The Packman | January-February 2021

Volume 3 l Issue 4 l January-february 2021

rs. 150

ECOMMERCE AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TO LEAD THE WAY

Bobst AluBond at Sparsh Industries

Nuflex on a mission to bring the best in flexo prepress

Yansefu India develops bio-based products

Editorial

From the editor’s desk!

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020 was an awful year for the world and will undoubtedly go down in history as the worst year ever. We were pretty much in our houses for the most of 2020. But eventually, things are getting better. No doubt, things will evolve as we look at 2021. As we do our utmost to avoid Covid-19, many companies are rethinking packaging.

Following the unstable nature of events endured over the past 12 months, from split political decisions, social movements, extreme weather conditions, economic turmoil, and a global health pandemic, we’ve seen it all. And no one could have predicted it. Just about every industry, business, and individual has been affected by at least one of these events. Not just affected but shaken to the core in many instances. As a result, we’ve seen some significant shifts in both consumer and stakeholder sentiment, which aren’t necessarily as negative as the events that caused them. The nature of some of these shifts will be permanent, as they’ve encouraged better ways of living and of doing business. Therefore, the learnings from these changes should inform our plans for the year to come. In regard to packaging, read in this issue about some predictions on how this year’s shifts should change the way businesses approach the role, composition, and manufacturing processes of their container solutions.

There is growing evidence that today’s approaches to packaging are struggling to meet the changing needs of companies, consumers, and the wider environment. This is exacerbated by the fact that different stakeholders have different, often unaligned packaging needs. Companies want their branded packaging to present them in a positive light, but consumers are frustrated if this packaging is hard to use and difficult to recycle. Packaging waste represents a significant environmental challenge. Many companies are continuously redesigning their products to have a lesser carbon footprint as well as help with recycling. Avery India is making progress in reduce, recycle & redesign of packaging and is very much focused on its 2025 Sustainability Goals. We recently met with Pankaj Bhardwaj, vice president and general manager – India & SAARC, label & graphic materials, Avery Dennison, to learn about the company’s advancement in intelligent labels and sustainability initiatives in India.

In this issue, we have highlighted Yansefu India’s sustainability drive. JK Sharma – CEO, Yansefu, India shared with us about the packaging printing ink industry in India, its challenges and opportunities going ahead, and the future readiness of Yansefu India to meet market demands and sustainability trends.

The packaging industry is going through a tough time. But did it take it as an excuse to put sustainability on the back burner? The answer is no. The new-year edition of The Packman carries several stories focused on sustainability and recyclability.

Happy reading.

– Mahan Hazarika, Editor, editor@thepackman.in

THE PACKMAN | JAN-FEB 2021

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Contents Design and Marketing

PAGE 13

PAGE 16

PAGE 30

From the editor’s desk!--------------------------- 3

LT Foods commissions new packaging line in Rotterdam---------------------------------------24

EcoCortec introduces compostable electrostatic dissipating anti-corrosion film-42

EDITORIAL

DESIGN AND MARKETING

Augmented reality brings Dia de Los Muertos to life--------------------------------------- 6 RB reveals new design for Air Wick Freshmatic------------------------------------------- 8 Perrier and Takashi Murakami collaborate on limited-edition glass bottles--------------------- 8

PREPRESS AND SOFTWARE

Nuflex Graphics on a mission to bring the best in flexo prepress to a wider market----10 DuPont introduces Cyrel Easy Brite Screens in the cloud-----------------------------------------12 VeePee Arts installs Esko CDI Spark 4835-----------------------------------------12

MONOCARTON

Print Point installs Heidelberg Speedmaster CX-75 ----------------------------13 UFlex to double production capacity of aseptic liquid packaging plant in Sanand---14

EPL to acquire Creative Stylo Packs--------25

LABELS

Avery India makes progress in reduce, recycle & redesign--------------------------------26 YesGo Mumbai students get training at Nilpeter Chennai----------------------------------27 Mega Label installs second Gallus ECS 340-----------------------------------28 Sreevan Offset installs Lombardi Synchroline 430 label press--------------------29 Konica Minolta installs second MGI Jetvarnish at Bahubali Digiglam--------------30

Alon Bar-Shany appointed chairman of Highcon board-------------------------------------33

GLASS PACKAGING

UFlex Cylinders Business focuses on innovation and operational excellence------16

Leaving traditional production lines behind----------------------------------------36

Yansefu India invests in developing biobased products to meet sustainability challenges------------------------------------------18

CODING AND MARKING

Sparsh Industries produces high barrier CPP films using Bobst AluBond----------------------23

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Tomra and Borealis open post-consumer plastic waste sorting and recycling plant----46

PHARMA PACKAGING

Schott builds second melting tank for pharmaceutical glass tubing in Mainz-------48

FILLING AND SEALING

Anytron – Bitek Technology launches new in-line digital press--------------------------------32

AUTOMATION

Yansefu advances business portfolio with LED coatings---------------------------------------22

New Nivea bottle uses 50% less plastics---45

Dantex signs digital distributor partnership for India sub-continent---------------------------31

FLEXIBLES

DIC India launches mobile app to offer seamless troubleshooting----------------------21

Sabic collaborates with Beiersdorf to implement sustainable cosmetics packaging-------------------------------------------44

Aptar increases capacity for active packaging solutions------------------------------49

AGI glaspac eyes 18% topline revenue growth--------------------------34

SEI Laser Scoring – flexible packaging-----20

Meat packaging material made from mixed post-consumer plastics--------------------------43

UvBiz Indore invests in Brotech DL 430----31

Kolb accelerates digital post-printing after CorruJET 170 success--------------------------15

Vishakha Polyfab adds 25% flexible packaging capacity in two locations----------19

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j anuary - february 2 0 2 1

Domino brings vision inspection expertise to customers--------------------------38

RETAIL

eCommerce and digital transformation to lead the way----------------40

SUSTAINABILITY

Tetra Pak, Coca-Cola India and GIZ join hands with Saahas--------------42

KHS further develops its keg fillers-----------50 New Syntegon Pack 202 flow wrapper------52

EVENTS

Printpack India 2021 postponed--------------53 Fachpack to take place in 2021---------------53

INDUSTRY NEWS

H.B. Fuller unveils cold-resistant adhesives for COVID-19 vaccine delivery----------------54 Mondi to acquire corrugated packaging company Olmuksan------------------------------54 Ashish Pradhan appointed president of Siegwerk Asia--------------------------------------55 Guala Closures signs exclusive agreement with Oceanworks----------------------------------55 Scodix’s PolySense to make food packaging enhancement more accessible-56 Digiflex brings Bellissima DMS to India market-----------------------------56 Clariant appoints Conrad Keijzer as chief executive officer------------------------57 Nestle adds head of strategic business-----57

Design and Marketing

z Generating social media engagement

Augmented reality brings Dia de Los Muertos to life

C

erveza Victoria has launched a marketing campaign featuring a new augmented reality activation designed to generate social media engagement and to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos Holiday.

