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.
The first technical session was conducted by Mr.
Narendra Paruchuri, Chief Managing Director- Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd and the
winner of the prestigious Virren Chabbra Print Leadership Award (VCPLA). He
spoke about the journey of printing through the years and the scope of printing
in the future. His presentation was aptly titled “Printing- Kal, aaj aur Kal”.
He emphasised on the need for printers to join together and collaborate to
grow. He also urged to go green and use bio-degradable materials in the
printing and packaging industry.
Mr. Sukhdev Singh of Colgate Palmolive then gave a
presentation on “Get Print-ready to deliver Branded Packaging in India.” He
spoke about the tremendous growth in the printed packaging sector and how there
is a need for printers to provide the complete solutions of branding to their customers.
The second Technical Session started with a
presentation from Ms. Beatrice Klose, Secretary General- Intergraf. She spoke
on the trends in the European Market and the challenges they are facing due to
the legislation passed by EU. She noted how package printing has overtaken
graphic printing in Europe and how the future lies in packaging. She also spoke
about the lack of skilled professionals in the printing industry.
Prof. Dr. Anayath then gave a presentation on
behalf of Mr. Marcus Heering, MD- The German Association of Printing and Paper.
The topic of his presentation was “Status Quo and the upcoming trends for the
Printing Industry.” He spoke on the 4 major trends running currently in Europe-Artificial
Intelligence, Connected Customer, Platform Economy and Circular Economy.
“The conference has been spectacular. It helped in
realising importance and difficulties of different print markets and initiated
healthy discussions,” said Michael Makin, President & CEO, Printing Industries
of America.
“I congratulate the team of AIFMP and
Print-Packaging.com for organising such a wonderful Conference. Such
conferences help printers and suppliers add a lot to their knowledge,”
concluded Dayaker Reddy, President, IPAMA.
