition complements the Flexible Packaging segment’s existing product portfolio. “We continue to implement our growth strategy, and we are pleased to add this expertise to our offering in a fast-growing market such as India,” says Jukka Moisio, CEO of Huhtamäki Oyj.

For further information, please contact:
Jukka Moisio, CEO, tel. +358 10 686 7801
Timo Salonen, CFO, tel. +358 10 686 7880
Katariina Hietaranta, Head of Group Communications and IR, tel. +358 10 686 7863HUHTAMÄKI OYJ
Group CommunicationsHuhtamaki Group is a leading manufacturer of consumer and specialty packaging with 2011 net sales totaling EUR 2 billion. Foodservice and consumer goods markets are served by approximately 14,000 people in 62 manufacturing units and several sales offices in 31 countries. The parent company, Huhtamäki Oyj, has its head office in Espoo, Finland and its share is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. Additional information is available at www.huhtamaki.com.
Reported by, Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi 

Joint Ventures, Mergers, Acquisitions & International Partners, still Positive in labels.

Joint Ventures, Mergers, Acquisitions & International Partners, still Positive in labels.
Joint Ventures, Mergers and Acquisitions, etc. seem to be the topic of discussion when different members of the self adhesive label industry meet these days. These takeovers and alliances happen or become predominant in different situations and circumstances. In a particular scenario when times are bad, demand is down and business owners find that operating margins are low, demanding a need to restructure, look for an exit route or join partners who can bring in value to the operations. In another scenario when the going is very good, the growth is consistently in double digits and larger players are eyeing the market, at this time business owners either get a good price and call it quits or partner with the larger players with global presence to achieve a situation of monopolistic leadership. In India the situation is slightly different, the basic concept of double digit growth is relevant yet the industry is in a rather nascent stage as compared to international markets. Single owner companies, who are rather small as compared to large international label printing entities, are at the forefront of this industry offering a readymade platform to those who wish to enter the Indian markets. Big international label printing and packaging products manufacturing companies who realise that the large Indian literate population is turning out to be one of the biggest consumer product segment in the world, are considering investments in ventures here, to access these markets. To get a slice of this lucrative market they are on the prowl looking for ventures they can acquire or partner with, for an immediate entry into Indian label printing industry. It happens to be the quickest route as they take over or partner with existing successful label companies, already servicing large fmcg and multinational users.
 
International players have been in India for long. Johnson & Johnson are linked to history of label in India. They started to produce labels way back in 1978. Then there is CGPPI at Goa and Birla 3M in Bangalore but these were planned ventures set-up long years ago. The Joint Ventures, mergers and acquisitions in the current scenario all started when Kusum and Kartar Dunglay of Goodwork Company Delhi met Marc Reynders at a show in New Delhi. They eventually started their joint venture Reydunn at Manesar, Gurgaon in 2005. Unfortunately the partners later fell apart and both went their own ways. Reynders now run their wholly owned label unit at Chopanki in Rajasthan and Reydunn is a part of the Goodwork group operating from Naraina, New Delhi. In 2006 Brady Corporation headquartered in Milwaukee USA employing 6500people and  sales of 1.34 Billion US dollars setup a wholly owned company Brady Company India Pvt. Ltd. in Bangalore to produce labels for safety, security, identification, die-cut profiles, and specialty products. A little later my friend Mikael Dahl of Nordvalls Sweden joined hands with Venu Ayyar of Laxmi Compugraphics to enter into a JV. Nodvalls is an over 100 year old company with a turnover of over 19 Million Euros and over 105 employees. This venture too did not take off. I quote Mikael in an email received on 12th October 2012, “Unfortunately we had to terminate the cooperation with Laxmi, press is for sale”. In the meanwhile Nordvalls has bought over one of their national competitors  to grow further and become the No.1 label company in Sweden. Just a year later in 2007, Printcare Srilanka, a 27 Million Dollar Company started their unit Printcare India Pvt. Ltd. at Coimbatore. The unit as I understand is doing well. Until this time, given the track record and business model of such JV endeavors, the growing and enterprising label printers were not worried.
 
