All roads lead to Rome in June to Finat European Label Forum 2020

The eternal city of Rome has been chosen by Finat as the venue for this year’s European Label Forum. The association’s flagship event will be held on 3–5 June 2020 at the Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center. Apart from zooming in today’s volatile business conditions, a major focus will be on sustainability in response to worldwide developments and the demands on all manufacturers for more environmentally friendly working processes and products. Thirdly and finally, the leadership culture of the label industry in the face of generation change will be addressed.

The annual European Label Forum (ELF), which offers not only the latest market update and informative presentations, but also a fantastic opportunity for networking, goes to Italy for the 2020 edition. As the main event in the label converting calendar, ELF brings together business leaders, managers and young professionals from the whole value chain. Details of the engaging programme aimed at providing attendees with the knowledge and tools to maximise the potential of their businesses have now been revealed and is available online.

The next level in flexo plate making: Flint Group unveils new washer and dryer/ light finisher as part of its Catena System offering

The newest additions to Flint Group’s Catena Product family, the Catena-W , for Washer, and Catena-DL, for Dryer Light finisher, follow Flint Group’s promise of delivering solutions which are Better.Faster.Easier to use.

Since Xeikon Pre-press joined the Flint Group Family in 2015 both Flint Group Flexographic and Xeikon Pre-press were suddenly in the very unique position to have the expertise in plate manufacturing and plate processing equipment in-house. This unique position in the industry resulted in a close collaboration between our R&D departments with the aim to provide a fully optimized Pre-press environment to our customers including equipment and plates. "We believe that no one in our industry can match this level of expertise and the first feedback we got from our beta customers is confirming our view", says Friedrich von Rechteren, Global Commercial VP, Flint Group Flexographic.

EBM presents Pharma Authors Roundtable at JW Marriott, Mumbai

Eminence Business Media organized “Pharma Authors Roundtable” on January 22nd, 2020 at Hotel JW Marriott, Mumbai inviting all the young writers & authors to present their ideas, success stories, case studies on how did they manage/handle a project successfully. This event was Eminence Business Media’s initiative towards creating a platform for established & new authors to get their names featured as the co-author of an upcoming book on project management by Mr. John Robert. The roundtable was led by Ms. Guneet Kaur Hayer, MD, Eminence Business Media.  She set the expectations & rules for idea presentation & final paper submissions.

Epson to showcase its latest Color Label Printing Solutions at Natural Products Expo West 2020

Epson, a leader in the digital label and packaging industry, will be showcasing its leading ColorWorks on-demand, desktop color label printing solutions for fresh food and natural products, as well as providing sample labels created using the SurePress digital label presses, at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif.

During Natural Products Expo West, Epson will be demonstrating how its ColorWorks desktop inkjet label printers deliver high-quality custom food and beverage and natural products labels on-demand to reduce costs and waste associated with pre-printed labels, bringing flexibility to co-packing operations. Samples printed from Epson’s SurePress digital label and flexible packaging presses will also be available at the booth, highlighting its expanded packaging applications using water-based ink, including shrink and in-mold label, flexible packaging and thin film for foods.

Würth partners with NiceLabel to transform supplier labeling

Würth IT, a service provider for assembly and fastening materials wholesaler, the Würth Group, has selected NiceLabel, a leading global developer of label design software and label management systems, to help it create a new web-based standardized supplier labelling process. To achieve this, Würth IT decided to replace its existing custom-built labeling solution with NiceLabel’s flexible web-based printing solution, the NiceLabel Label Management System.

Label Traxx completes integration with HP PrintOS Job Costing Tool

Label Traxx, the management information software (MIS) solution provider for the label converting industry, today announced it has completed integration with HP PrintOS Print Beat Jobs API. As a result, Label Traxx job costing analysis can capture information from HP Indigo presses to include in costing.

With the new Label Traxx collaboration, HP Indigo digital press users can connect Label Traxx to HPs PrintOS to access information captured by the HP Indigo press, including production time, ink and media usage captured by the HP Indigo press. The data fed from PrintOS Print Beat Jobs API is thereby included in the Label Traxx cost analysis to reach accurate job costing. Label Traxx is the first MIS provider in the label industry able to import valuable HP Indigo digital press data from the jobs API feature in HP PrintOS Print Beat.

