Harveer Sahni

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Anuj Bhargava, Kumar Labels: Destiny drove him to labels!

Anuj Bhargava, Kumar Labels: Destiny drove him to labels!
While still in school Anuj Bhargava loved good music and the quality of sound stirred up emotions within him such that he wished to make it better. He was in class six of New Delhi’s prominent Delhi Public School, when he developed an amplifier and sold it to a friend. Encouraged by the deal he went on to make almost 50 more such equipment and sold to friends and relatives at that young age. The interest in electronics lead him join YCCE College of engineering and pursue further studies leading to BE (Bachelor of Engineering) in electronics.  Thereafter he went to USA to do MS in electronics. As luck would have it, after the first semester he had a change of heart and switched to study industrial engineering. He worked to support his education while studying in America. On completing his masters in Industrial Engineering, Anuj took up employment in the central engineering department of Corning Glass for display technology. His job required him to coordinate with all Corning plants in various countries like Japan, Taiwan, Korea, etc. In 2002 itself he got posted to their plant in Japan. As luck would have it, before he arrived the company’s packaging development engineer had left job and Anuj was asked to replace him. Anuj whose family was in printing and packaging, had advised him to avoid printing and packaging as a career but that is kismet! Fate had destined him elsewhere he wished one day to be in electronics, another day he wanted to be in the furniture business but had to give up due to the huge investment needed, finally landed up with a job in a global company in their packaging department for large sized glassware.
 
In 2006 Anuj resigned from his job and returned back home. His father S K Bhargava was

planning to visit Ipex exhibition in Birmingham, Anuj decided to accompany him to visit the premier show in printing and packaging. While in college he was greatly influenced by a professor who was an expert and consultant to aerospace industry on lean management. Lean management was a subject Anuj always felt would be an asset to manufacturing which he would eventually indulge in. Digital printing appealed to him and implementation of lean manufacturing principles in the process seemed to be in synergy. Moreover digital printing appealed to him because of instant creativity and delivering possibilities that it offered. All through at Ipex show he kept studying digital printing but yet again fate had other plans for him. By end of Ipex he realized PSA labels were talk of the time. The growth that it was offering and the possibility of success on indulgence made him decide to seriously contemplate labels as his business. Strange as it is, destiny drove him to labels.

 

 

 

M K Bhargava, Chairman Kumar Printers
Anuj is from the second generation of the Bhargava family who scaled immense success in the printing industry in North. His uncle M K Bhagava who has been a mentor to Anuj, is the eldest of the three brothers, initiated his career in printing as a freelancer. He would seek orders from customers and outsource printing form other printing companies like Delhi Press, Zodiac Printers etc. In 1964 M K Bhargava started his maiden venture Kumar Printers with a leased single colour Dominant press, from a 200-300 square foot factory in Doriwalan in Karol Bagh Delhi. The second brother N C Bhargava and Anuj’s father; the youngest of the siblings, S K Bharagava who was pursuing studies at Allahabad Print College, joined Kumar Printers soon after. In 1970 all three brothers joined in Kumar Printers to take the business forward. M K Bhargava had gained knowledge from having worked with established printers during his stint as a freelance printer and it helped them establish and grow their maiden venture. With deep commitment to human values, quality, integrity and hard work, the family grew their business. Their mantra for themselves as also to their generation next was that each one had to work his way up in life and nothing would come to them served on a platter. They encouraged their second generation to set up their own ventures. M K Bhargava ‘s son Sandeep is an alumni of IIT Chennai, Sanjeev son of N C Bhargava is an MBA and Anuj has been described in the opening paragraph of this article. Sandeep inherited the reigns of Kumar Printers while his father still continues to be with him at work at an age of 83 years, Sanjeev set up his venture Premier Paper Packaging and S K Bhargava‘s only son Anuj set up his maiden venture Kumar labels. Interesting to note that the elder Bhargava brothers continue to be together as directors at Kumar Printers while their second generation, have set up new businesses separately. All three ventures are successful and continue to grow. The family businesses do not compete amongst themselves.
 
When destiny appeared to have lead him to labels, AnujBhargava on return from the Ipex trip in 2006 decided to evaluate a life in labels. In the process he did a feasibility study, met prospective customers and wrote a business plan. He spoke to many label printers and was surprised that most people suggested that he invest in a Mark Andy rotary flexo press, a very popular brand those days. Anuj was not impulsively indulgent, the as he researched, he came to the conclusion that major end user customers had now started to demand short runs on a regular basis. He saw the gap in that segment and decided to go for an intermittent Letterpress label machine instead of a rotary press that was suited for larger volumes as he saw a demand for short runs growing and smaller run supplies from rotary flexo printers coming hesitantly. Before investing in a press, he ordered a plate making machine. With negatives and plates he left for Korea and Taiwan. Using the same plates he got samples printed on various presses that included Iwasaki, Shiki, Bangsung, STR, Dolphin, Mida and Orthotec to do a decision analysis. While in Corning glass, he had learnt about Kepener Tregoe problem solving and decision making tool. This tool is used by all aerospace companies. Since he had been trained to use this tool he used it to make comparison and evaluation of the printed samples. On completion of analysis, Bangsung won with the highest numbers and the decision was made. The order was finally placed with Bangsung. As luck would have Anuj got a nod from PNB for machine loan based on which he placed order for the machine. However at the very last moment PNB declined and within 15 days Anuj obtained funding from SIDBI (Small Industries Bank of India).
 
It all started in 2007 with the arrival of his first label press, an intermittent Bangsung at a 
The die cutting machine developed by Anuj
1740 square feet rented factory in Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi. Two years later in 2009, Anuj bought another identical Bangsung press and the shop floor space in Okhla fell short. In 2011 he shifted his factory to an 18000 square feet rented factory in Sector 83 NOIDA, on the outskirts of Delhi. He also added an inspection machine and a screen printing equipment. With space at his disposal and business growing, the outgoing entrepreneur in Anuj became unstoppable. In 2012 he added two Multitecflexo rotary label presses. One was installed in January 2012 and another in June 2012. In the same year Anuj started his own captive machine division to build semi rotary intermittent registered die cutting machine. He showcased this equipment initially at Labelexpo India 2012 and later at Labelexpo Europe in Brussels in 2013 and 2015. Till date he has sold 16 machines and all are working well. He is proud to say repeat orders came from export markets of Poland and Korea. In 2013 Anuj decided to integrate backwards and started to produce silicon release papers and self adhesive labelstocks for his captive consumption. 
 
The Gallus at Kumar Labels
By this time in 2013 not only was the space in the factory getting crowded but the lease was expiring and the landlord also was not willing to renew. Anuj, took the bold step of buying a plot of land admeasuring 1750 square Meters in Greater Noida. In 2014 he started construction, finished it in a record time of 48 days due to pressure of vacating the previous premises and moved into the new 25000 square foot factory in September 2014. Once operational in their owned new factory, Anuj bought another screen printing machine, a Gallus label press, and many ancillary equipment. For his label sock manufacturing he added equipment to produce label materials with special effects and textures. In the same year he filed two patents. A year on in 2015 Anuj bought the adjacent 1800 square Meters of land for further expansion.
 
Kumar labels is Anuj Bhargava ‘s sole proprietorship company, reminiscing his earliest days
Anuj Bhargava with Harveer Sahni
 when he started printing labels he mentions his first customer that was his big  break, was Bausch & Laumb. They gave him a complicated label with a very tight registration to print. However much they tried they were not getting it right. That night he himself stood on the machine and kept on trying and finally got it right at 3am in the morning. He took the materials in his car and supplied to the customer some 80 Kms away and returned home at 5.30 am. Anuj has active support from his wife Somya, a Bangalore girl he married after his first year in labels. They have two children a daughter aged 6 and a son aged 4. Somya is an engineer with MBA and looks after Finance, procurement and HR and comes to work Mondays to Fridays. Kumar labels, is presently working with 9 label presses, 105 employees and a shop floor 25000 square feet in size. They have additional land next door for expansion. Anuj believes in continuously training employees so that they are not left stranded when some employees quit. He proudly states that he has trained over 300 persons in label conversion but is not comfortable with the fact that in this industry skilled employee retention is a problem. This so, at a time when competition is getting to be intense and reverse auctions making life very uneasy. He plans to shortly start a special technical training program under the aegis of Government of India SkillDevelopment Program.
 
As for future Anuj wishes to concentrate on art of print and create innovations in labels. He wishes his enterprise to be a front runner in decoration of labels for leading brands where quality and innovation will matter and not just volumes. He wants and is committed to make his business grow 15% per annum not just in top line but in the bottom lines so that with added profitability he can invest more in creativity. Digital printing does catch his interest and the indulgence may happen soon when his plans and ideas for it fall into place. He is also in the process of developing a process to reduce waste in self adhesive labels by almost 50% but for that he says, “I will divulge later when ready”.
 
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director,Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India May 2017
 
The article was first printed in Printweek India.

Label industry in UAE: Intense competition, still growing!

Label industry in UAE: Intense competition, still growing!
Sheikh Zayed Road Dubai
UAE (United Arab Emirates), a federation of seven countries has a population of just about 9 million out of which over 85% are expatriates, yet there is a label industry that is growing steadily and is attracting interest from global suppliers all the time. At the start of this millennium the number of label printers in UAE worth the mention was less than 10. The number of label companies has been rapidly growing ever since. Those were the days when Industrial growth started seeing an upswing in UAE. The number of companies from India who started to set up shop in the UAE was also growing. Indian label printers who were ambitious to go global started to make efforts to use UAE as a gateway to the world of international business. The then Finance minister (later Prime Minister) Dr. Manmohan Singh’s economic liberalization programs had become the catalyst in aiding the Indian entrepreneurs’ aspiration to be called a multinational!
 