“Cerveza Victoria seeks to provide authentic connections and be part of moments that matter to our consumers” says Alex Schultz, senior director of marketing for Victoria at Constellation Brands. “With this campaign we aim to bring even greater awareness for the colorful Mexican celebration, urging consumers to see the beauty of Día de los Muertos and provide an opportunity to connect through the augmented reality experience.”

Victoria sought to engage and connect culturally with their consumers, and for Dia de Los Muertos they felt there was no better way than to accentuate the movement and vibrancy the holiday brings forth. To achieve this, they tapped creative agency Upshot to strategize, engineer, and execute the campaign.

Each bottle design activates a different AR experience

Tavo Montañez, a Mexican artist, was brought in to design three limited-edition custom bottle labels featuring La Catrina; the great dame of death and one of the holiday’s most iconic symbols. On each limited-edition Victoria packaging, consumers can scan a QR code. Once detected, the Victoria beer bottles unique design comes to life with beautiful colors, sounds and other authentic elements, depicting both life and death and representing the best of both worlds

being honored during the holiday. Each bottle design activates a different AR experience.

Beyond the activation, consumers will be prompted to share the experience on social using the hashtag #LoMejorDeDosMundos (TheBestOfBothWorlds), inspired by the label art featuring La Catrina depicting both Life and Death. To further encourage conversation and engagement around the holiday, Victoria will also feature social content on Facebook and Instagram that teases the limited-edition packaging series.

“The AR experience allowed us to play off the natural movement in Tavo’s artwork and bring it to life, said Gaba Gonzalez Marra, associate creative director at Upshot. “La Catrina typically leads the way in the holiday’s festivities, which are full of movement and vibrancy. Tavo’s artwork intentionally led the mind down the path of that movement given its fluid strokes and line work. The AR application just allowed us to fulfill the story telling opportunity that was already there in his work.” z

z Automatic spray RB reveals new design for Air Wick Freshmatic

R

B has launched its newly-designed Air Wick Freshmatic automatic spray, with a total shipping weight that is now 28.9% lighter. RB partnered with product design and development consultancy DCA to transform the device, redesigning its shape with softer curves (resulting in a reported 17.2% reduction in plastic) and including a blossoming effect with an integrated spray hole.

DCA was also able to reduce the number of batteries required from two to one, following in-depth customer research. Design agency Marks worked with RB to bring the new design to life through packaging. Taking

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the theme ‘continuous freshness’ to capture the new fragrance and odour-neutralising technology, Marks aimed to distil the pre-existing visual iterations into a simple, easy to understand design, while letting the new device take centre stage through an enlarged pack window.

Global design strategy director of RB, Jos Harrison, says, “Our redesign is the result of listening to customers and designing something that they truly want.

It’s also the perfect example of our agencies working together across every touchpoint to deliver a really exciting new variant.” z

RB’s newly-designed Air Wick Freshmatic automatic spray

MARKETED BY Scanvik Packaging 329, Kuber Complex, New Link Rd, Andheri -(West), Mumbai - 400053, India.

T. +91- 22- 40106327 / 26749533, Email : info@scanvikpackaging.com , Website : scanvikpackaging.com

Design and Marketing

z Features original artwork by Murakami

Perrier and Takashi Murakami collaborate on limited-edition glass bottles

P

errier has announced PERRIER x MURAKAMI, a new collaboration with renowned artist Takashi Murakami, inspired by the pop and colourful universe of the artist and the spirit of Perrier. In October 2020, premium limited-edition Perrier screen-printed glass bottles featuring original artwork by Murakami will be launched around the world, followed by a reworking of Perrier’s original range.

This project adds to Perrier’s 150-year history of collaborating with influential artists, including Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí, Bernard Villemot, Raymond Savignac, Carlu, and Jean-Gabriel Domergue – all of whom created posters and artworks for the brand.

Murakami’s signature smiling flowers will be featured on the bottles, alongside his most beloved characters, Kaikai and Kiki. Additional product formats, including cans, will launch in early 2021.

Murakami is considered one of the most important Japanese artists of his generation. Drawing from traditional Japanese paintings, sci-fi, anime, and the global art market, he creates paintings, sculptures, and films populated by repeated motifs and mutating characters of his own creation.

His wide-ranging work embodies an intersection of pop culture, history, and fine art, merging the commercial and fine art realms and seeking to flatten the distinction between high and low culture. Giving his views on the collaboration, the artist says, “When Perrier first approached me, I felt extremely lucky to have the opportunity to collaborate with this sparkling water brand with such a long history.

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Perrier has announced a new vibrant collaboration with renowned artist Takashi Murakami, inspired by the pop and colorful universe of the artist, and the creative and pioneering spirit of Perrier

“Perrier for me is closely associated first with the colour green – of course! – and then, with the pleasant bubbling sound of carbonation. I’m grateful to be part of the brand’s expanding views and future-facing concepts through this collaboration.”

Paul Cordina, global communications manager at Perrier, adds, “The vibrancy and delight of Murakami’s work is the perfect match for Perrier, a brand that has

invested for over a century in creativity to bring out a differentiating brand spirit, tinged with its unexpected, crazy and original personality.

“The brand has inspired and collaborated with some of the world’s most famous and distinguished artists, who have each in their own way established a touch of artistic irreverence, providing them a space of expression in the identity of Perrier.” z

Prepress and Software

z Process conversion to flexo taking place in quick pace

Nuflex Graphics on a mission to bring the best in flexo prepress to a wider market

“W

e want to democratize highquality prepress for packaging because too many smaller brands think it’s only for the bigger players. We aim to make it available to every brand at a price-point that’s right for them. That will benefit everyone, elevating the industry through a better understanding of technology.”

Nikhil Puntambekar, director of Pune-based Nuflex Graphics, is expanding on the ‘sell on technology’ principle adopted by the company since its formation in 2019. It’s a goal that every technology-based business aims for, and one that Nuflex is achieving, recording strong growth this year despite the challenging trading conditions created by a global pandemic.