EBM’s 3rd Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management Summit 2020 – A huge success..!

Eminence Business Media’s “3rd Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management Summit 2020” concluded on January 23rd & 24th, 2020 at Hotel Hilton, Mumbai. The theme of the summit was “Grooming Project & Portfolio Management teams for opportunities & uncertainties”. The event was an outstanding success with 100+ delegates attending the summit with I2E Consulting, Innoventic Research & Business & Product Dossier Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. partnering the event.

The two-day event ensured the continuous engagement of the audience, speakers and exhibitors through various networking activities and discussions with regards to the ever–evolving challenges of the pharmaceutical companies related to project & portfolio management and how to overcome those challenges.

The event saw as many as 17+ sessions & a panel discussion over the two days, attended by the CEO’s, MD’s, CXO’s, Presidents, Sr. VP’s, VP’s, Directors, Associate Directors & Functional Heads of Project Management, Portfolio Management, R&D & IP teams of the pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical manufacturing companies.

The day started with Ms. Guneet Kaur Hayer, Managing Director, Eminence Business Media welcoming all the delegates & thanking all the partners for their contribution towards the event. She also spoke about Eminence Business Media’s initiative towards women empowerment via Remarkable Women Camaraderie and girl child education.

UPM Raflatac to boost the circular economy through its RafCycle by UPM Raflatac recycling service

UPM Raflatac is partnering with UPM Specialty Papers’ UPM LinerLoop recycling concept through its RafCycle by UPM Raflatac service in order to strengthen the labeling value chain offering of recycled content and closed loop products. RafCycle together with UPM LinerLoop actively enhances industry collaboration for liner recycling and is a good example of the circular economy in action.

Batsios Labels invests in first Gallus Label Press

It is the third Gallus ECS 340 in Greece within three years: Batsios Labels installed its first Gallus press, a conventional label press for the production of self-adhesive labels. Besides to an increased productivity and widening up of substrate and color range, the Greek label printer reports that the investment is already paying off since its installation in May 2019.

Based in Thessaloniki, Greece, Batsios Labels invested in a Gallus ECS 340 press with eight flexo and one screen printing unit plus included capability of cold-foil embossing. With a printing width of 340 mm the conventional label press convinces with stability, speed and quality and is in use mainly for the printing and converting of self-adhesive labels.

EBM presents maiden “Pharma GMP, GCP & Quality Management 2020” at Hotel Westin Mumbai

Eminence Business Media proudly presents the Pharma GMP, GCP & Quality Management 2020 scheduled for April 16th–17th, 2020 at Hotel Westin Mumbai Garden City. The summit is bringing together the senior practitioners across the pharmaceutical industry to discover the best strategies & approaches in order to remain competitive while meeting the industry and its ever-evolving quality standards. For this constantly evolving business turf, this Summit addresses the need to be currently relevant and find opportunities of growth in aspects of Quality Management, Good Manufacturing Practices, Good Clinical Practices, as well as Risk & Regulatory Affairs.

UFlex gears up To reduce Delhi-NCR Plastic Waste: Commissions India’s First Plant for washing & recycling of Multi-Layer Plastic and PET Bottles’ Waste

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced in the world, a recent study states that a whopping 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste either lying in the landfill or swimming in the ocean. A meagre 9% of this plastic waste gets recycled. Reports indicate that by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic on this planet, if there isn’t an eco-system built to recycle plastic waste.

UFlex, a pioneer in Multilayer Plastic Manufacturing and Waste recycling, is scaling up its recycling strength to help build a circular economy, by the way of setting up two lines that will wash and recycle post-consumer waste and subsequently give a second life to plastics. This pilot plant in its Noida facility commenced its operations and is aimed to mitigate the piling plastic dumps in Delhi–NCR by recycling collected post-consumer waste PET Bottles and Multi-layer Plastic packaging into chips and granules, put into further use to make products with economic value. In line with its global sustainability campaign ‘Project Plastic Fix’, UFlex will steer its efforts towards keeping plastic in the economy and out of the environment, converting waste into wealth.

drupa Cube 2020: Eleven days of vision and inspiration

drupa is much more than just a global trade exhibition for the print industry - drupa ranks as a top international fair that identifies important trends, offers insights into future developments and drives inspiration.