Dubai has always been the face of UAE even though in terms of area it is just less than 5% of the of the total of 83,600 km² area of UAE (The whole of UAE in terms of area is smaller than the small state of Meghalaya in East India). The largest emirate (or country) in UAE is Abu Dhabi at 67,340 square kilometers, yet it is Dubai that is recognized as the face of UAE. Dubai has a population of 2.7 million that, if not already there, is inching towards a figure twice that of the population in Abu Dhabi. Surprisingly the percentage of women in Dubai is just 31 % and men 69 % according to data available as of 2014. This is largely due to expatriate population who, leave their families back home and travel to UAE for gainful employment. The gender mismatch is also similar in other emirates. UAE is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on December 2, 1971. 
 
 
 
The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. UAE is a major international tourist and business hub. It has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world at nearly $25,000 USD.  UAE has approximately 10% of the world's total known oil reserves, 90% of these oil reserves are in Abu Dhabi and only about 10% of these are in Dubai. UAE is not anymore solely reliant on oil and gas revenues. The oil sector contributes about 30% of the country's GDP.  Lead by Dubai the trade, tourism, real estate and construction are large contributors to UAE economy. Sometimes one wonders how a country with population and area less than most big cities in India, continues to attract such fervor for tourism and investment. Indians form over 25 % of UAE population. With the country being home to between 50,000 and 60,000 Indian companies, today India is UAE's largest trading partner.
 
The label industry in UAE is facing a more or less similar situation as in India. The market keeps growing and the number of printers also keeps on increasing, thereby translating into intense competition and lower margins. Being a federation of emirates or countries with low population, it is actually the exports that are driving growth in labels. From being a trading distribution centre, UAE has transformed to be a manufacturing hub selling globally. The immediate access to Middle-Eastern and African markets is the starting point for all label companies and as they step up their capabilities, from here they venture into Europe and beyond as well. The glitter, liberal life style, cosmopolitan character and excellent infrastructure of Dubai and the rest of UAE, has always tempted the ambitious investors to establish presence here. According to recent Smithers Pira report, total printing revenues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA Region) were $17.6 billion in 2012, and are forecast to grow 7.2% per annum reaching $26 billion by 2018. On trying to reach an approximate market size in the region; considering labels to be 20% of the total print industry, the size of label industry in this region in 2018 is estimated at $5.2 Billion. Pressure sensitive labels being a little over 40% of the total labels industry one can estimate the market size of pressure sensitive labels in the MENA region in 2018 to reach approximately $2.08 Billion.
 
 
UAE Label industry is largely, either owned, run or managed by Indian expatriates. This
Kimoha Factory in Dubai
 market is divided into 3 distinct segments; (A) the top end that has 5-6 very big players. (B) The big players that are the middle segment and (C) The not so big players who are either testing their luck or are the offshoots, ex employees of A & B trying to emulate their ex-employers. As is always, the middle segment suffers the most as they are continuously held back by the competition from the smaller players making it difficult for them to invest so as to get into the top segment due to lower margins and unviable return on investment. The niche or top segment has the least competition but delivering to customer’s expectations and retention is in itself a big challenge that the top players keep attending to so as to meet the demands of their high end customers. Therefore the increase in number of printing companies, affects largely within the segments they operate in. The established top players in UAE include; Emirates Printing Forms in Abu Dhabi, Kimoha in Jebel Ali-Dubai, Pacman CCL in Alquoz-Dubai, Futurepack in Sharjah and GulfAdhesive Label Factory in Ajman. In recent times established Indian companies who have invested in UAE include Gulfscan, Prakash Labels and Ajanta packaging.
 
Vinesh Bhimani Managing Director Kimoha
The rough estimate of the total market size in terms of labelstock usage in UAE alone is approximately 50 million square meters per year. This maybe off the mark, but after interaction with leading printers, this estimation has been arrived at. We cannot really translate this in terms of per capita usage as about 80 % of the labelstock is exported either as converted labels or as a part of manufactured end products. UAE appears to be a bigger market then Saudi Arabia for production of labels because of better infrastructure and liberal policies aided by no tax regime for sales within the GCC countries. According to Nimeesh Lilani at PacmanCCL, “The reason for this is the ease of doing business in UAE, easy availability of funds and it being a logistic hub with ease of making clearances and shipments”. According to Vinesh Bhimani heading Kimoha, “from the just a handful of label companies,there are now in excess of 45 label companies. 
 
 
Gopalan Nair & Chinnadurai at Future Pack
The market is getting crowded”. Chinnadurai at Future Pack says, “New entrants are just one part of the story affecting margins, online auctions have started to surface in UAE also, this will be another headache!” he further added, “We are trying to replace old machines with new technologically advanced equipment to produce cost effectively.” Sachin Arya at Ajanta packaging says, “Prices have become challenging and payments are delayed making it difficult for us to operate. More and more Indians are wishing to locate outside India and to succeed; they are under compulsion to sell by undercutting prices”. Chinnadurai feels that if the trend goes on like this it will not be long before we see some people exiting this business. 
 
Assad Antonios heading Abu Dhabi based Emirates Printing Forms says, “Cost of living in
Assad Antonios of Emirates Printing Forms Abu Dhabi
 UAE has gone up and with new printing companies coming up in Africa the market place is shrinking bringing pressure on smaller players to exist” Increasing number of printing companies, bring with it the need for more operators whose demands become difficult to meet as they wish to bring their families to UAE as well. It is becoming very expensive to hire operators. One wonders how the new entrants with just one machine and that too of a lower end can survive in an economy where per capita income is one of the highest in the world and the market appears to be almost saturated. However still, most big printers have said that there is definite growth in the market. The UAE market as mentioned earlier in this report is dominated by a few large printing companies. Dubai based Pacman CCL Is headed by John Dawson and has been in the news for their recent takeover of Mumbai based Super labels. The company is a joint venture between the Albwardy group and Geoffrey Martin lead CCL Label, the world’s largest label company. They have units in Dubai, Oman, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and now India. Jebel Ali headquartered Kimoha headed by Vinesh Bhimani has been a front runner and always striving to excel. Abu Dhabi located Emirates Printing Forms has been another success story. They have grown from just being a computer forms manufacturer to a huge enterprise manufacturing Continuous forms, Self adhesive labels, document security printing, wrap around labels on wide web machines, EDP products, Shrink Sleeves, IML, Cut & Stack Labels, etc. Assad Antonios of Lebanese descent has been heading the company for last 26 years. He is proud to mention that this company, growing at a steady rate of 10% per annum, now operates out of over 100,000 square feet shop floor space with 140 employees. He is happy that due to respect given to all employees and creation of a family like atmosphere, the company has very low employee turnover. Sharjah based Future Pack is a part of the Saudi Arabian ENPI group which in turn is a part of the Saudi Printing and packaging Co. (a public listed company in Saudi Arabia). The company produces a diverse range of paper and plastic packaging. Chinnadurai as their Vice President Operations at Sharjah has lead the company from just labels to even production of specialized labelstocks and innovative label products. 
 
The Label industry in UAE started from Dubai then spread to other emirates like Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman. With real estate prices escalating and cost of living in Dubai becoming unaffordable, label printing started to come up in other Emirates like Ras Al Khaimah, Umm al-Quwain and Fujairah. Today the label printers are spread over in all emirates. However it is pertinent to note that it is not the domestic sale or locational advantage that makes them locate their units in far off emirates rather than in Dubai. It is actually the need to produce cost effectively with lower overheads that takes them to other emirates. The growing market at this manufacturing hub has made Tarsus the organizers of Labelexpo series of events around the world to invest in Gulf Print and Pack Dubai. The show has become a premier event in Middle East Asia and printers from all countries in the region make it a point to visit the show. This year’s edition, as per their official website has over 200 exhibitors. Registering a 26.7% increase, 11918 visitors from 110 countries visited the last edition of the show. The interesting part of UAE is that the local governments recognize the need for exporting and increasing their share of global trade rather than relying on the limited and fast depleting oil reserves. They have transformed the UAE economy from oil revenue based one to one based on global trading, manufacturing, tourism and real estate development. It is evident that mindset of rulers of the country will make manufacturing to prosper and with that, the market of labels in UAE will surely grow.
 
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-India February 2017
 
The article maybe published with the permission of Narrow WebTech Germany giving credit to them and to the author

For advertising enquiries please email to; harveersahni@gmail.com

Digital label printing in India, the journey has begun!

Digital label printing in India, the journey has begun!
In May 2015 I wrote on this blog that the verdict from the Indian label industry, after I had interviewed some leading printers was, “Digital for labels has to wait”. In the concluding part of my article I mentioned, “The time frame before digital printing becomes largely visible and used in label printing in India varies between three to five years.” 



 
Amar Chhajed Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech
I must here appreciate and commend Amar Chhajed of Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech labels for his foresight when he said digital printing in labels will become evident in 2-3 years. He said this in May 2015 and two years hence as we enter the third year since then, we note that some big time investments are being made in digital printing in labels. Digital printing in labels has been registering continuous growth in Europe, followed by that in North America. 