Right technology, right partner It helps having the right technology at the heart of the business – in Nuflex’s case, the Kodak Flexcel NX

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System, supplied and supported by Miraclon – and the right partner. Nuflex is part-owned by Mumbai-based Numex Blocks, which brings over 30 years’ experience in flexo packaging prepress to the partnership, and serves all packaging segments – narrow-, mid- and wide-web. The company offers customers large and small the same proposition: a complete prepress solution, including press fingerprinting and trials as well as final plate imaging. “Smaller customers really welcome such an extensive package, because the smaller the business, the more support it needs to get to the next level,” says Puntambekar.

Nikhil Puntambekar, director of Pune-based Nuflex Graphics

Team Nuflex Graphics

Fast turnaround and consistent quality Nuflex’s offering has been shaped by Puntambekar’s in-depth understanding of local market conditions, and his strong links to the corrugated packaging sector. He identifies fast-turnaround delivery of Flexcel NX plates to customers as a major reason for Nuflex’s success,

Prepress and Software usually within 24 hours and often on the same day.

“It’s becoming the norm,” says Puntambekar, “so it’s expected of us. Production runs are getting shorter as consumption patterns change. It helps that from the start we’ve been able to put robust production practices and disciplines in place.”

Just as important is the consistent quality of the plates.

“Flexcel NX delivers the right densities and colors, and these hold true across the spectrum of the work we produce – labels, flexible packaging, pouches, shrink-sleeves and corrugated. Customers like the simplified workflow and problem-free printing at their end, so there’s value throughout the production chain.”

A further analysis of Nuflex’s performance shows that most growth is organic, encouraged by the quickening pace at which flexo is taking is gaining market share from other processes, gravure in particular. “This is apparent in every segment,” says Puntambekar, “but especially in flexible packaging.” As an example, he cites a shrink sleeve product where the better halftone reproduction achieved with Flexcel NX DigiCap NX patterning technology won over a sceptical customer.

“They doubted our claim that DigiCap NX meant a

Nuflex’s offering has been shaped

by

in-depth local

Puntambekar’s

understanding

market

of

conditions,

and his strong links to the corrugated packaging sector.

He identifies fast-turnaround delivery of Flexcel NX plates to customers as a major reason for Nuflex’s success, usually within 24 hours and often on the same day.

single hit of white instead of a double, but we achieved it with the same densities and visual results. White’s the most expensive pigment, so reducing consumption at the same time as speeding things up brings real value to the process.” He adds that consumer pressure for more sustainable packaging production is a further driver of process conversion.

Similar process conversion, this time from offset to flexo, is apparent in the corrugated segment, which Puntambekar regards as a good avenue for growth, helped by Flexcel NX’s ability to print 150lpi.

“Liquor brands in particular are actively exploring conversion,” says Puntambekar, “and the nationwide ban on plastic bags imposed in 2019 means paper bags are a good opportunity. In some cases, we’ve converted customers from five colors to four colors using Flexcel NX.” Predicting the future is difficult at the present time, but Puntambekar expects these trends to continue, and for circumstances to generate more inorganic growth. “We’re seeing production return to India from neighboring countries, and a move to localized manufacturing even within national borders.” z

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Prepress and Software

z Option for customers to work virtually

DuPont introduces Cyrel Easy Brite Screens in the cloud

D

uPont has taken the next step in the digital transformation process by launching the Cyrel Easy Brite screens in the cloud. The advantage of Cyrel Easy Brite screens in the cloud is to offer customers the option to work virtually, with no need of installing the software on their computers, and it enables now the use of the Cyrel Easy Brite screens in imagers with 2540 dpi.

“This is a way to democratize the technology and make it more accessible to customers, especially those who work with an imager with lower resolution,” explains Shyamal Desai, technical marketing manager Americas of DuPont Image Solutions. “Furthermore, there are some functional improvements such as

the ability to screen not only 100% solids but also graphics that contain fades.”

For customers that currently have a higher resolution imager, Cyrel Easy Brite screens in the cloud will give them the flexibility to image their plates at a lower resolution, which will increase the process speed and productivity. Another benefit of having the Cyrel Easy Brite screens in the cloud is that as new screens are developed, they can be deployed to all users automatically.

Launched in 2018, the Cyrel Easy Brite screens are a success for providing a brighter white, as well as improving the solid colors. They were designed to

optimize the ink laydown, which normally needs the use of a higher volume anilox, typically used to print white and spot colors. The new generation of Cyrel Easy Brite screens in the cloud can now be used not only on those applications as mentioned, but also in the highlights. It is a set of screens that improves the printing in anilox volumes of 4.0 bcm or more.

“High opacity alone does not make a good white. It is necessary to combine opacity, low mottle and low graininess to achieve a good white. And the Cyrel Easy Brite screens provide both high opacity and improvements in pin-holing and graininess,” explains Scott Rickard, staff associate investigator for DuPont Image Solutions. z

z Digital flexo imager

VeePee Arts installs Esko CDI Spark 4835

B

angalore-based VeePee Arts Studio, a leading player in prepress and flexo plates, has installed a Esko CDI Spark 4835 digital flexo imager.

Jai Prakash, CEO, VeePee Arts Studio, said, “Plate manufacturers now a days are putting all efforts in matching the flat top dot technology – the digital lams plate technology has witnessed a sea change. New hybrid flat top engineered plates with the CDI Lams technology has its own benefits. To reap these benefits and to cater to more printing segments and clients, VeePee Arts has taken the decision for investment in the Esko CDI.” “The CDI Spark 4835 images digital flexo plates up to 48 x 35 inch or 1200 x 900 mm size. It comes with Easy Clamp for fast and most convenient plate loading on the vacuum drum. Now clients in print segments of flexo, labels, flexibles, corrugation, letterpress, label

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Jai Prakash, CEO, VeePee Arts Studio

printers, decorators of plastic cups, cans, and tubes and aluminum cans can expect more in terms of quality and services from VeePee Arts,” Prakash added.

Jai Prakash further added that as part of its diversification plans, VeePee Arts was one of the few prepress houses to appreciate and adopt the cutting edge

flat top technology pioneered by Kodak for the flexo prepress segment. Now widely recognized world over, this technology from Kodak has set new benchmark levels. Gravure print technology, the only option which dominated the packaging segment, started seeing stiff competition from flexo printing technology. z

Monocarton

Team Print Point

z 6-color press with coating unit

Print Point installs Heidelberg Speedmaster CX-75

B

angalore-based Print Point has installed a Heidelberg Speedmaster CX-75 6-color with coating unit, renewing optimism for business revival and progress, even as the world gears for a ‘new normal’ post-lockdown.

An ISO and EICC certified printing and packaging firm, Print Point caters to Fortune 500 companies since 1987. The company specializes in advertising and promotional material, pharma/cosmetic/fluted cartons and pharma inserts/leaflets through four manufacturing facilities across India spanning over 200,000 sq. ft.