To provide participants with the best possible visitor experience, drupa invests in top-class knowledge transfer through its five special forums, the drupa Cube being one of them. “educate - engage - entertain” has once again been chosen as the slogan of the drupa Cube for 2020, designed to provide a broad spectrum of highly relevant content that is motivating, highly stimulating and interactive for visitors thanks to the various talk formats. World-renowned speakers are set to create a buzz with a visionary range of topics. Best-selling author Michael Gale and internationally renowned designer James Sommerville will also contribute to the top-class programme with keynotes.

Finat Technical Seminar 2020 ‘Turning technology into value in the label & packaging industry’

Set to take place from 4-6 March 2020 at the Crowne Plaza Barcelona Fira Center, the Technical Seminar promises to provide participants a deeper understanding into various aspects of label converting technologies along the value chain. Spread over one and a half day, two plenary and two parallel sessions, 23 expert speakers will share their expertise on an array of topics. All designed to give an update on the latest status with regards to legislation, materials science, converting technology and innovation.

Redefining Printing- A Discussion with World Leaders!

For the very first time in the country, All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) hosted the World Print & Communication Forum (WPCF) Conference & board meeting on the side-lines of Pamex 2020. The WPCF conference was held at the Ballroom of Westin Garden City, Mumbai on 8 January 2020. The Theme of the conference was Redefining Printing- a Discussion with World Leaders and had speakers from USA, Belgium, South Africa, Japan, China & India. The one-day event saw more than 150 delegates coming from across the world. The conference was divided into two technical sessions and both were moderated by Prof. Dr. Rajendrakumar Anayath, VC Deenbandhu Cho Ram University of Science and Technology.

The inaugural session of the conference was held by Prof. Kamal Chopra, Chairman Pamex. He was joined by Mr. Raveendra Joshi, Chairman Organizing Committee- WPCF, Mr. Dibyajoyti Kalita, President AIFMP and Prof. Dr. Rajendrakumar Anayath. They set the tone of the conference and explained what the delegates were in store for the day.

Cosmo Films reports 171 percent increase in Q3 FY20

Cosmo Films Limited, a global leader in films for packaging, labeling & lamination applications and synthetic paper today declared its financial results for the quarter ended December, 2019. Q3 FY20 net revenue increased by 4 percent on YOY basis backed by a better product mix and higher volumes. The improved performance is on account of higher sales of speciality films and strong operating margin on BOPP films (due to balanced demand supply scenario). Last year results included Rs. 8 crores of profit on sale of assets in US subsidiary following the relocation of plant.

Commenting on the financial performance of the company Mr. Pankaj Poddar, CEO, Cosmo Films Ltd. said, “We have had one of the best quarterly results with a significant contribution coming from sales of newly developed products. The company’s R&D has done successful trials for in house manufacturing of certain masterbatches and coating chemicals as a part of backward integration/maintaining secrecy as well as diversification into new related business.

The future of label printing - drupa is even more important than you think : Isidore Leiser

When I think about drupa, I think about it as the World Cup of Printing.  The World Cup too happens every four years – but contrary to drupa my own country is usually not a qualifier there. People told me when I first joined the printing industry “don’t go there, it’s too big, you’ll get lost”, or “don’t go there, it’s not focused enough on your business”. Since my first drupa visit, I can’t wait to visit again and I certainly won’t miss it in 2020.

Yes, it’s true that drupa is huge and I did get lost there more than once. Yes, it’s not just focused on labels-printing, but to attend the biggest print show in the world gives me an overview of the complete printing market, the latest innovations and the trends that we can expect in future years. The different printing sectors within the industry are related and some trends that occur now in one category will also evolve in another. For example, inkjet technology was first introduced for wide- format applications but it is now playing a major role in label-printing. To gain knowledge about competing printing processes at drupa gives me more insight and adds new perspectives to my own business.

So, what can we expect from the next drupa in 2020? First and foremost – innovation!  Printing, including packaging, is under intense pressure to transform itself. Brand owners are upping the pace and have new, different requirements. The industry is more competitive than ever and innovation is what our clients – brand owners – are looking for.