 
I and Adrian Tippenhauer MD Rako Etiketten
In my reporting on the last DRUPA, I had quoted Adrian Tippenhauer Managing Director of Rako Etiketten Germany. According to him the last 36 label presses acquired by them out of the 100s that they have, are all digital presses. If the Labelexpo-Europe and Drupa are indicators, the visitors to these shows can very well imagine the way forward. Digital was the most predominantly exhibited technology at these events. HP became the biggest exhibitor at DRUPA with an almost 5000 square meter hall showcasing their digital offerings.  Other leading suppliers of digital label presses were all there. The writing was on the wall that it would not be long before the trend starts to flourish in India. Indian label printers have been very cautious towards investing in digital printing of labels. However as they say, you cannot stop an idea whose time has come. When I researched and estimated the size of digital label market in India, the findings became interesting. By latest count the population of leading brands of digital label presses in India has reached 22 in number. This is besides the small low value small printers that some companies may have acquired. Now this is a fairly impressive figure when just a year back we had the industry largely saying that digital has to wait. Estimating the size of the digital label market I made some assumptions. The average width of the press was taken as 330mm (as widths vary from 250 mm to 370 mm), printing speed is calculated at an average of 30 running meters per minute, because it varies from 20 to 50 meters per minute for different brands and working hours assumed at 12 hours per day. This amounts to a total consumption in the industry for digitally printed labels of over 52 million square meters in a year. Self adhesive labels form the largest part of total label market which include besides self adhesive labels, shrink sleeves, wrap around labels, wet glue labels, in mould labels, etc. In October 2016 I had estimated the total Indian label industry size (mostly conventional) at almost 900 million square meters per annum. This translates into to almost 5.8 % of the total self adhesive labels in India to be printed digitally; conservatively we can assume the figure to be 5%.  This surely indicates that for digital label printing in India, the journey has begun!
 
In the last edition of LMAI’s magazine Label Legacy, Gautham Pai Managing Director of Manipal
Gautham Pai MD Manipal Technologies
 Technologies said, ““Digital printing offers a plethora of opportunities for both the suppliers and the clients. With the Indian market trending towards more customized products, a large number of brands, shorter TATs (Turnaround Times) and more ecologically sustainable solutions, Digital printing would prove to be one hallmark technology for the Label Industry.” Manipal Technologies has an HP Indigo installed at its subsidiary UPSL in Chennai. The deterrent so far for the label industry to invest in digital printing equipment has been the high cost of consumables and the end price to consumer including margins, as not being acceptable. However the evolving retail selling patterns and consumables becoming more affordable, the technology is now more relevant. As run lengths continue to shrink, short runs being more in demand and customization or personalization needs become imperative to modern day marketing; it is driving printers to think digital. Added requirement for variable data on the labels that helps companies to track and trace their products, brings about the compelling need to complement their analogue printing with digital printing. In words of Narendra Paruchuri of Pragati Pack Hyderabad who have installed an HP Indigo 6800, ““One of things that all of us must understand and appreciate is that both digital and analog will co-exist. Digital’s greatest advantage is variable data printing. Short runs are cheaper. So the areas are clearly ear marked.” Digital printing of packaging and labels is growing at an enormous pace in the western world. We have touched the tip of an iceberg; it will not be long before the trend picks up in India as well.
 
Sai Packaging team announcing Epson Surepress Purchase
The ease of use and consistency in print reached in this technology makes it interesting for established printers to indulge. Pravin Savla of J P Printers Mumbai is ecstatic that he invested in an Epson Surepress. He says, “I can print good quality on a variety of substrates using the computer to print capability. He caters to his customer base that demands short runs with so many design changes and is still profitable.” He further adds that reduced need of manpower helps him manage well with ample time on his hands. He says conventional flexo and letterpress technologies are time consuming and have hidden costs. Yet another Epson customer Arvind Shekhar of Sai Packaging Bangalore says, “We have had good experience for short run jobs defined as less than 20,000 labels for bigger size and 50,000 for smaller pharma labels and we have never had colour consistency issues with Epson.” Adding to the views of Narendra Paruchuri Arvind states, “I don’t' see it as a standalone ROI (Return on investment). When you see increased sales on Flexo plus plate costs saved; then the ROI makes sense.” Denver Annunciation from Janus International, perhaps the very first label printer to install an HP Indigo label press says, “Yes the technology has evolved a lot and we are seeing the crossover point shift higher”. While those in the process of acquiring capabilities in digital remain tightlipped yet others like Raveendran of Sel Jegat Sivakasi, Manjunath of Global Printing Bangalore and Rajesh Nema of Pragati Graphics Indore say they are studying the technology and will invest in the near future.
 
 
While calculating the number of digital label presses in India, I have not taken into account the
presses that are not operational. Out of the 22 presses, the bulk of the share goes to HP Indigos that employ Electro Photography as a process to print, which is similar to offset printing using liquid inks. Electro photography and inkjet are both improving in quality and speed, there evolution and further developments are challenging the dominance of other printing processes like offset, wide-web flexo and gravure. 13 presses amounting to 59% of the total digital label press installations in India are HP indigo. This is followed by 5 Epson SurePress L-4033AW that use water-based inks and is suitable for segments such as pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food, amongst others. The press uses a seventh white ink to print the transparent no-label look, as well as metallic labels. The opaque white printing on materials, such as clear film and metallic substrates, has the flexibility of printing white first or last. Epson accounts for almost 23 % of the installations, 2 Xeikons account for 9% and one each of durst and EFI accounting for 4.5% each.
 
59% of all the digital label presses installed are in the West Zone, 23% in South and 18% in North. Out of the 13 HP Indigo label presses working in India, 7 are installed in the west zone. One at Janus International Mumbai, 1 at Diadeis Alia (formerly Alia Creative Consultants) Mumbai, 2 at Astron Packaging Ahmedabad, 1 at Essel Propack Mumbai, 1 at Trigon Digital Mumbai and 1 at Skanem Interlabels Mumbai. 4 HP Indigos are installed in South, 1 at Pragati Pack Hyderabad, 1 at Pravesha Hyderabad, 1 with Huhtamaki (SGRE Labels) Bangalore and 1 at Manipal Technologies (UPSL) Chennai. 2 of the HP Indigos are in North. 1 at Hora Art Centre NOIDA and 1 at Moser Baer Noida (working). Out of the 5 Epson Surepress preses 1 is installed in South at Sai Packaging Bangalore others are in the West zone with 1 at Trigon Digital Mumbai, 1 at J P Printers Mumbai, 1 at Syndicate Printers Goa and 1 with a customer in Pune. Of the 2 Xeikons installed, one is with Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech Labels in Mumbai and one with Kwality Offset New Delhi. The only EFI Jetrion installed is with Reynders in Chopanki in the North and the only Durst is with Astron Packaging in Ahmedabad. I have accounted for most of the recognized brands of digital label presses in India.
 
Hemanth Paruchuri of Pragati Pack





On further evaluation of data compiled by me 9 out of 20 i.e. 45% of the companies who indulged in digital label printing are either multinationals or corporates and the rest 11 are family owned businesses. It is interesting to note that at least 7 out of the 11 companies have the young generation-next either in command or actively involved in day to day affairs of the company. So evidently it is the corporate mindset or the youth that is driving the march into digital printing of labels in India.
 






Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India May 2017 email: harveersahni@gmail.com

Focused visitors lend success to Labelexpo India!

Focused visitors lend success to Labelexpo India!
Successful international exhibitions have long been linked to venues that have time and again brought in visitors, added to the brand value and image of the show. Show organisers are normally hesitant to shift the show unless the circumstances become compelling. Hannover Industrial fair at Hannover, Drupa at Dusseldorf, Labelexpo Europe at Brussels, Labelexpo Americas at Chicago, Interplast at Birmingham, Auto Mechanika at Frankfurt, etc. are some of the shows that have stuck to their time tested venues and continue to repeatedly attract visitors and exhibitors from around the world. Successful business men who visit exhibitions for exhibiting, buying or acquiring knowledge on new developments have an inherent desire to visit new destinations so as to be able to mix business with pleasure in their free time at the show. However the aspirations and needs of show organizers always remain in repeating the success and improving upon the previous showing. For the last 6 years we have been hearing that a certain section of exhibitors at Labelexpo Brussels have wanted a shift of this premier show to some other location in Europe but the show continues to be held at Brussels for reasons of stability and positive growth of the show reported over the years.
Labelexpo India 2016 was held at ExpoMart, Greater Noida, UP, India in November 2016. Tarsus,
the organizers of the show took a bold decision of moving the show from its traditional venue, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. They must have had very compelling reasons for this decision. There were doubts in the Indian label industry about the success at this venue. The major reason for these doubts coming up was that the venue was far from the earlier venue which was in the centre of New Delhi and connected by all modes of public transport including the Delhi Metro. Greater Noida means another one hour of driving by car, bus or taxi. There is no Metro as yet but being under construction it maybe ready in another 2-3 years. In 1981 I was involved in plastic moulding and had decided to visit Interplast at Birmingham. The show venue at Birmingham NewStreet was between London and Birmingham City. I had to take a train daily from London’s Paddington station and reach the show in one hour forty five minutes. It was an extremely well attended show and had exhibitors and visitors from around the globe. Looking back, I felt this change of venue may really work for the Labelexpo India show to be a more focused event. Only visitors having real interest in Labels would make the effort to travel the distance. The infrastructure at Expo Mart is far better than the one at Pragati Maidan which is a very old venue with huge land holding but surely needs redevelopment. We hear that the renovation is likely to start soon. Meanwhile Labelexpo India made a smart maiden showing at the new venue, dispelling doubts of both visitors and exhibitors.
 