 It was only on the 21st of March 2011, that a press release from CCL Label Worldwide ruffled many feathers and set the ball rolling towards the current trend of JV’s and acquisitions. CCL label headquartered in Canada, employing 5800 employees at 61 locations around the world, acquired 50% stake in Dubai based Label Co. Pacman. In the same press release a line read; “The partners have also agreed in principle to a prospective future Greenfield investment by Pacman- CCL in India.” If the world’s largest label company was planning to invest in India, it was time for Indians to take stock. They had to consider partnering with other international partners to face the challenges coming from such large entities. Though CCL has yet to announce their entry into India in label production, yet leading Indian label manufacturers have opened their doors by either selling out or partnering with larger players.
Early this year in February 2012 the industry was surprised by the news that Bangalore based Wintek Flexoprints had been acquired by Hyderabad based ITW Signode, ITW India Ltd. a subsidiary of multi-billion dollar fortune 200 global industrial products company ITW, with headquarters in Illinois USA.
 
A few weeks later one of the Europe’s largest label producing company Skanem with headquarters in Slavanger, Norway, acquired 51% stake in India’s largest label company, Mumbai based Interlabels with sales of over 19Million Euros and 220 employees. The new entity is renamed as Skanem Interlabels. This has definitely triggered a trend in the label industry. Just six months later, we have the news that Bangalore based SGRE labels, has been fully acquired by Mumbai based Positive Packaging Industries Ltd. the flagship company of Enpee Group, an international conglomerate with over 50 years of business experience. Positive Packaging is a pioneer in flexible packaging with state-of-the-art facilities located strategically in India, Nigeria and the U.A.E. They offer packaging solutions to customers in various countries through a robust international sales and service network, catering to diverse sectors including FMCG, Agro products and Pet food.  The acquired business is now named as Positive Labels. This trend seems to be on the increase, more and more Indian printers are looking for partners. Some admit it others like to keep everything secret. However there are quite a handful of them who would like to have international partners to expand their businesses with global presence. Meanwhile constituents of the label industry are talking in hushed tones about another deal that has taken place but since the stake holders do not confirm publically, it remains gossip that goes on.
 
The industry is undergoing a fast transformation from being small, single owner, mostly first generation entrepreneur owned enterprises with one or two label presses to larger companies with diverse product offerings like labels, flexible packaging and cartons. These companies have made huge capital investments and are in the forefront of the label industry. The single owner family managed companies who have made rapid strides by investing in multiple label presses to expand and grow to meet the current demands of their end users include companies like Update Prints, Regal Creative, Syndicate labels, Anygraphics and Zircon in North India, Classic Images in East India, Webtech, Ajanta, Mudrika, Mahrishi, Letragraphics, Renault paper, Unique, etc. in western India and Seljegat in South India. Two of the others who expanded in South India have been already acquired. Larger professionally managed companies who have presence in offset printing, flexible packaging or carton manufacturing, who have invested in label printing include Uflex, PPL-Huhtamaki, Positive Packaging, Shree Rama Multitech, ITW, Pragati offset group, ITC, etc.
Definite segmentation has taken place in the Indian label printing industry. At the lowest end is the biggest labelstock consuming segment of the industry. These include companies who produce plain labels, barcode labels, gun labels, computer labels, EDP/VIP labels, etc. In the middle are the printers who cater to the unorganized sector and smaller manufacturers of consumer goods mainly in the MSME (Micro Small & Medium enterprises) sector. The top end that drives in the highest revenues caters to the larger companies, FMCG sector, multinationals, pharmaceutical companies, organized retail, etc. They are the ones producing the highly decorative and complicated labels on their state of art equipments. It is this top end of the label companies where all the JV’s or acquisitions are taking place. With FDI(Foreign Direct Investment) in multibrand retail permitted in India, growth rates in label consumption will rise.
 
 
 
With volumes expected to increase and come from the need of packaged goods that will be retailed to a young and large population, the sentiment in the industry will remain “Positive in labels”.
 
 
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 October, 2012

Show time and Celebration time, in Label industry!

Show time and Celebration time, in Label industry!
The festival season in India begins by the end of September and goes on till the middle of April. This is a time when people in general are in mood to celebrate. The weather also gets cooler and helps. During this time the Label printing and packaging industry also has a series of events in their industry to keep them busy because it is show time!
 