“The price-performance ratio of the CX-75 is inspiring. Any organization needs to rewire itself for continuous growth and innovation, not just to remain relevant, but to stay on top of its game.

Embracing latest technologies is a surefire way to rise beyond the present change and challenge

to new levels of accomplishment. Heidelberg is the print partner we trust to help us scale wider horizons,” says Sadanand Singh, director technical of Print Point.

The next-generation drupa model from Heidelberg, the Speedmaster CX 75, blends the best-in-class XL-75 technology representing a huge step towards purposeful automation and peak performance. Smaller footprint, substrate flexibility and optimal automation make it easy to integrate the CX-75 into any press room. The double-diameter impression cylinders facilitate gentle sheet transfer, while accommodating diverse substrates, including paper, cardboard and plastics of up to 0.8 mm in thickness. Even at top printing speeds of 15,000 sheets per hour, the CX-75 is noise-free.

To achieve outstanding finishing standards for diverse applications, the coating unit of the CX-75 is fitted

with a chamber blade system, and a wide range of coating supply and Anilox roller technology. The Heidelberg Patented Alcolor Vario inking and dampening system of the CX-75 offer color stability and remote-controlled function ensure short-path inking with minimal ink consumption. A maintenance-free, full ink duct fountain foil-line allows quick and easy ink change overs, while precise inking and fast ink control response is supported by digitally controlled ink zone servo motors.

Automation features like AutoPlate assist in plate changes within the shortest time, reducing setup times for the CX-75. The new Intellistart 3 assistance system helps in job changes with time-optimized automation. “We serve a choice clientele, and our bars are quite high. No compromise on quality or turnaround times. The Speedmaster CX-75 fits perfect into our modus operandi,” concludes Ashok Kumar, director commercial of Print Point. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Monocarton

z Seven billion packs per annum

UFlex to double production capacity of aseptic liquid packaging plant in Sanand

U

Flex, India’s largest multinational flexible packaging and polymer science company and first Indian manufacturer of aseptic liquid packaging, will double its aseptic plant’s production capacity from 3.5 bn to 7 bn packs per annum, in Sanand, Gujarat. The capacity expansion will be completed within the next 10 months approximately.

According to UFlex, the expansion is in response to the new contracts and increasing demand for the company’s aseptic packaging laminates. Driven by a strong and healthy order book and consistent market growth, this initiative doubles the production capacity and will allow creating company’s expanding operations team by adding more workforce, which will strengthen the company’s expansion plan.

Ashwani Kumar Sharma, president and CEO, Aseptic Liquid Packaging Business, UFlex, said, “Asepto expansion is part of the growing need for aseptic packaging, and I am excited that our team and state-of-the-art facilities are well-positioned to respond to the increasing demand for our services and innovative technology in aseptic packaging. Despite the pandemic, we have continued to deliver services without a pause and carried on with innovative thoughts to deliver expected results from our customers.

“We have been working on taking Asepto globally, and our expansion takes a leap to enlarge the brand’s horizons to different continents. We remain the most innovative packaging company when it comes to aesthetic rejuvenation in aseptic packaging space.

The expansion steps in our operations reflect Asepto’s strong position in the marketplace and positive outlook for the future.”

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New capacity additions will allow UFlex to double its aseptic plant’s production capacity from 3.5 bn to 7 bn packs per annum

Once the commissioning of the project is complete, the company would take steps for global expansion.

Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director of UFlex, said, “Asepto has now grown and entering into its next phase of life cycle with the first expansion plan announcement. This expansion of production capacities is our natural progression, addressing our rapid growth in the aseptic liquid packaging space, and stepping strong footsteps into the global arena.

Asepto is taking one step at a time, and that’s the best way I foresee to imbibe growth approach in the given global economic scenario.”

The first phase of expansion will focus on adding new machines to the existing line i.e., the best-in-class new generation Gallus printing line. The new-age machine has progressive features, loaded with sophisticated technologies that make it extremely efficient and sound in operation. The machine prints at a speed of 500 mpm.

The slitting line is high-performance machine from IMS technologies, Italy, with speeds up to 1200 mpm. In addition to increasing the capacity, the company has also added doctoring line and over 8 new tools/formats as part of its expansion. This is targeted to be completed within approximately ten months, adding Asepto’s capacity to address the increasing demands. z

Monocarton

z Digital post-press printing on corrugated board

Kolb accelerates digital post-printing after CorruJET 170 success

H

ans Kolb Wellpappe has confirmed an accelerated growth path towards digital production after Koenig & Bauer Durst’s CorruJET 170 achieved high expectations.

Fast time-to-market scenarios, increased versioning and reduced run lengths are major reasons for the strategic shift as customers continue to drive change.

The Kolb Group develops and produces a broad spectrum of packaging, packaging materials and special corrugated board products

The CorruJET 170 used for digital post-press printing on corrugated board is the crucial part of the extensive investments made by Kolb over recent years and is a centerpiece of its digital strategy. It is based in dedicated premises close to the group’s headquarters at Memmingen, Bavaria, Germany. The machine delivers high-resolution digital print at production speeds of up to 5,000 boards per hour, handles formats up to 1,700 x 1,300 mm (66.9 x 51.2 in) and a print resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi.

Sebastian Fromm, production manager at Kolb Digital Solutions, said, “There is no media in the Kolb Group that the CorruJET 170 doesn’t print. It doesn’t matter whether the substrate is coated, uncoated or even brown liner. Incredible flexibility and print quality, no need for post coating on uncoated boards. This is a very innovative, highly automated solution also for high-volume production with non-stop feeding and non-stop stacking. The CorruJET 170 is the benchmark for quality printing for uncoated markets, especially with the brown and white recycled substrates, which was not possible before, even with conventional technologies.

“The variety of products we can print is incredible.

Take our regular business as one example. Ten years ago, there would be one product, now you have the same product in four different varieties, each requiring special packaging that can only be produced digitally viably. Run lengths may be going down, but the varieties will continue to expand. This leads to stronger product diversification and, for us, the opportunities seem to be endless. Some on-demand jobs involve

printing as little as 500 sheets, which takes just six minutes to complete, but the press is also used for orders of more than 20,000 sheets. There are almost no set-up costs, whatever the run length, and each sheet costs the same to print.”

The CorruJET 170 also benefits from having food safe inks, which is extremely important for the packaging market. The Koenig & Bauer water-based inks for the CorruJET 170 are formulations accepted in the Swiss Ordinance, EuPIA, Nestle Ink list and are fully GMP produced.