The show was inaugurated by Sandeep Zaveri-President LMAI (Label Manufacturers Association of India), Sunil Jain- President Delhi Printers Association, Rajesh Nema -Honorary Secretary LMAI and Lisa Milburn-Managing Director Labelexpo Group in a short ceremony before the exhibition was thrown open to public.  With over 200 exhibitors and 8045 visitors, as reported by Tarsus, this becomes the biggest edition of this exhibition in its 14 year history. According to Jade Grace show Director for Labelexpo Group, “50% of the space for the next Labelexpo in 2018 at the same venue is already booked “. If the signs are positive and the Metro Line is extended to Greater Noida by the time of the next show in 2018, Labelexpo India may be here to stay at this venue for a long time.
After a very slow first day the event became quite busy and vibrant on the second day bringing smiles on the faces of exhibitors. Jakob Landsberg of Nilpeter said the show was good but the volume of visitors is not as they expected it to be, this maybe because of the distance from Pragati Maidan which has historic value. This venue he felt was good with great atmosphere but the Capital equipment buying prospects were few. He emphasized that India was an important market for them and they will exhibit wherever the Label Show is held.
Even though some important international exhibitors like Gallus and Mark Andy were not present yet the mix of exhibitors was quite balanced catering to all segments of the industry. Most other global supplier’s presence confirmed the importance of India being a market that grows steadily and is just not a temporary burst in demand. The increasing number Indian exhibitors for both, capital equipment and accessories, shows the local industry is coming of age. Despite the organiser’s claim that number of visitors have increased, many exhibitors did mention a decreased footfall in an otherwise successful and satisfying show. Press manufacturers Nilpeter, who have manufacturing facility in South India and are now planning expansion, will soon move to a bigger premises. They announced sale of two FB-3300S label presses to Sai Com Codes and one to Homemade Bakers, both companies are head quartered in Delhi NCR (National Capital Region).
Speaking about his take on the show Pankaj Bhardwaj, Commercial Director, Avery Dennison said, “The feedback is encouraging!” he further added, “The right audience came to witness the right technologies showcased.” He was all praise for the venue and felt it was fantastic infrastructure of high standard, however logistics was a challenge. They received a high quality of visitors. The theme of the Avery Dennison pavilion was “Power Up,” focusing on helping converters to drive business growth through innovative and creative label and packaging offerings, featuring seven zones aimed at addressing specific solution requirements. Dow’s Padmadas Nair heading their technical team communicated that overall it was a good event for them as they met new customers. They were happy that the tourist visitors were absent.
Marco Calcagni, Sales Director of Italian Press manufacturers OMET and their Area Sales Manager
Paolo Grasso were beaming as they were able to announce the sale of their new first time displayed in India Omet iFlex 10 colour label press to the prestigious Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech Labels on the very first day of the show through their exclusive agent Weldon Celloplast Ltd. On day two they announced yet another sale of iFlex to Kolkata based Insight Graphics. The company informs that the iFLEX label press is simple to use and quick at set-up. The machine has all the impression rollers on Direct Drive with obvious benefits on the print quality and in waste savings. Commenting on the venue Paolo Grasso said “We found the venue of international standard and the visitor profile was what we should have at such events. It adds value and satisfaction to participation”. Amit Singh Arora of Amritsar Printing Press and a visitor at the show confirmed he was happy at the location and that he was seeing a lot of committed printers. Dinesh Dedia, another visitor from Mumbai expressed that the venue was too far and travel arrangements need improvement and adequate advertisement.
Leading Indian press manufacturer Multitec has been in news for all good reasons. They had displayed two label presses at the show. The Ecosmart servo was sold to Hyderabad based Team Labels and the VSI Servo2 to a Zambian customer. Amit Ahuja from Multitec said he was surprised at the focused turnout. He would still prefer the Delhi venue any day due to logistic reasons. Amit Sheth of Intergraphics representing Weigang informed sale of their inspection system to Gurgaon based A & A Labels. He further stated that Weigang had launched their modular flexo press which was well received. Xeikon 3030 plus digital label press displayed at the Xeikon booth was sold to Kwality Offset label printers based in New Delhi, the press has a web width of 330mm. It prints 1,200 DPI at a top speed of 15m/min. Compared to the Xeikon 3030, the ‘Plus’ version offers a higher top speed and handles larger production volumes. Xeikon also informed that they had signed up with Sanjeev Sondhi lead Zircon technologies to supply two Xeikon digital presses. Lombardi Synchroline 430 displayed at the Vinsak stand was sold to Bengaluru based Mangalam Creations.
 
HP India showcased the HP Indigo WS6800 digital press including the recent labels and packaging
advancements; including advanced automated color management tools, new HP Indigo ElectroInks, upgrade packages, software enhancements for mass customization amongst others. These new innovations allow more customers to capitalize on the growing digital opportunity in a market which is achieving double digit percent page growth year over year. HP also announced the installation of HP Indigo WS6800 digital press at Skanem Interlabels India, at their Mumbai facility. A. Appadurai, Country Manager, Indigo and Inkjet Web Press, Graphics Solutions Business, HP Inc., stated that even though the visitors who came were very focused and knowledgeable yet due to the distance there were very few brand managers who are very important for growth of Digital label printing technologies.
 
With market evolving towards the LED UV, Flint group was displaying and promoting their LED inks. According to Srinivas Goud of Flint, “We met whoever we were looking for!” Brotech from China had strategically located themselves across the HP stand for whom they are approved partners for digital finishing equipment. They displayed their CDF Digital finishing machine and also a slitter rewinder. Aurangabad India based PGI Tech is ecstatic in announcing that they sold five of their 2-4 colour flexo presses as displayed at the show and 3 high speed die-cutting machines with turret rewinder. They also displayed their slitter, rewinder and inspection machine. Alphasonics UK has confirmed the sale of a Melanie Duo ultrasonic cleaning system to Anygraphics through their agent Weldon Celloplast. The system features dual frequency ultrasonics, along with the patented Betasound technology. The system also includes a second patented technology known as Active Cavitation, which has been designed to greatly speed up the cleaning process. Martin Automatic another exhibitor signed a two-machine order at Labelexpo India 2016 with Kap Cones, based in New Delhi, with an MBS automatic butt splicer and LRD automatic transfer rewinder to ship in 2017. R K Label of Ahmedabad had a range of machines displayed at their stand and it is credible that they announced that all the machines were sold out. This included a modular flexo press displayed which was sold to Delhi based Aar Pee Industries.
UPM Raflatac made an elegant display from a large and well done up stand that attracted most of the established label printers. They also arranged a fashion show on their stand that turned their label materials into gorgeous fashion pieces. “The show was the talk of the exhibition” says Praveen Gupta country Manger UPM. UPM also organized a very impressive dinner and entertainment evening for their customers. The evening was packed and printers hit the dance floor towards the end of the evening. Other prominent exhibitors at Labelexpo included SMI CoatedPapers, Bobst, Loparex, Henkel, DuPont, GEW, HB Fuller, Konica Minolta, Manroland, BST, Vetaphone, Lartec, Monotech Systems, SPGPrints, Webtech Engineering, UVGraphics, Reifenhauser, Kodak and Zonten besides so many more.
On the second day evening, LMAI awards night was held at a well setup banquet on the upper floors
of the exhibition. It was extremely convenient! One just had to take the elevators after the show closed for the day and we were there for the fun evening which included presentations, entertainment, awards distribution, cocktails and dinner. The chaos of awards nights at previous shows was missing. The house was packed with an impressive industry leadership. Lisa Milburn, Managing Director Labelexpo group welcomed the guests and dwelled on the importance of India being a fast growing and evoving market for all to deliver value and prosper. 
 
Sandeep Zaveri President LMAI made an emotional presentation that left the audience in awe! He listed the work done by his team and his plans. The most touching part was when he ran a video clip that demonstrated his will to deliver both to the label industry and to the society, in one go. He has initiated a program whereby young destitute boys from rural background who are deprived of opportunities in the urban industrial scenario are recruited to be trained as label press operators as the label industry is facing a shortage of trained workers. The project is supported by Avery Dennison. The video presentation and the expectation of what it will deliver to the industry and the society is laudable. 
 
Anil Sharma, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Avery Dennison took the stage next and assured the
industry of Avery’s commitment to the Indian Label industry. Interspaced with interesting entertainment, the awards ceremony progressed, celebrating the printers whose work during the preceding years had won the honours. The awards were judged this year by Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath, Kiran P Prayagi and Rajiv Dhar, all of whom have long-standing involvement in education and training in the print industry. 
 
 
 
 

Sponsors for the awards were Avery Dennison, Omet, UPM Raflatac, Orthotec, Iwasaki and Nilpeter. The winners were as follows:
Flexo Line, Webtech; Flexo Line & Screen Tone, Mudrika Labels; Flexo Color Process, Kwality Offset Printers; Flexo Wine & Spirit, joint winners Kumar Labels/Ajanta Packaging; Letterpress Line, Webtech Labels; Letterpress Line & Screen, Webtech Labels; Letterpress color process, Sicon Packs; Letterpress Wine and Spirits, Kumar Labels; Offset Line, Update Prints; Offset Line & Screen Tone, Update Prints; Offset Color Process, Seljegat Printers; Offset Wine & Spirits, Update Prints; Combination Line, Universal Print Systems; Combination Line and Screen Tone, Kumar Labels; Combination Printing Color: joint winners Any Graphics/Kumar Labels; Combination Wine & Spirits, Pragati Pack/RP; Digital Printing, Any Graphics; Digital Printing Wine & Spirits, Pragati Pack; Screen Printing, Wine & Spirits, Any Graphics; Rotogravure, Mudrika Labels; Booklets & Coupons, joint winners LetraGraphix and Unick Fix-A-Form.
 
The Innovation Award went to Mudrika Labels and the special Jury Award to Any Graphics.
 