South India’s leading show on Commercial Printing, Package Converting and Digital Signs is back to Hyderabad

There has been a revolutionary change in the last few years in the printing industry in India. Growing at a rate of 12% per annum, the Indian Printing Industry comprises more than 250,000 big, small and medium printers. It is slowly progressing from the heavy machinery using industry to a more software-centric business. The advent of global brands, rising consumerism and growth of the pharmaceutical industry have seen an increase in the scope for package printing. By 2025, India is expected to become the fifth largest consumer market in the world, according to CII. The inception of new technologies along with a rise in e-commerce, changing lifestyles, urbanisation and increased personal health awareness has boosted the growth of the print and packaging markets. Amid this scenario, PrintFair is setting up a business and networking platform for the industry to help showcase all that is innovative and ground-breaking. The event is happening, concurrently with PackPlus South, from 20-21-22 March, at Hitex, Hyderabad.

“Every year PrintFair is setting a new benchmark with more exhibitors, more visitors, new technologies, machines and products on display. The overwhelming response from exhibitors and visitors has always encouraged us to improve the experience of our customers by offering a variety of facilities and tools to make sure that they make the most of their participation.” said Prateek Kaushik, Portfolio Director, Next Events Pvt. Ltd. (A member of Reed Exhibitions & a part of RELX Group).

UFlex closes a quarter of innovations, milestones and progress, with multiple product launches

India’s largest multinational flexible packaging company and a global player in polymer sciences, Uflex has declared its earnings for the quarter ended 31 December 2019 on 13 February. Its consolidated net profit was up 56.7% YOY at Rs 84.6-crore.

Reinforcing the efforts by the company towards sustainability, Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman & Managing Director, UFlex Ltd. said, “The industry led by UFlex has got together to form Multi-Layer Plastics Films Sanitation Trust (MLPFST) that is partnering with State Governments to set up municipal solid waste sorting and segregation plant that will separate the plastic recoverable from mixed garbage via automated technology and recycle MLP waste into granules for making various plastic items including buckets, mugs, flower pots, outdoor furniture and many more.  MLPFST has started off this project with the set-up of a pilot plant in Bengaluru and another one to be established at a leading tourist destination in North India later. This step validates our efforts to lead our industry in changing the myth around plastic and ensure that plastic reaches the right stream for its recovery.”

Meanwhile, with an objective to promote sustainability, Uflex Chemicals Business launched three new products for the global markets that included, Flexseal Blister Coating, a water-based PUD used as heat-sealable paperboard overprint varnish for sealing PET or PVC blisters and fold-over packages; aqueous narrow web inks, especially created to replace solvent-based wide-web flexo inks for high-end food packaging applications and aqueous water resistant OPV for deep-freeze and food wrap application. 

MPS Systems Asia appoints Müller Korea as local agent in South Korea

Local representation for MPS flexo, hybrid and offset printing solutions in South Korea is now provided by Müller Korea. MPS Systems Asia, with headquarters in Malaysia, made the agreement with Müller Korea in the latter half of 2019.

Established in 1997, Müller Korea is located in central Seoul and is well connected to the label and packaging industry in addition to newspaper, book bindery and commercial printing. The company is also an agent for Muller Martini, a worldwide organization that manufactures, markets and services a full range of post-press finishing equipment.

NY Cho, Managing Director of Müller Korea explained the choice to partner with MPS: “In printing presses, our customers want superior quality and productivity, as well as flexibility in substrates – an essential strength to produce value-added labels.

“Awareness of state-of-the-art & eco-friendly printing equipment has increased, and Korean printers place a high importance on quality control. MPS presses have proven all these requirements and are designed to be extremely flexible and easy to operate. For us, it is the ideal partnership to meet our customer’s expectations.”

In addition to sales support, Müller Korea provides a strong service and engineering organization with a policy to visit customers onsite within two hours from the initial request.

Amcor opens new home care packaging site in India

Growing demand for Unilever’s laundry products in India has created a need for quality packaging, which Amcor will satisfy with a new manufacturing plant dedicated to the needs of the global consumer-goods giant. Amcor’s efficient new factory in Bharuch, Gujarat, in the Western region of India started operations this week after an official ceremonial event in October with executives from both companies.

As part of a seven-year agreement with Unilever signed in 2017, Amcor, the global packaging leader, made a substantial investment to build and equip the state-of-the-art Bharuch plant.

“Across all home-care categories, consumers in India are choosing products with packaging that provide them with the most convenience,” said Michael Zacka, president of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, who attended the ceremony.