The CorruJET 170 press for the corrugated board industry was developed by Koenig & Bauer, which was able to call on its extensive experience already gained with the RotaJET. The combination of high quality and maximum throughput is a key distinguishing feature of the CorruJET 170. The incorporation of a coating unit provides for gloss or matt coating of the four-color images printed using water-based inks.

The Kolb Group develops and produces a broad spectrum of packaging, packaging materials and

special corrugated board products. Group Managing Director Dr Bernhard Ruffing said: “The CorruJET 170 is a crucial part of the extensive investments we have made over recent years as part of our great efforts to optimize the technological process chain.

Market changes mean that our customers demand fast turnarounds and increased versioning – all produced at the highest quality. Against this background, the focus is increasingly turning to the option of digital post-printing, especially with uncoated markets and brown paper substrate opportunities.”

The CorruJET 170 machine is now within the portfolio of the joint venture company Koenig & Bauer Durst set up in 2019. Robert Stabler, managing director of Koenig & Bauer Durst, said: “With the CorruJET 170, Kolb is extremely well equipped to respond to future customer demands as it continues to open up new market opportunities. The need for fast, automated, reliable and agile printing systems has never been greater in a fast-paced world where the only constant thing is change. Fast shifts in demand require an allin-one digital solution to meet brands requirements, which we deliver in a partnership approach.” z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Flexibles

z An interview with Parwez Izhar of uflex

UFlex Cylinders Business focuses on innovation and operational excellence UFlex Cylinders Business is going through a solid transformation driven by innovations and unprecedented product quality. We recently met with Parwez Izhar CEO – Cylinders Business and senior VP, UFlex to know about the latest innovations and future plans of UFlex Cylinders Business. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

Manash Das

U

Flex Cylinders Business is going through a solid transformation driven by innovations and unprecedented product quality. “We have been trying to move the needle of the company from a large-scale cylinder manufacturing setup to something that is fairly asset-light – focused more on operational excellence and innovation,” said Parwez Izhar CEO – Cylinders Business and senior VP, UFlex. “Our R&D team has been innovating and introducing new products and services ensuring that all our products are up-to-date with the latest market trends.”

Low GSM water-based cylinders Izhar shared that some of the products introduced

by UFlex Cylinders Business are observing a surge in demand. One such product is low GSM laser cylinders for water-based inks. “Low GSM laser cylinders are high in demand these days. With these cylinders, we have thrown up new business opportunities for customers who are looking for green and cost-effective solutions. All these cylinders are produced on our fully automatic robotic laser engraving line,” Izhar said.

The robotic cylinder plant at UFlex offers cylinders with unparalleled performance. UFlex’s robotic plant can produce up to 80 rotogravure cylinders every day. The

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Parwez Izhar CEO – Cylinders Business and senior VP, UFlex.

Photo: The Packman

plant is equipped with the best in class automation and can be operated by a single operator. The cylinders produced are dynamically balanced and can run up to a speed of 500 m/minute on a rotogravure press.

This line produces high definition results and has a re-production capability of 6,400 dpi which is not attainable through the conventional electro-mechanical engraving process. UFlex plans to set up another robotic line to expand its business and to make room for that, it will evaluate shifting its existing embossing line to another location.

Bright Future ahead Keeping an optimistic vision with the advent of low GSM laser engraved cylinders, Izhar said, “Since a lot of R&D effort has been going on in the development of water-based inks which facilitates eco-friendly printing, low VOC and low running cost, I strongly believe that the demand for these cylinders is going to be high in domestic as well as in the international markets. Queries are coming in from all corners of the globe at the moment.”

Flexibles In low GSM laser engraved rotogravure cylinders, cell structures of the cylinders are optimized to an extent that can result in about 15-20% reduction in consumption of ink than the electro-mechanically engraved counterpart to render the same image resolution and enhancement. Izhar explained, “In the printing industry, ink is one of the most expensive consumables. If we can reduce even 10-15% ink wastage, it can result in substantial savings.

“In addition, a laser engraved rotogravure cylinder produces much enhanced and high definition images as compared to an electro-mechanically engraved cylinder. Also, the life of the laser engraved rotogravure cylinder is higher compared to conventional cylinders, which is also a big advantage. Today, laser engraved rotogravure cylinders produced on the robotic line are most suitable for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection solutions and, for the same reason, they are in high demand. Unique security features such as the holo lens effect can be ingrained on these cylinders.”

Laser-embossed cylinders for hand-embossed effect Another innovation by UFlex Cylinders Business is the laser-embossed rotogravure cylinder. According to Izhar, these cylinders are ahead of the curve. We have been able to create new business opportunities in the area of embossing technology. For laser-embossed cylinders, UFlex has one of the latest 3D scanners from Germany and laser etching systems from Switzerland.

A unique embossing effect made possible by UFlex on these cylinders is the hand-embossed effect. The company is targeting a niche market with this product and is already witnessing an upsurge in demand in the domestic as well as international markets.

“Hand-embossed effect on rotogravure cylinders is much popular in China where it is done manually.

Manual engraving is a time-consuming process; however, hand engraving is proficiency with labors in China. Of late, due to the strained India-China relationship recently, Indian customers who were earlier looking up to China for hand-embossed effects are now scouting for vendors and suppliers in India.

In India, UFlex has started producing laser-embossed cylinders with hand-embossed effects. Getting a hand-embossed effect on a table cover, car sheet, cover, curtain, etc. has been made possible with the launch of laser-embossed cylinders by UFlex. Since we are in the initial phase, the volume is low but the interest for hand-embossed cylinders is on an upsurge,” said Izhar.

UFlex produces its cylinders keeping in mind the latest market trends and requirements. Photo: The Packman

Cylinders for metal embossing and textile printing UFlex is using its laser-embossed cylinders in the steel industry for metal embossed sheets. “Metal embossed sheets are used in home interiors and out of home applications like decorations of modular kitchen, false ceiling, corporate signboards, lift and metro wall, etc.

Due to increased demand for these cylinders, we are in the process of ramping up our capacity to meet the increased demand.

“In addition, for the first time, we have started making cylinders for bulk textile printing which was again an area where China had always displayed its expertise.

So, with the help of our R&D team, we have set up our engraving parameters to achieve the desired effect on the textile,” said Izhar.

Special effects through specialized cylinders “We are the pioneers in making specialized cylinders.

We developed special effects like glitter printing for gift wraps and textured embossing on artificial leather (PU/PVC). These products are in very high demand in the European and the US markets,” said Izhar.

Automated chrome plating on rotogravure cylinder UFlex Cylinders Business has installed a new automated chrome plating line for Rotogravure cylinders.