 
 
 
 
 
The four day show ended on a positive note with exhibitors and also visitors departing with satisfaction looking forward to return to the show in 2018. Exhibitors unanimously declared their resolve to be at the show in the next edition but as Tapan Patel of BST said, “They have to re-strategise and market it well”. In absence of the unfocussed inquisitive visitors who visit shows to evaluate new investment and diversification, exhibitors felt these new expected customers for capital equipment were few. Yet in words of Manish Desai past president LMAI, “It was a good show and quality of exhibitors and visitors was excellent”. The most interesting comment I got was from Josep Roca of Bobst “The distance from downtown or city centre is challenging since international visitors prefer to explore the city in free time” he added “Inspite of Modi working! Which is for a good cause, the show was worthwhile and delivered value”
 
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi India. December 2016  exclusively for Narrow Web Tech Germany. 
 
 

The article maybe published with the permission of Narrow WebTech Germany giving credit to them and to the author

For advertising enquiries please email to; harveersahni@gmail.com 

CCL Label, the world’s largest, enters India!

CCL Label, the world’s largest, enters India!
Yesterday on the 2nd of February 2017, the world’s largest label printing company CCL announced their entry into India. CCL lead by Geoffery T Martin and headquartered in Toronto Canada has 2015 revenues reported at 3 Billion USD and a total workforce in excess of 19000 employees,  operating out of 150 state of art manufacturing facilities spread over North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. CCL, through their Dubai based joint venture with Albwardy Group; Pacman-CCL, signed a binding agreement to acquire a majority stake in Mumbai based Super Labels. The press release received by me from Pacman-CCL and also available on the company website is as below;
 
CCL Industries Announces India Entry for CCL Label
TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – February 02, 2017) – CCL Industries Inc. a world leader in specialty label and packaging solutions for global corporations, government institutions, small businesses and consumers, announced today that the Pacman-CCL joint venture, headquartered in Dubai, has signed a binding agreement to acquire a 70% stake in privately owned Super Label Mfg. Co. ("Super Label"), based in Mumbai, India. Super Label focuses on pressure sensitive labels for large consumer products and healthcare customers with operations in India. Pacman-CCL will invest $3.75 million in the venture to acquire its stake, reduce debt and provide funding for future expansion. Closing is subject to customary procedures and is expected to conclude later this month. The company will continue to be headed by its founder, Bharat Mehta, and becomes part of Pacman-CCL trading under the 
CCL corporate identity system with immediate effect.
John Dawson
 
 
 
Pacman-CCL now has plants in Dubai, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt as well as India. The Company is jointly owned by CCL and Albwardy Investment based in Dubai and headed by John Dawson, Managing Director. 2016 sales were approximately $50 million. 
 
 
 
Geoffery T Martin
 
 
Geoffrey T. Martin, President and CEO of CCL, commented, "Over the last decade we looked many times at entering India through acquiring a local business. Super Label is one of the best managed we have seen, I believe this is the best way forward given Pacman-CCL's proximity to the region. Our Indian Checkpoint subsidiaries remain separate to this venture, entirely under CCL control, focusing exclusively on Retail and Apparel markets."
 
 
 
 
CCL has been eyeing the Indian market for more than 6 years now. In my blog post that time titled, “Joint Ventures, Mergers, Acquisitions & International Partners, still Positive in labels.” I had mentioned; “On the 21st of March 2011, 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.” 
 
During Labelexpo 2013 at Brussels I met Geoff Martin, Chairman of CCL Label and could
Harveer Sahni with Geoffery Martin at Labelexpo
 get an in-depth “India specific” view from him. The industry in India has for long looked at him with bated breath as to when he will invest and have been guessing who will be his strategic partner. Geoff had at that time mentioned that they were looking at many companies but his vision was to look for companies whose promoters had emotional dedication towards their venture. He did not approve of promoters who after succeeding wish to sell, make big money and quit. Those who managed their company well with vision to see their units and their team prosper even after management changing hands, were what he was looking at. In December 2015 Guenther Birkner,  now the President, Healthcare and Specialty business at CCL visited Mumbai and the news spread everywhere that CCL had signed up to acquire controlling interest in Bharat Mehta lead Super Labels in Mumbai. However in absence of any confirmation or press release from either of the companies, it remained a rumour or gossip. More so after CCL took over Checkpoint systems, it was evident that finally CCL has presence in India. Now with this press release CCL’s entry into label industry into India is a confirmed reality.
 
Chronicling the history of label in India I wrote, “By 1976, Bharat Mehta and his brother
Bharat Mehta
 setup a label press. Bharat Mehta bought his first Siki Label press from Ahmedabad where it was being used to produce unsupported wet glue labels. Shifting over from a business in agricultural pumps at the age of 26, Bharat Mehta settled down perfectly in to his label printing business. He is one of the most respected label printers. From a single Siki he went on to add a fully loaded Gallus, an EM 280 8 colours, EM 280 6 colours, and an Acquaflex. He was the first in India to opt for a full UV label press. In the earlier part of the decade of 2000-2010 he lost heavily in a major fire but firm resolve brought him right back in what he liked best, “Producing self adhesive labels”
 
Soft spoken gentleman of the Indian label industry Bharat Mehta is both, the history and present of the Indian label industry. He is one of the first label printers in India. I could sit with him and chat for hours about our time spent in this industry which has evolved like a family for him and me. Bharat Mehta’s Super Labels is one of the leading and respected label printing companies in Mumbai. His two sons joined him in business after completing their management studies.
 
Indian label industry is growing for sure but most of our printers complain of intense competition and depleting margins. They are under pressure to service debt as they would ideally wish to do comfortably. They are in a dilemma on the extent of further expansion, more so in the scenario whereby large multinational companies are investing into India. They wonder if the existing customer base and market will grow rapidly to provide enough opportunities for all or shrink by the incoming of foreign investors into labeling. My personal view is that with a growing literate population, low per capita usage at present and expanding retail, there will be enough business for all.
 
Written and reported by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast, New Delhi, India
 
Magazines are free to publish this report giving credit to author.

Print Summit, delivering management mantras!

Print Summit, delivering management mantras!
 
 
 
Audience
I have been used to seeing sponsors or industry suppliers make monotonous presentations in the garb of delivering knowledge to printers at various print industry conferences. The procedure is relevant at most conferences even now. When it gets a little over bearing, delegates in the audience are seen yawning. At the FINAT Congress in 2008 at Paris, I was surprised to see a speaker speaking of her mountaineering experience. As the US based LNW magazine reported, “Some people in the audience tend to leave conferences before the end, pleading important engagements (particularly on a Friday) so that the last speaker addresses rows of empty seats. Few of the delegates at that FINAT congress had previously heard of Cathy Dowd, but the sheer incongruity of inviting a female mountaineer must have intrigued many, and the house was full to hear of a South African team's ultimately successful bid to conquer the world's highest, mountain. Dowd has the actress' ability to match words, gestures and images. The images were of peaks and yawning chasms; the words were largely about teamwork under extreme conditions, and what happens when it goes sour. It was a little theatrical, but nonetheless a memorable performance.” I have been in awe of what she shared from her experiences with the crowd and how it translates to enduring situations in day to day work. BMPA’s “Print Summit” brought back not just memories of that day in 2008 but excelled in taking the concept to amazing heights. I am overwhelmed by what they created at this excellent event. With close to 1000 delegates attending and staying glued to their seats till the end shows, what an excellent event it was.
 

 

The summit started with presentation by one of the most highly decorated officer Lt Gen Syed Ata
General Hasnain
 Hasnain, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM & BAR, the former Corps Commander of the Indian Army’s Srinagar based 15th Corps who has experience of almost every turbulent spot where the Indian Army is deployed. He served in Sri Lanka, Punjab (during the militancy), North East India, Jammu & Kashmir and commanded his unit in the Siachen Glacier. He also served the United Nations in Rwanda and Mozambique. In 2010 he was assigned to Kashmir for the seventh time to lead the Army’s efforts to find peace. His leadership techniques famously titled — ‘Heart is My Weapon”, “Play Friend, Not God” and “Passion in the Heart & Fire in the Belly”, are considered new age mantras for the Army and other organizations. His narration of experiences on the “Challenge of being a Siachen Warrior and leadership management” thereof, left delegates imagining the replication of these procedures in corporate management and the results it would deliver!

 

 
Faheem Agboatwala
Faheem Agboatwala, director of Mumbai based Hi-Tech Printing Services spoke on the need for businesses to recognize the “S Curve”. He described it as a time in life of a business where the promoters need to recognize the approaching end of a profitable cycle while the business is still making profits. It is a time to make investments into new arenas or move on to the next S Curve in the life cycle of their enterprise to reach higher levels of success. Enterprising promoters have the sixth sense to foresee the situation and jump ahead to the next curve. Attributing the courage of entrepreneurs to accept exponential change from ending an ongoing successful business to initiate a new venture to drive growth, he showcased the story of three such companies who used the theory of S Curve and reached a pinnacle. Two of these have a strong presence in self adhesive labels. In fact all three have indulged in labels in their life cycle. These companies are Akar, Mudrika and Printmann. Ashok Jain lead Akar Ltd. is a provider of innovative solutions in Printing, Packaging, Publishing and Promotional products. I met Ashok Jain the first time in the mid 1990s when he was into regular commercial offset printing and was also printing stickers on sheet fed offset. He went on stage to narrate his story of jumping the S Curve multiple times to success. His Mantra has been to pick and choose clients, go out of the press room and think business like a leader. Tejas Tanna of Printmann spoke about the need for printers to draw respect from customers as partners and not just being vendors. Printmann moved from just commercial printing to cartons and self adhesive labels with high concentration in the pharma sector. I have known Manish Desai of Mudrika Labels, a 100 Crore company, for decades. I have also written his story on my blog https://harveersahni.blogspot.in/search?q=mudrika . I have seen Manish and his team jumping the S Curve as decribed by Faheem a number of times. From screen printing to outsourcing offset printing for making stickers to the achievements until now has been a very interesting and curvaceous journey. Manish attributed his success to the regular visits to customers, exhibitions and virtually moving out of his shell to connect and grow. He is the past president of LMAI (Label Manufacturers Association of India.
 
