In effort to provide a platform for interaction between Brand Owners and label printers; leading to evolution, creativity in labels, understand the needs of buyers, discuss statutory requirements and evaluate sustainability in labels, the Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI) has been organising events. Senior packaging development professionals from leading brands in different segments like Pharma, Cosmetics, Liquor, Food, FMCG, etc. are invited to address India’s top label companies and to interact with them in panel discussions and network in a relaxed atmosphere. Printers from all categories and get to meet the people who drive the evolution and set trends for the future of labels. The 3rd such event titled, “Future-Next: Brand owners’ perception of Labels” was held on 29th June 2019 at Hotel “The Park, New Delhi”. The event was also intended to be a precursor for the LMAI conference slated to be held at Kochi in a little over three weeks. Though the LMAI Brand Owners event is restricted to only label printers yet this time all the sponsors of the forthcoming conference at Kochi, Kerala were given the option to attend and many leading suppliers to the label industry were seen together with printers and brand owners. Over 100 delegates and media persons attended a very successful event.

The evening was moderated by past LMAI President and Managing Director of Mumbai based Creative Labels, Vivek Kapoor. Other LMAI board members who flew in from Mumbai specially for the event include Ajay Mehta Managing Director SMI Coated Papers, Amit Sheth of Label Planet and LMAI Kochi Conference Chairman and past President LMAI, Manish Desai.  

After a brief welcome speech by President LMAI, Kuldip Goel, Pavankumar Chougule Associate Director, packaging development, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories made the first presentation.

He informed the audience about the expectations of the pharmaceuticals industry with emphasis on Regulatory compliance and Patient Safety, Smart Packaging, Secure Supply Chain, Data Security, Personalization, New Developments and Sustainability.

Santanu Chowdhury, Senior general manager, global packaging development, Sun Pharmaceutical spoke on interactive labels which he asserted is the future next for labels. Explaining the nuances of creation of embedded code on the labels and how the technology works, he dwelled on possibility of data management with integration on the servers of an organisation.

He also stressed that interactive solutions create brand loyalty. Technology offers great opportunities to digitally connect your physical products with your consumers, tailored to business goals. The consumer experience is converted into data business intelligence.

Soumyanath Mishra, head packaging development at Mankind Research Centre a part of Mankind Pharmaceuticals spoke on the requirements for pharmaceutical labelling, especially for exports. He also mentioned that Packaging & Labelling have a significant role to play as it provides the first point of contact with the patients or customers.

It provides important communication and help to build a credible brand as well. Proper Labelling helps in creating a good first impression of your product on the customers since the customer is procuring through on-line.

“Today we are a part of Generation X” said Naveen Stuart, packaging development manager, Reckitt Benckiser, he also mentioned that there is a demographic and cultural shift which is witnessed in today’s world. The generation is now moving towards a digital world. 

There is an imperative need to look beyond decoration of labels, Label needs to play an extensive role in package design process and convey the whole brand story. As regards digitalization he said; behavior of consumer is paramount to brand owner’s decision, error free smart label process, quick turn-around time and consistent quality. Also, digitilization in pre-press process aids error free production.

A very interesting presentation was made by Tamal Ghosh, strategic packaging development leader, corporate packaging development, Dabur India whereby he spoke on Brand Owner’s perspective, on labeling trends and their expectation and requirements that they need from converters.

These expectations include need for thinner filmic release liners contributing to sustainability as they can be recycled and lower tonnage of liner waste, flexible filmic label substrates for contoured shapely containers and label decoration capabilities.

The last presentation was made impromptu by none other than Somnath Chatterjee GM procurement in Pernod-Ricard India, he spoke on the imperative decorative and brand security needs of liquor industry. He asserted, it was an imperative to deliver genuine and safe products to consumer customers who trust them.

A panel discussion followed, moderated by the author, Harveer Sahni of Weldon Celloplast. A very interactive session that dwelled on various aspects of label industry. Barun Banerjee, Head of Packaging Nestle, gave very important inputs as regards government regulations and sustainability.

All speakers and guests on the panel enlightened the audience. Final comments of Kuldip Goel President LMAI and Managing Director Any Graphics were “We need to mentor our generation next for the label industry to move on”

All sponsors to Kochi conference were invitees and many like Avery, SMI, Label Planet, Vinsak, Reifenhauser, Weldon, etc. attended. Leading printers besides those in LMAI management  from various locations in India included, Manish Desai-Mudrika Labels Mumbai, Sanjeev Sondhi-Zircon Dehradun, Priyata Raghavan-Sai Security Faridabad, Yoga Murthy Chromaprint Coimbatore, Mohit-Encana Baddi, Ankit Kapoor-Printrays Jalandhar, Parshav and Rishab Jain, Jain Transfer-Noda, Aditya Chadha-Update Prints Gurgaon, Gurpreet Dilawari-Printwell Haridwar and so many more.

Networking

The evening ended looking forward to getting together again at KOCHI!
Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi July 2019
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