“The manual chrome plating line that we had since long

has completed its product life cycle. Hence the need to replace it with an automatic line was felt. With the automated line in place, efficiency, consistency and quality of the cylinders have improved multi-folds. The new line can produce 200 cylinders per day,” said Izhar.

Lean tools In a view to reduce waste, improve efficiency, eliminate non-value added work and ensure better material flow, the Cylinders Business at UFlex has implemented lean tools. Some of the lean tools implemented are Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen, 5s+S, Set Up Reduction, Poka Yoke, TIMWOOD, JIT, Visual Management and TPM.

COVID-19 challenges “Lockdown was an unprecedented experience for all of us and nobody was prepared for it. As soon as the lockdown was announced, there was a serious disruption in our operations because of the supply chain challenges – products were ready but we were not able to dispatch it. However, we managed to overcome this challenge without much delay as our products fall under the essential products category. Another challenge was about getting the workforce into the factory and re-organizing the factory keeping social distancing norms in mind.

Our focus was always to keep our workforce safe and healthy. During this difficult time, our visionary chairman and managing director supported and motivated us to work hard so that our products could reach our customers on time,” concluded Izhar. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Flexibles

z An interview with JK Sharma of Yansefu India

Yansefu India invests in developing bio-based products to meet sustainability challenges JK Sharma – CEO, Yansefu, India talks about the packaging printing ink industry in India, its challenges and opportunities going ahead, and the future readiness of Yansefu India to meet the market demands and sustainability trends. Here is an excerpt from the interview: Mahan Hazarika: What is the prospect of the Indian packaging ink sector? What kind of opportunities do you see in the coming years?

JK Sharma: The future of the Indian packaging Industry is quite grandeur. The growth of the Indian packaging sector largely depends on the growth of the FMCG sector which is being the fourth largest sector to contribute to the Indian economy. Trends like sustainable packaging and intelligent packaging are also driving the growth of the Indian packaging sector.

Additionally, the rise in customized packaging requirements of the customers and variations in packaging and food safety regulations on an everyday basis also provide thrive to grow and create newer opportunities for innovation in the packaging sector.

Mahan Hazarika: Will an increase in packaging consumption in terms of volume be matched similar rises by value, and how this possible gap between volumes will reverberate on packaging inks sales?

JK Sharma: Several factors are associated with the gap between volume and value. Uniform quality conscious-

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ness between consumers, government quality standards parameters, and brand owners is a must to reduce this gap. This will further be minimized if the dependency on imported raw materials is reduced to a minimum so that the fluctuation in the raw material price can be controlled, followed by bridging the gap between volume and value. This is why the Yansefu R&D team is focusing more on developing indigenous technology on its key raw material requirement for ink production.

Mahan Hazarika: What is the role of inks in sustainability?

JK Sharma: Sustainability is the current strategic mantra is in rage within the packaging industry. And, being an important component of the packaging, printing inks play an influential role with the packaging and the trends related to it. However, the air about the exact definition of the term ‘sustainable’ is not clear yet. Retailers, converters and brand owners, and packaging material suppliers, everyone has customized their own definition of sustainability based on their business requirements.

According to our knowledge, packaging should be called sustainable if it can be easily renewable as well as degradable by living microorganisms when decompose, leaving less carbon footprint and harmful breakdown products that will eventually tend to end up in the environment. For example, if a nonbiodegradable ink is printed on a bio-renewable and bio-degradable substrate, the entire packaging cannot be considered sustainable since the package will release harmful chemical components present as solids in printing inks.

Mahan Hazarika: Please tell us about the challenges in meeting compliance and regulations?

JK Sharma of Yansefu India

JK Sharma: Undoubtedly, meeting the compliance and regulations is quite an arduous challenge in India. The reason is, the largest share of the Indian packaging market has been shared by unorganized players who do not either bother about meeting the compliance requirements or have inadequate knowledge about it. The only requirement remains is printing inks with excellent printability but at a cheaper price.

Therefore, it is really taxing for printing ink manufacturers to formulate a high-performance complaint but low-cost printing inks using cheaper raw materials.

However, being a proactive linkage of the packaging supply chain, we at Yansefu make continuous efforts to create awareness about compliance and regulations requirements among our customers.

Mahan Hazarika: What are your future plans in India?

JK Sharma: Yansefu has been achieving a steady growth in sales for the past few years and has carved a name for itself in the market. Yansefu also strives to provide the best solution possible to pull off its customers’ requirements. We are planning to expand the commercialization of our high-performance innovative products and reach out to more customers in the domestic and international markets. Besides, we are investing heavily in developing bio-based products to meet the challenges of sustainability in the upcoming future. z

Flexibles

z Commissions new plant in Kolkata

Vishakha Polyfab adds 25% flexible packaging capacity in two locations

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hmedabad-headquartered Vishakha Polyfab has undergone significant expansion since the beginning of 2020. It has installed a 9-layer blown film line and a sophisticated gravure press and pouch making machines at a just-commissioned new plant in Kolkata. With the start-up of production in end-November, early December, the plant gives Vishakha enormous closeto-customer capacity, with plants in both Western and Eastern India.

India’s first Brampton Aqua-Frost 7-layer film line The company has also expanded its Ahmedabad plant with the installation of the water-quenched Aqua-Frost new Brampton Engineering 7-layer blown film line signed at the last K exhibition in October 2019. The Ahmedabad plant has also added a new gravure press, a laminator, and pouch making machines.

BE’s AquaFrost line, which uses water-quenching technology in the extrusion process, is the system of choice for manufacturers seeking the advantages of cast and conventional blown films. It provides high barrier films with improved clarity and thermoformability, balance orientation, and increased flexibility while consuming less resin.

Leadership in high-barrier films The commissioning of the new blown film and other investments have enhanced Vishakha’s leadership position in the high barrier packaging in India and abroad. Overall, Vishakha’s capacity has been increased by 25%, making it the largest manufacturer of high barrier films using nylon and EVOH in India.

BE and Vishakha Polyfab have been partners for almost 20 years, with Vishakha purchasing India’s first BE 7 and 9-layer multi-layer barrier blown film line not too long ago. “Our close and productive collaboration

In commemoration of India’s first AquaFrost system, Davis Standard – CEO Jim Murphy, along with Brampton Engineering – executive VP Gary Hughes; and VP David Kerfoot present an award to Vishakha Polyfab – CEO Jigish Doshi, Akshat Doshi and Ankit Doshi at K-show 2019-Dusseldorf Germany

has enabled us to grow together in the region, and we are looking forward to Vishakha’s continued success in leading the multi-layer barrier blown film industry in the region.”