I am not really a movie buff, I now see maybe one or two films in a year. It maybe interesting to note
Sonam Wangchuk
 that from 1984 to 2000, for almost 17 years I did not see a single film. In the new millennium my children do drag me to movie that they feel I will enjoy thoroughly. When I saw the list of speakers, I noticed the name Sonam Wangchuk from Ladakh as a speaker, it immediately reminded me of the movie “Three Idiots” a movie that I had seen and was thrilling! I did not think much of the resemblance in name thereafter. At the Print Summit in the after lunch session, Sonam Wangchuk a Rolex laureate came on stage. I was having difficulty in keeping my eyes open. The heavy lunch was playing mischief. When Sonam started to speak on innovation in adversity, my mind jumped to alertness and the rest of the session I was listening in overwhelming attention? I had goose pimples! It was as if I was watching a sequel to the film “Three Idiots”. He spoke on simple things created out of just the nature’s bounty. A school is constructed without electricity and heated with sunlight and use of convection principle. When the outside temperature is -15 degrees, it is +15 degrees inside. In winters upto April when you have ice in Ladakh there is water but when in may the ice has melted and flowed down there is acute scarcity and difficulty. Sonam saw in May one year that there was an unmelted block of ice in the shade of a bridge, drawing inspiration from that. Realising that the Ice did not melt under shade, a fountain spraying droplets of water in the air was created from the pressure of water flowing down the hills in subzero temperatures. These would freeze and fall down forming a stupa of tons of ice that with its reduced area of exposure to the sun, would remain as ice and be a source of water during summers. It sure was a wow presentation with many such stories. I wish I had heard some more. Sonam is now working on creating a university in a desert in Sikkim with natural resources.
 
Mehul Desai
Mehul Desai, founder and chairman, Mail Order Solutions and President of BMPA highlighted three companies Prodon Enterprises, Seshaasai Business Forms, and Vistaprint he stressed the need for dwelling and researching the historical data to evaluate the growth areas and identify contributing factors to your bottom line and moving ahead using this information so as to decide on future investments to remain profitable in growth. Padma Bhushaan, Shekhar Gupta said “I hear that print is dying. Let me assure you, it is not. We have a literate population that is growing.” He spoke on leadership qualities reminiscing his interaction with various prime ministers of the country. Padma Bhushan Dr B M Hegde spoke on wellness. 
 
C N Ashok
Autoprint Managing Director, CN Ashok speaking on, "Will the next generation inherit?" said it was time for investing in a strong positive balance in the emotional bank account for the next generation. Delegation and then allowing the next generation to indulge in decision making is need of the hour. Not letting go of the authority is a hindrance to smooth transition to Gen Next. Speaking at the event Satoshi Mochida President and COO of Komori Corporation Japan said, “That print market is on the rise in the near future.” Puneet Datta, Canon’s director, marketing and sales in his presentation stated that technological innovations are transforming businesses within print. “The time to embrace digital is now” he concluded.

 

 

The “print summit” has established itself as a landmark event for the print industry! Getting huge number of printers to attend from beyond the geographical reach of the organising association and then having them sitting in full strength with rapt attention throughout the presentations upto the end is something rarely witnessed not only in India but across the globe. Clapping in unison to acknowledge the delivery of wonderful speeches, standing ovation to outstanding presentations and appreciation of organization by the BMPA’s young team was seen abundance. Industry leaders who were seen at this event include Ramesh Kejriwal of Parksons Packaging, Technova boss Pranav Parikh, Narendra Paruchuri of Pragati Hyderabad, Kamal Chopra President AIFMP, Anand Limaye Hon. General Secretary  AIFMP and many more. I congratulate the BMPA team and thank Mehul Desai for having invited me to attend this wonderful show.
 
Written by Harveer Sahni Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-10008 January 2017
 

LMAI meets to plan Mega Labels Conference at Agra!

LMAI meets to plan Mega Labels Conference at Agra!
 
Leading printers and supplier members of Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI) met at Holiday Inn Hotel, Aero City, New Delhi on the 17th of January to dwell on the plans and initiate preparations for a mega Labels conference. The conference titled “Innovation Simplified” is slated to be held at Jaypee Palace Hotel and Convention Centre, Agra on from 20th July 2017 to 23rd July 2017. LMAI has appointed Kuldip Goel, Managing Director of Noida based Anygraphics as the conference Chairman. This will be the 4th biennial LMAI conference. 
 
Previous LMAI conference at Jaipur
The first two earlier successful conferences were held at Goa and the 3rd was held at Jaipur. Leading printers and global suppliers are likely to attend this event. Participation in this event will be restricted to members in good standing and registration will be made on first come first served basis. New printers and suppliers can register by filling the form downloaded from http://lmai.in/PDF/New_Membership_Form.pdf .For the 3 nights 4 days program, delegates will be required to check in on 20th July 2017 and check out on 23rd July 2017
 
Members attending the meet gave their suggestions for making this a mega event that will deliver
Sandeep Zaveri President LMAI

knowledge and networking opportunities to the label fraternity, a big success. It was decided to form sub committees comprising of members from across India to get maximum participation in organizing and reaching out to the industry in every nook and corner of the country. Printers who attended the meet include Sandeep Zaveri-President LMAI and MD of Total Prints Mumbai, Kuldip Goel-Anygraphics NOIDA, Rajesh Chaddha-Update Prints Gurgaon, Rajesh Nema-Pragati Graphics Indore, Vivek Kapoor-Creative Labels Mumbai and Ramesh Deshpande-Renu Prints Aurangabad . Leading Suppliers who attended include Pankaj Bhardwaj-Commercial Director Avery Dennison, Praveen Gupta-Country Head UPM Raflatac, Prasenjit Das-DuPont, Amit Sheth- Label Planet, Ajay Mehta-MD SMI Coated Products, and Pawandeep Sahni Director Weldon Celloplast.

 
Kuldip Goel Conference Chairman  
 
Speaking at the meet Sandeep Zaveri asserted the resolve of LMAI management to continuously deliver value to members by organizing technical workshops, seminars, conference and networking events. LMAI also provides information on important government notifications and other issues of interest to members. Speaking about the conference Kuldip Goel assured that he and his team will endeavour to make this event pleasurable. It will deliver knowledge in terms of presentations by leading industry suppliers and technocrats. An entertainment program that motivates the audience to participate and enjoy the moment is being mooted and finally in the course of those 3 days, enough opportunities for networking with peers in the industry will be provided. Being organized in the historical city of Agra, family members will have the chance to visit Tajmahal and other monuments in the city, if they so desire.

Kimoha Dubai, continues to bring excellence to Xel-lent and beyond!

Kimoha Dubai, continues to bring excellence to Xel-lent and beyond!
On February 25, 2012, I posted a story on Kimoha Entrepreneurs Ltd. lead by Indian entrepreneurs Vinesh Bhimani and Kiran Asher. The amazing path traversed by them and their commitment to grow the company with support of an inspired team has made me update their story to current level and post it yet again.
 
Under the patronage and in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, the DubaiChamber of Commerce and Industry successfully concluded the eighth cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award, by honouring 20 companies during an award ceremony held at the Madinat Jumeirah Arena in Dubai on 27th of July 2015. One of the two awards in the Manufacturing category was presented to the leading label printing company in Middle East Asia; Kimoha Entrepreneurs Ltd. lead by Vinesh Bhimani and Kiran Asher of Indian origin.
 
Vinesh Bhimani’s Kimoha Entrepreneurs Limited, Dubai, UAE is a shining star amongst label
printing companies run by Indians in Middle East Asia or for that matter by anyone outside their homeland. His persistence and commitment to succeed has enabled him to bounce back to success from extremely adverse circumstances. With over two decades of relentless effort and dedication, he created his label brand “Xel-lent”. He achieved perfection by creating labels and print packaging products that would stand out in the market place. During my visit to his facility, I was overwhelmed by the way he accorded a welcome (which I gathered is a customary practice whenever any of the company’s stakeholders or important guests visited); All the TV monitors in the company (there were quite a few), had a welcome message for me apart from announcing various awards received by them. Chairman Kiran Asher has been honoured by the President of India at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (A day for Indians living abroad) at Jaipur in January 2012.  Carrying the hospitality further, my picture (commemorating my visit) was taken and gifted to me in an elegant folder along with customized gifts. He has experienced success and rejoices the fruits of bringing excellence to “Xel-lent” and also to all the businesses and operations at Kimoha.
 
Whilst Vinesh Bhimani’s  grandfather lived in Africa working for a private bank in Zanzibar,
The very first telex roll machine
 his  father preferred to return to India and set up shop in a free and independent India in 1947-48.  Nizamabad in (AP) India became the family’s base and in partnership with his uncle bought a rice mill.  They did not meet with success and lost all that they invested, in a year’s time. However they were persistent and restarted a small floor mill (Atta Chakki, as they call it in India). This venture, by virtue of their hard work prospered to become a successful rice mill! In 1962 Sanjiva Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and later the President of India, conferred upon this mill an award for safety. 1970-71 saw Vinesh’s father parting ways with his uncle and in conjunction with his own brothers (whose responsibility became his after the demise of Vinesh’s grandfather) taking over the management of the rice mill. Vinesh then still young and attending school during the day would spend his evening and nights in the rice mill.
 