The biggest label show in India, Tarsus UK owned Labelexpo-India is to be held in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan from 29th October to 1st November 2012. The show is just days away, the hype is already there and the Label printers are looking forward to a good show. The virtual who-is-who of the label and packaging industry in India and the surrounding countries will converge to meet at this four day event. The show intends to empower the visitors with knowledge of the latest trends and technologies evolving around the world. State of art label presses, inspection systems, equipments, toolings, software and materials will be on display. As many as 23 working presses are likely to be showcasing their printing capabilities at this international event. The last edition of the premiere show was held in 2010 when the economic slowdown was just tapering off and the indulgence of printers may have been a little restrained. The industry is now buoyant, growing and expecting a surge in demand due to a spate of economic reforms initiated by the present Government of India. FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in multi-brand retail has been allowed and is expected to bring in an imperative need for shelf ready attractive packages. Labels are the face of any fast moving branded product and better labels with good aesthetics not only liven up the shelves but also tempt the consumers to lift the products and add to the retailer’s turnover. The Label printer has to continuously invest in upgrading his capabilities to print, decorate and convert. The general sentiment indicates the printers will be serious this time around and exhibitors will woo them with their best offerings. The event also accords opportunity to label printers and other stake holders in the industry to meet their peers in the industry share thoughts and knowledge. It is also time renew the bonds of friendship.

 


Harveer Sahni Weldon, Mohd. Nadeem CEO Paharpur-3P,
Alan Barreto MD Nilpeter India
 Less than two weeks before Labelexpo opens another event was organized also in New Delhi. “Packaging Summit-Challenges and Opportunities” by Assocham (Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India) and supported by the Ministry of MSME (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) on the 17th of October 2012.  Assocham is the highest body of the Chambers of Commerce of India, providing a forum for dialogue between business and government. The summit had speakers from the label, packaging industry and the Government. Speakers from Labels and packaging segment were Allan Baretto MD Nilpeter India, Asim Dutta Head of packaging development at JubilantLife sciences, Mohd. Nadeem, CEO, Paharpur – 3P, V B Lall, V.P., Indian Plastics Institute and Director, SCJ Plastics Ltd., myself; Harveer Sahni from Weldon Celloplast Limited and N C Saha Director Indian Institute of Packaging. Senior officers from the Ministry of MSME and other departments also spoke at the event.  One week after Labelexpo ends in Delhi, International Packtech, organized by Messe Dusseldorf will be held from 6th to 8th of December 2012 at Bombay exhibition centre, Goregaon, Mumbai. This event has a limited participation from suppliers to label industry. Therefore I do not expect many label printers travelling across the country to visit the show. However the packaging industry including suppliers and end users are likely to visit the show.

 

 

“Printpack” is the largest show for printing and packaging industry in India and also the 4th largest in the world. This time the show is being held at the Greater NOIDA Expo Center from 23rd to 28th February 2013. It will be the first time this show is not being held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Generally shows get popular and recognized with the venues that they have found success at. This is an important show that caters to the printing and packaging industry, demand in which, according to the organizers is likely to cross 27 Billion US Dollars. At their last showing at Pragati Maidan, they reported a visitor turnout in access of 50,000 in numbers. I wonder if they can repeat that success at a changed venue, only time will tell. In between the shows that I mention above, there are a lot of small regional shows in smaller towns spread over North, West and South India. With the number of shows going on increasing coupled with already existing successful and important shows in Europe, USA and now China, the pressure on printers, suppliers and visitors has also increased. Signs of discontent are already showing. Competition and market demands create paucity of time. Printers need also to invest with caution. The no. of genuine visitors to shows is likely to decline. Drupa is a classic example of falling No. of visitors and if this trend continues, it may lead to losses for organizer and deterioration of standards at these shows. However for growing economies like India and China, the show culture has become a must for entrepreneurs wanting to expand. The better organized shows at popular venues are more likely to succeed. The content and visitor profile of any good show ensures good bookings for the following edition and vice versa is also true. We do hope that these shows deliver the promise to empower the label and print packaging fraternity with technical up gradation and opportunity to select technologies for their future expansion.




 

 

Narendra Paruchuri, M D Pragati

 

Pragati Offset Hyderabad celebrated their Golden Jubilee recently at Hyderabad. Being invited to the event I was surprised by the commitment, involvement and participation of the entire team. I have already written about them in this column last year. The team Pragati is now 1800 in numbers! The founder Mr. Hanumantha Paruchuri and his wife were on stage. At this age the man was in the midst of the party enjoying his guests which included customers, suppliers, media and friends in the industry. The evening saw almost 1000 guests sharing the joy of having excelled in print for 50 years! Pragati’s trophies, awards and works of excellence over the years were also on display. The following evening another party for the team Pragati with 1500 employees in attendance is the real essence, of celebrating success with those who contributed to the excellence that delivered.