India, the installation and commissioning of the new equipment have been performed by the company’s engineering teams with remote video and guidance from the manufacturers’ engineers.

Significant confidence and in-house engineering expertise

Growth driven by India’s packaging sector has established the country as one of the most sought after barrier film manufacturing markets globally. The country is among the three largest global markets, and barrier film manufacturers have gravitated towards BE’s innovative technology. Known for its pioneering technology, the company has the distinction of being the first to deliver complete 8, 9, 10, and 11-layer blown film systems in air-blown and water-quenched lines. From die technology, water-quenched technology, 11-layer film, and more, BE’s patented cutting edge technology, and commitment to innovative solutions has enabled its partners in barrier packaging to produce a full range of high-performance blown films all over the world. z

Vishakha Polyfab was closed for only seven days after the Covid-19 pandemic hit India and the ensuing country-wide lockdown declared on 23 March 2020. Remarkably the company kept to its expansion plans, including setting up the new plant in Kolkata. As the government lifted the lockdown, the company’s engineers installed the new imported equipment.

The expansion has added two gravure presses, two blown film lines, a laminator, and five pouch making lines. Since overseas engineers couldn’t travel to

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Flexibles

z Innovative solutions for flexible packaging

SEI Laser Scoring – flexible packaging

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EI Laser, based in Bergamo, Italy, is specialized in offering innovative and tailor-made solutions to customers. Thanks to their know-how and continued investments in R&D, they provide laser systems that guarantee significant performance in terms of cost, operational efficiency, and quality products. The company’s solutions proposed for the converting industry ensures high-performance -- a philosophy of modularity on a flexible platform that can be expandable, retro-fitted and upgradeable to suit different production needs, such as flexible packaging, folding carton, paper commercial and graphic arts, and labeling solutions.

to 500 m/min in Web Direction (WD) laser cutting, laser scoring, and micro-perforation with fixed-optics heads. The all-digital process allows a rapid work change and a significant reduction of downtime and costs (which is not possible in the case of traditional mechanical way).

Packmaster Cross Web Easy-open, window packaging, easy-ventilation, easy-breath, and MAP are the innovative solutions used in food & beverage, pet food, personal care, and grocery markets. Packmaster OEM CW is the laser system that SEI Laser has designed to satisfy today’s needs in laser cutting, laser scoring, macro and micro-perforation, window scoring of different materials such as PE, PET, PP, nylon, PTFE, laminated film, paper. Packmaster can be easily integrated on existing production lines.

Innovative solutions for flexible packaging According to the company, the laser system enables to provide innovative solutions: easy-opening and closing as well as easy-breath, ventilation, and window packaging. SEI Flexible Packaging is a new line of laser systems that have been designed for laser cutting, laser scoring, macro and micro-perforation of different materials such as PE, PET, PP, nylon, PTFE, laminated film, paper. An important patented feature offered by SEI is the overlapping of laser scoring which enables to do laser scoring without gaps between two repeats. SEI laser patented window lamination solution – a cross-web series laser unit that can be mounted or retrofitted on any solventless laminator – is gaining high acceptance in Europe.

SEI Laser claims that the main laser features precise selective material removal, laser perforating capability and repeatability of the process. The laser line can reach speeds up to 400 m/ min in Cross Web (CW) laser cutting, laser scoring, and micro-perforation with proprietary beam steering optics galvanometric heads (according to the pattern). It can reach speeds up

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Laser cut window laminated pouches

Packmaster Web Direction Packmaster OEM WD is a laser system designed for laser cutting, laser scoring, macro, and microperforation at a very high speed. Major highlights are web width up to 1800 mm, WD process speed over 500 m/min, unwinder/re-winder modules (optional), process monitoring, and easy integration on existing production lines.

Icaro software

SEI Laser (CW) unit mounted on solventless laminator

SEI Laser’s proprietary software Icaro has been developed specifically for the flexible packaging industry.

The easy import of files and easy set up of the laser parameters make Icaro an innovative multifunction software interface. It is also possible to verify the progress of the process by video. z

Flexibles

z Guidance on new problems faced by converters

DIC India launches mobile app to offer seamless troubleshooting

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IC India, a global leader in printing technology and allied solutions, has launched its first-ever mobile application in India called DIC India Ink Master App, to provide Indian customers a unique platform to address their dayto-day operational queries. With physical channels of interaction witnessing a decline in the wake of the pandemic, digitization has becoming the new normal for both consumers and businesses. Hence, to offer a bilateral communication platform to its customers, DIC India has introduced a self-help mobile application, which is a part of the company’s holistic digital engagement strategy.

Developed mostly to address the needs of the local ink industry, DIC India Ink Master app lists down possible operational problems and solutions related to lamination adhesive, news inks, flexographic, gravure, offset printing etc. faced by a printer or a converter.

Additionally, the app will also offer a dedicated section called ‘Raising a Query’ that will allow customers to request for guidance on new problems faced by them.

In order to provide a seamless and timely response to the users, the app will be monitored 24×7 and 365 days by an assigned team at DIC India.

“The pandemic has forced businesses across sectors to adopt digital first approach. More than ever now, we are living in a contactless world wherein the majority of interactions with both customers and partners have now moved virtually. Thus, to further build on our commitment towards the Indian printer and converter community, we decided to introduce DIC India Ink Master mobile app. Through this app, we want to ensure our customers that DIC India is the right partner for them that will address their present and future concerns with respect to activation or maintenance of their printing presses etc.,” said Manish Bhatia, managing director and CEO, DIC India.”

Manish Bhatia, managing director and CEO, DIC India

MDC GAMUTSTAR

Developed mostly to address the needs of the local ink industry, DIC India Ink Master app

lists

down

operational and

solutions

possible problems

related

to

lamination adhesive, news inks, flexographic, gravure, offset printing etc. faced

He added,“We at DIC India, have been consistently investing our resources into developing the right engagement channels in order to stay in a close proximity with our customers, especially during these uncertain times. We were the first company in India to bring e-ordering to our customers as part of our digital strategy. With the launch of this app, we are positive that the Indian printer and converter community will benefit greatly from it, thereby giving them a gain competitive edge.” z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Flexibles

z Sarjocoat for gravure and offset markets

Yansefu advances business portfolio with LED coatings

Y

ansefu India is offering LED coatings, Sarjocoat series, for the gravure and offset markets. Sarjocoat LED coating comprises a plethora of customized UV/ LED coatings to display discrete texture and designs on the substrates. “We design customized LED coatings for both gravure and offset printing applications.