Vinesh graduated in Commerce from Nizamabad, and his father crafted different plans for him. He did not want him to join the rice mill, instead wished that he would take up the offer of RRL Jorhat, (Regional Research Laboratory) to use their technology to manufacture carbonless paper.  The seed for his involvement with Paper was sown and necessary equipments ordered from Kolkotta by the family.  Meanwhile Vinesh was sent to Mumbai for a one month management course. He was to stay with his uncle (mother’s brother). The uncle was the fifth generation from a family that was heading the 146 year old large and respected trading firm Khimji Ramdas, based in Oman. Vinesh’s uncle made him an offer to come to Oman but his family was ready to start the carbonless paper unit in Nizamabad. Unfortunately the equipment failed to perform and they lost all the money they invested into this project.
 
At this point of time Vinesh was sent to Oman to get a “feel” of things before returning to Nizamabad
and start something else there. That was 40 years ago and he never returned to settle down in India. Vinesh had joined Khimji Ramdas as a trainee and left at the post of a General Manager in 1988. From Oman he came to Dubai and with the experience gained in Oman he, with his brother in law Kiran Asher, started a trading company. They made their first deal of importing Turmeric from Hyderabad, India and exporting to an Iranian customer against a post dated cheque. The cheque bounced and they lost most of the money invested! Whatever stock of turmeric was left with them was brought by them and stored in a Jebel Ali warehouse. As luck would have it, that night, a water pipe in the shed burst and they lost all that remained. Vinesh Bhimani was a devastated and embarrassed man. He blamed himself for his brother in law and partner Kiran having lost money. He offered to sell his house in Mumbai to repay Kiran. Perhaps God had other plans for Vinesh. Kiran asked him to stay on and wait to let things settle down, they decided to stay together. It was now time to start “Kimoha”.  Briefly they started packing food items but soon shifted to manufacturing telex and fax rolls.  It was a humble beginning with a machine made by his uncle in Nizamabad. Nostalgically Vinesh reminiscences that they participated in an exhibition and Sheikh Mohamed, the current ruler of Dubai, visited their stand and asked them if they manufactured these rolls in Dubai. He then advised a big stationer accompanying him to buy from them. For many years this stationer remained one of Kimoha’s biggest customers. Business began to grow with exports to many countries and Vinesh started to travel extensively.  During his travels he would be fascinated by the baggage tags, each time he would check in at the airlines counter. He would study the tag at length and vowed to produce it one day. He went to Japan to visit suppliers of thermal paper as also to learn about the product. It was a matter of time now, his mind was made, “he would manufacture the baggage tags and self adhesive labels”.
 
Mike Fairley and Vinesh Bhimani
Vinesh Bhimani went to the first Labelexpo that was held in Brussels and also attended the presentation made by the international label guru Mike Fairley. All this effort was made to learn about the products that he intended to produce one day. He had a voracious appetite to acquire knowledge about the products that he intended to indulge in. At Labelexpo, machine suppliers were wondering who this man from UAE was and what all he was talking about. He was a new entrant and wanted a label press to have features that were not for beginners. He wanted a 24 inch repeat and three die stations, etc. Little did they realize how focused this man was. Before the show ended he was decided on the configuration of the press, it had almost everything on it, the repeat he wanted, print stations, turnbar, sprocket hole punching, fanfold, etc. It looked expensive but when he called his partner Kiran Asher, the answer was in the affirmative. Kimoha was on way to success.
 
Initial hiccups were normal. There were no operators so Vinesh had to go to India for recruitment. In 1995 Kimoha got their first contract for baggage tags from Emirates Airlines but with a rider attached. They were warned that if they do not deliver they would have to quit UAE! All appeared to be going smoothly when a nightmare struck, the die got damaged on line and all hell broke loose. They rushed a person to UK by the next flight and return immediately after collecting the die. They delivered and kept their commitment. Kimoha has not looked back thereafter.  At three Labelexpos thereafter, they kept buying new presses one after the other. With just two employees in 1988 in an 18 square mtr office, Kimoha has come a long way. They now operate out of a 20,000 square mtr brand new facility at Jebel Ali, Dubai. The factory is immaculately clean and systemized. They operate with 13 flexo label presses and one digital press alongwith a host of other finishing and converting equipments having capabilities for hot-foiling, Embossing, online numbering and applying registered holograms. The total workforce at Kimoha is in excess of 300 employees. Kimoha offers a range of baggage tags, label products, flexible packaging and stationery. With a sales turnover of multi million Dirhams, their products have presence in more than 35 countries. Their presence in the baggage tags segment is very strong with supplies going to over 100 international airlines, airports and ground handling providers over the world.
 
Purnima Bhimani married Vinesh in 1978, she was by his side in business that day and she is still there in office daily supporting him actively. She takes care of finance and planning of the interiors at Kimoha. She has given her best to the growth of this enterprise. Their only son Jay is 21 years old and studying. Jay may join the family business one day but the parents feel it is too soon to say as young people are quite unpredictable. He may want to do something else. After all the family has a history of drifting in diverse fields. The great grandfather was a banker and the following generations drifted to Rice mill, Floor mill, International trading, Food packaging and on to Labels, Printing and Packagings. Kiran Asher, Vinesh’s brother in law and partner who has been his staunch support, is the Chairman of Kimoha. Vinesh’s brother Rajesh has also been with Kimoha for almost two decades. He is responsible for besides other things the house keeping at Kimoha. His work shows! The facility is amazingly clean. Vinesh Bhimani works hard and his team is like his family. He tirelessly communicates with them to instill family values. His staff sometime receives emails from him that were written at 3am in the morning. He took 267 people one day to visit Burj Khalifa, in an effort to deliver his message of aiming high and having higher virtues in life and to understand how one feels when one “At The Top”. Each day starts with the entire Kimoha family (the workforce) joining in morning prayers. At lunch they are served a high-end restaurant catered meal and are allowed some extra time to play indoor games before returning to production. Education of employee’s children, medical expenses, insurance, etc., is areas where the company supports its employees.
 
Kimoha has been honoured as one of the top 100 SMEs in Dubai in the first ever ranking initiative in 2011 and then again in 2013. 

In 2011;
 
  • They were in 38th rank in the overall top 100 SME companies in Dubai
  • 3rd in the top 10 SME in the INNOVATION category
  • 10th in the top 10 SME in the GLOBAL ORIENTATION (EXPORT)
  • 6th in human capital development
 
In 2013,
  • They were in 27th overall rank
  • 5th in innovation
  • 4th in human capital development
  • 15th in growth performance
  • 26th in international orientation
  • 34th in corporate governance
 
Kimoha has also been fortunate enough to be conferred with:
 
  • CSR Label from Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (3 consecutive years)
  • Leed Gold Certification from United States Green Building Council for Kimoha’s new state of the art office-cum-factory-cum-warehouse building.
  • Many international awards for printing excellence from FINAT, FTA (FlexographicTechnical Association, USA) etc.
 
Additionally they have the following attributes;
  • They are an ISO 9001 – 2008 certified company
  • 24 / 7 Air Conditioned Factory and Warehouse 
  • In-house Flexo and Digital Pre-press Facility – CTP
  • Laser labels produced from recycled label stock and packed in recyclable boxes when demanded so by buyers.
  • Converting photopolymer plates from 1.7mm to 1.14mm, thus reducing Carbon footprint by 17%
  • Ensuring that the new Premises meets the rigid green standards set by USGBA and EHS, viz. among other things, Over 900 tons Air Conditioning with aid of 410 A Refrigerant.  Minimal CFC emissions
  • Occupation and Movement sensors
  • Recycling 95% of plate-making solvent
  • Installation of LED light in office and factory
  • Ongoing project to install solar to run factory and office using 100% solar energy
 
When asked about his vision on what his venture will be in future, Vinesh Bhimani is pensive in his thoughts. He firmly believes that whatsoever is done and will be done in future, will only be according to the “Will of God”. He says, “We are like robots operated by this Master sitting above all of us with controls”. 
 
Vinesh Bhimani is non-committal on what Kimoha will be. He firmly believes that he has to be doing something different and specialized. Kimoha will continue to expand and diversify. He wishes that his entire Kimoha family remains bonded together and involved in creating something special. Size is not what matters. The goal is, to be unique and achieve a status where the entire team has contributed, to bring excellence to Xel-lent and beyond and be the part of a global network!  “This is what we pray in a morning-prayer that we make with all our employees at our premises on all working days”, Bhimani concluded.
 
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi exclusively for Label and Narrow Web Magazine USA (LNW) in July 2016.
 
Printing magazines may reproduce the story by giving credit to the author and to Label and Narrow Web USA.
 

Images from Labelexpo India!

Images from Labelexpo India!

My story on Labelexpo India held recently at the Expo Mart, Greater Noida, India some 37 Kms. away from the traditional venue, Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, will be published in the forthcoming issue of Narrow Web Tech, Germany. Meanwhile I produce images of the show as I saw it.

 

 

The LMAI stalwarts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Delhi Priters Association President, LMAI President-Sandeep Zaveri, Hon.Secretary LMAI Rajesh Nema & Managing Director Labelexpo Lisa Milburn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

The Show begins.

 

UPM Raflatac Stand
 
HP Stand
 
With Jakob Landsberg at the Nilpeter Stand
Digital Finishing Machine at Brotech Stand
 
Omet iFlex
 
   
Avery Dennison

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINAT Membership registration Counter at Weldon Stand        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Josep Roca-Bobst

 

Manish Hansoti- Zonten

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amit Sheth & team at Weigang stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India's leading Label Press manufacturer Multitec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kodak Stand
Xeikon Stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vetaphone and Lartec at Weldon Stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India's Label association LMAI's stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flint Stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The lighter moments!