 

The Indian Label press manufacturers are creating another story that is unfolding and appears to be having a bright future. Leading the pack is Amit Ahuja of Multitec Aids, a qualified design engineer. His last showing at Labelexpo 2010 Delhi, then Labelexpo 2011 Brussels and now in Labelexpo 2012 Delhi later this month is all the firsts that any label press manufacturer in this country could dream or achieve. He is producing machines that stand up to challenges and exacting demands in the international marketplace. I am not allowed to disclose but as he says he will surprise the label industry with his latest offering on display at his stand at the show. I look forward to the product that he will showcase. He has installed 14 machines in the last twelve months.

 

Jandu Label Press
Baldev Singh Jandu from his modest beginnings has come a long way. He has catered to the needs of the label industry in more than one way. His label printing machines are a must for any small entrant in the industry. Barcode labels, gun labels, computer labels EDP labels, toll tickets, etc., Jandu is the name that will deliver. He also supplies coater laminators, slitters, sheeters and other converting machines. He too has installed 14 label presses in the last twelve months. R K Machines in Ahmedabad is another machine supplier who continues to service the entry level printers. I will attempt to estimate imported presses including the used ones at another time as it is a difficult exercise. The agents of foreign press manufacturers do not like to disclose the figures for obvious reason. Considering the installations of these three Indian leaders in label press manufacturing,  and if I add another similar figure coming from other smaller regional players, the Indian label printers seem to have sold over 50 label presses! Truly the Indian label industry is shifting gears!

 

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 October, 2012

 

SGRE Labels Bangalore, acquired by Positive packaging!

SGRE Labels Bangalore, acquired by Positive packaging!
Mumbai based Positive Packaging Industries Ltd. the flagship company of  Enpee Group, an international conglomerate with over 50 years of business experience, has in a recent move acquired Bangalore based SGRE Labels Private Limited. Positive Packaging is a pioneer in flexible packaging with state-of-the-art facilities located strategically in India, Nigeria and the U.A.E. They offer packaging solutions to customers in various countries through a robust international sales & and service network, catering to diverse sectors including FMCG, Agro products and Pet food.
 
This acquisition is a part of a series of moves in the Indian label industry, which seems to be undergoing a transformation by partnering with larger players to meet the challenges of globally active label printing companies indulging in domestic markets. This also provides the companies so acquired an access to international markets. I reproduce below the press release from Positive Packaging;
 
 
Positive Packaging continues growth and diversification, acquires Label manufacturing business: Move to address demand for superior, multifunction labels, from existing clients and add new customers.
 
Mumbai, India, 18 Sep 2012: Positive Packaging Industries Ltd. is pleased to announce the acquisition of Label manufacturing business of “SGRE Labels Pvt. Ltd.”, in a bid to offer its customers single stop packaging solutions. This acquisition follows the recent integration of ICM Packaging and is part of Positive’s vision to have the ‘Preferred Supplier’ status with its customers and equips Positive with state-of-the-art label packaging equipment and infrastructure.

Pranesh Kankanwadi, Group MD Positive
  Explaining the strategic acquisition, Mr. Pranesh Kankanwadi, Group Managing Director, Positive Packaging says, “We have observed the increased scope of requirements of our customers, who prefer to deal with a single supplier for a wider range of their packaging requirements. One of the requirements is labels. Being prompt to react to our customers’ needs, we clinched the opportunity to provide superior labelling solutions at par with global standards that Positive is known for.
 
 
The label manufacturing business of “SGRE Labels Pvt. Ltd.” is located at Bengaluru. The Company has state of the art European machines with additional equipment scheduled for commissioning in March 2013. The company has in house design facility, managed by a experienced technical team. To facilitate the quick turnaround of short run jobs and product sampling, company is also equipped with HP Indigo Digital Printing/Converting equipment.
 
The continued significant investments underline Positive’s commitment to all stakeholders to grow the relationship in a mutually beneficial manner.
 
Positive Packaging, a part of the international conglomerate, the Enpee Group; is a one-stop source for quality, printed and laminated, barrier-grade flexible packaging with manufacturing facilities in India, Nigeria and U.A.E. In India, Positive Packaging is a leading player in the flexible packaging space.
 
To know more about Positive Packaging, visit the website: www.positivepackaging.com Media Contact: Mr. Nem Kumar Jain – Sr. Manager – Corporate Communications njain@positivepackaging.com | +91 – 22 – 39211400