The awards night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandeep Zaveri President LMAI

 

 

Anil Sharma of Avery Dennison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Milburn with the packed house behind her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hemanth Paruchuri (Pragati Pack) with his trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anygraphics team with the special Jury award

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LMAI management team onstage with Labelexpo organisers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entertainment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delegates on the dance floor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mudrika team receiving their trophy from Marco of Omet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KD Sahni with Anthony Murphy of Flint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Compiled by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi, India. December 2016

Maharshi; Integrating forward from applicators into labels!

Maharshi; Integrating forward from applicators into labels!
Rajesh Shah
Rajesh Shah heading the Ahmedabad based Maharshi Group with a conspicuous presence in the label industry, manufacturing label applicators and labels, is a deeply religious man with strong family values. Son of an eminent lawyer, Rajesh finished his mechanical engineering in 1976 and left for Germany to work for a contractor company having office in Germany and sites in North Africa. In 1978 while still in Germany, he was summoned by his family to return to India due to his mother’s serious illness. Being the eldest of the four siblings, they are three brothers and one sister; he felt that it was his responsibility to be home by his mother’s side in this hour of need. In 1979, Rajesh returned to India and soon thereafter got married and decided to settle down in Ahmedabad. His wife came from a business family, who was involved into textile machinery. While Rajesh was contemplating the way forward, he was suggested by his in-laws to try and get into engineering industry. He accepted the suggestion and started a business of manufacturing Stainless Steel Vessels, Process equipment and other needs of the pharmaceuticals, Cosmetic and chemical industry fabricated in a small set up  and supplying. The small size of the operation and slow progress soon made him restless and he started to look around for something that was bigger and more innovative with quicker turn around. Some friends suggested him to make conveyors, the idea appealed to him.  At this point of time he set up his maiden industrial startup venture Gopinath Engineering Company for fabrication of stainless steel vessels and conveyor systems. This brought him in touch with more pharmaceutical companies and he being a sharp observer was looking around for synergies that would support his venture. In the early 1980s he saw the opportunity come his way that would shape the way for his future growth. Ahmedabad based Core Pharmaceuticals wanted to install automatic Self adhesive Label applicators on their packaging lines but found the imported equipment way too expensive. Rajesh knew from the word go that this was his chance and he grabbed the opportunity. He offered to develop the label dispensers and applicators for them. To understand the product intricately, Rajesh left for Germany and visited Guhl and Scheibler AG, a company manufacturing automatic labelers. He also visited other similar European manufacturers to understand their technology. 
 
 
 
 
 
On visiting different manufacturers, he understood the technology in detail and concentrated on the best available. On return to India Rajesh developed his first label applicator and once it was successfully installed, there was no looking back!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Labeling systems manufacturing facility is now a part of the Maharshi group and known as Maharshi Udyog. It is perhaps the largest labeling systems and applicators manufacturing company in India. This part of the group is operating in a factory with 100 employees on a plot area of 100,000 square feet and built up shop floor of 60,000 square feet. Another 90,000 square feet of land has been acquired adjacent to the factory for further expansion. Rajesh’s other brothers, Bhagwat Shah and Hiren Shah also joined in to manage the growing group. While Rajesh looks after overall activities as a Group Chairman. Bhagwat, a commercial person, looks after finance, administration and personnel and Hiren, a Mechanical engineer, looks after design and manufacturing at Maharshi.  Hiren’s brother in law, Jigesh Dani takes care of sales and marketing under the guidance of Rajesh. The next generation is already in business. Rajesh’s son, Harshit, a mechatronics engineer, is already actively involved in the group activities taking care of automation systems, sales and marketing. Bhagwat’s son, Dhrumil has completed his MBA from Nirma and is under training in sales and marketing.
 
Maharshi Udyog’s sprawling shop floor is a sight to witness. It has a huge number of machines in various stages of completion. The variety of equipment is so diverse that one remains in awe at the possibilities they have created for themselves. The range of products they offer is from simple label applicators to print and apply systems for variable data labels, incorporating barcode inspection, missing label detection, bottle neck inspection and automatic segregation. It is an amazing array of equipment that they produce. They are also entering into production of packaging machines that include machines for automatic filling, capping, labeling, carton erection, product insertion and whole gambit of automatic packaging. The unit is complete with design, electronics and quality control departments. The spare part storage is all meticulously systemized with computer support and it is easy to trace the spares instantly when a customer is in need. The whole process of customer service support is planned at the manufacturing stage itself. Since they cater to the food and chemical industry, most of the fabrication is done with recommended grades of stainless steel. The shopfloor is clean and systemized with workers widely spread out and working on the equipments allotted to them. All equipment on completion undergoes strenuous tests before the customer is called in for the FAT (Factory Acceptance Test).
 
It is obvious that on entering a new industry one has to ensure that proper raw materials are available. 
Jigesh Dani and Rajubhai
In the 1980s Indian labelstock manufacturing was still in its infancy. Availability of labelstock in roll form was still scarce and not of the quality as desired. For this reasons the label rolls produced from them were also not as desired. The web when running on these label applicators would break due to improper punching or the matrix would keep breaking due to uneven release values. Most of the conversion of stock to labels was done on slow flat bed Japanese label presses. The release base paper availability those days was difficult and what was available had caliper variations causing erroneous die punching. Where the release paper was thin the die would not punch and the label would lift with the matrix and where the release paper was thick there would be a through cut causing web break increasing downtime and wastages. If the release was too tight, it was another nightmare with matrix breaking and its removal was a cumbersome exercise.  Silicone chemistry that time was still the old, which is now outdated, the tin catalyst curing system with post curing process. This always resulted in uneven release values causing problems in label dispensing on applicators. When Maharshi faced these problems in the late 1980s, they developed vendors who could understand their need for labels that would work on their applicators. It initially appeared to work but then due to reasons mentioned, while this problem was being attended yet another cropped up. The market for labelers grew and with it grew the demand for labels in roll form. Their preferred vendors could not deliver the desired quality in time. So that the applicator business does not suffer, a decision to integrate forward was taken at Maharshi to produce labels themselves. It was time to set up Maharshi Labels.
 
In 1995 the Shah family invested along with investments from Bhagwat Shah’s friend Rajendra Gandhi (fondly called Rajubhai) and Jigesh Dani to initiate the enterprise Maharshi Labels. Rajubhai was to look after production and Jigesh would take responsibility of marketing of not just the labels division but the entire Maharshi Group. From setting up shop in 1995 to 1997 they invested in 3-4 presses. These were the flat bed Onda and Changi presses. In those three years, as the population of their labelers grew, the Maharshi team realized that these slow flat bed machines will not support the growth in demand for labels. In 1997 they added a ten inch rotary flexo Acquaflex label press to augment their label production capacity. The decade of nineties and later, saw a sea change and growth in the label industry in India.  Flexo printing, plate making, inks and pre-press was evolving. Usage of self adhesive labels in India was on the rise. Automation in the packaging industry became not just a process but an imperative need to meet deadlines. Growth bug hit Maharshi. Between 1997 and 2012 they bought a label press every alternate year. They were a Mark Andy customer and when the MA-LP-3000 was launched, they bought it within months. Then the change of heart! They sold all the Mark Andy presses and one by one replaced them with Gidue’s. Today they operate with 5 Gidue (Now Bobst) 370mm label presses. They still use the old flatbed machines for the real short runs and as the duo of Jigesh and Raju says, we enjoy using them.
 
Lord Ganesha
It is traditional and almost all label printers, when they commission a new press, the first label they print is a religious label. Mostly it is picture of the God that they worship. This is to seek HIS blessings for the new equipment.  At Maharshi they follow this even today, each time they buy a new press, they print the picture of a deity. When I asked Jigesh if they had any nightmares, the answer was quite simple, “we are deeply into machine building and know how to troubleshoot. So we had no real nightmares!”  One of the earliest labels they printed was that of Vasmol, a popular brand. The most challenging and satisfying job till date remains the Signature whiskey label that needed to have micro embossing, foiling with three different foils and printing with special pantone shades. The job became extremely challenging because the customer, who was using their labelers, did not give any artwork. They just handed over a few labels to copy and produce identical. Accepting the challenge the Maharshi team developed a special multi-foiling machine in-house and imported the blocks from UK. The challenge was successfully met and brought immense satisfaction. Rajubhai and Jigesh continue to efficiently run the label enterprise with active support of the Shah family. Rajubhai’s son is a qualified chartered accountant and planning for some expansion in related products. 
 
 
 
 
 
Jigesh’s only son, Yash has no interest in the father’s activity, he is deeply into music. He is a fine Tabla player (Indian drums), who has entered the Guiness book of records for the longest Tabla playing performance. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
At the moment Maharshi’s expansion plans are under wraps. They have the space and resources to expand.  Maharshi Labels has the scope to expand and they have access to the market but the intense competition and shrinking margins makes them cautious. However still, the growing market size does confuse them, tempting them to consider producing to economies of scale and cutting down on wastages and increasing volumes. Their label unit operates from a land are of 50,000 square feet and a shop floor of 30,000 square feet with 70 employees. The total group turnover of the Maharshi is around 15 Million US Dollars. They have their hands full at this moment and it is a matter of time before they will divulge their plans for next expansion. As for their intention to foray into packaging, Jigesh says, “The day we can convert it on a web press in-line cost effectively, we will also be into packaging.”
 

 

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi India August 2016 exclusively for Narrow Web Tech Germany. 

 

 

The article maybe published with the permission of Narrow WebTech Germany giving credit to them and to the author
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