In addition to customized requirement, all the LED coatings of our Sarjocoat series expresses general characteristics such as scuff and scratch resistance, chemical resistance, non-yellowing properties, highspeed curing with exceptional press stability and run ability,” says JK Sharma, CEO, Yansefu, India.

LED lamps are instant on/off, has reduced downtime, and longer lamp life compared to conventional UV technologies. LED curing technology is more sustainable and eco-friendly in nature since they do not possess mercury filled lamps to emit harmful heavy metal vapors and ozone formation that must be ventilated and cautiously managed. Thus, it contributes to evolving a safer environment in the workplace.

Production speeds can be greater and floor space minimized further with LED curing machines. Because LED curing is based on solid-state technology, there are no moving parts and dramatically reduced maintenance requirements.

Currently, UV LED curing is used most commonly for graphics applications, particularly for sheetfed offset printing, flexo printing, digital inkjet printing and screen printing. LED curing solutions are more frequently used in the printing and coating industries compared to conventional UV curing solutions due to their exceptional characteristics. UV LED curing technology offers numerous advantages in terms of sustainability, cost, and performance for printing applications. UV LED curing machines are more compact in size, consume 70-80% less energy consumption and heat production, provide fast curing with no thermal heating/ovens, increased production speeds, and a reduced footprint.

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Sarjocoat LED coating comprises a plethora of customized UV/ LED coatings to display discrete texture and designs on substrates

LED curing technology is more sustainable and eco-friendly in nature since it does not possess mercury filled lamps to emit harmful heavy metal vapors and ozone formation that must be ventilated and cautiously managed. Thus, it contributes to evolving a safer environment in the workplace. Production speeds can be greater and floor space minimized further with LED curing machines.

“While UV LED curing is a proven technology, not all UV LED products in the market deliver the same curing results. That is why, as a manufacturer, Yansefu works closely with the suppliers to determine what works best to design an incredibly efficient coating as per the needs of our customers,” adds Sharma.

“Yansefu’s UV LED coatings offer many benefits, ranging from greater sustainability to greater productivity and quality. The development of LED curing technology will continue at a great pace, and this technology will become the most prominent choice for curing within the next few years,” predicts Sharma. z

Flexibles

z Commissions 3200 mm wide cast line

Sparsh Industries produces high barrier CPP films using Bobst AluBond

S

parsh Industries is the first company in India to have the Bobst AluBond process on a wide web machine and are achieving fantastic barrier results. The Expert K5 3300 mm metallizer was commissioned in June 2020 and is producing metallized CPP with oxygen barrier of less than 10 cm³/(m² d) and water barrier of less than 0.50 g/(m² d); the AluBond process enables substrates to achieve higher bond strength results without any modification.

Incorporated in 2009, Sparsh Industries is a reputed manufacturer of plain polyester and metallized films marketed under the ‘SPARSHPET’ brand. The company has four Bobst metallizers. Sparsh’s metallized films are available in different optical densities for various applications. Sparsh also manufactures CPP films, customized holographic film and paper, offline coated products and polyester resins. The company has advanced R&D and testing facilities for the purpose of process innovation and product development.

Sparsh Industries is currently in expansion mode and is developing an aluminum foil rolling plant, and an additional polyester film and polymer plant.

Sparsh has commissioned a 3200 mm wide cast line which is capable of producing both CPP and CPE along with mono orientation (machine direction orientation) as an added feature for improved stiffness, tensile, tearing and barrier properties. This Expert K5’s metallizing process will give the perfect combination for value added CPP and CPE substrates and a solution to the current needs of the flexible packaging industry.

Ashutosh Agarwal, CEO of Sparsh Industries

We also have been given to understand that this K5 metallizer has been optimized to handle the new generation of sustainable substrates such as CPP and CPE as well as better handling of more thermally sensitive materials.

Ashutosh Agarwal, CEO of Sparsh Industries is extremely satisfied with the way the metallizer is running; we decided to speak to him to find out more.

Thank you, Mr Agarwal for taking the time to speak to us; firstly, can I ask you why you chose the Expert K5 and the AluBond process?

Ashutosh Agarwal: Sparsh Industries is one of the fastest growing conglomerates as of today and in order to keep growing, we strive to provide our clients with a wide variety of safe and affordable options with sustainable packaging materials. We understand the Expert K5 is a well proven and high productivity metallizer with high quality of metallized products which makes it an ideal choice for our requirements.

Flexible packaging pouches produced with AluBond process

The AluBond process which ensures high metal adhesion values on any substrate gives Sparsh a competitive advantage. A high metal adhesion level translates to higher barrier properties and consequently imparts higher bond strength to the laminate. This is very impressive and we are very happy.

Sparsh has recently expanded its offering to offer CPP films as well – can you tell us what lead you to this decision?

Ashutosh Agarwal: The growth of CPP films in India has been limited so far due to the lack of availability of high quality films as well as the absence of innovative products and lesser scale of operations and production capacities. The majority of the Indian market has been dominated by BOPET and BOPP films for packaging applications but CPP/CPE has got its own unique properties and advantages and can be used for various laminate structures. Due to regular enquiries and demand from our customers for plain CPP and metallized films, we made the foray into CPP manufacturing and commissioned our 1st CPP line in July 2020. We are doing well in this area and looking forward to introducing new product line and expanding our capacities.

CPP, CPE and its oriented class offers value added features such as transparency, considerable gloss level, improved mechanical properties, higher barrier properties, good dimensional stability, high tearing property etc which means it is preferred for applications across packaging. Furthermore, the technological THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Flexibles advancements in the industry makes the product suitable for its usage in high-speed packaging machines.

How do you think the film you are producing with the AluBond process will benefit your customers?

Ashutosh Agarwal: Our versatility allows us to custom make vibrant high impact printing and packaging solutions to meet the most demanding product specifications for our clients. The AluBond process has been shown to greatly increase metal bond strength and metal adhesion on the most commonly used substrates (PET, BOPP, CPP and PE) during aluminum vacuum metallization. This leads to value added product with consistent quality. This also makes our products stand out in the market, thus immensely benefiting our customers. Bobst is known in the industry for their handling of heat sensitive films such as CPP and we felt the AluBond process definitely gives our product an edge over our competitors.

The COVID pandemic has had a big impact on all our lives and the industry – how has

the pandemic affected Sparsh Industries?

Ashutosh Agarwal: Businesses today are faced with unique challenges as they continue to steer clear of the grave effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is changing the way we work and use technology overall. People are very cautious with their purchases and choices when it comes to packaged goods, choosing hygienic and better packaging as opposed to their choices earlier. As the entire world adjusts to the ‘new-normal’, we as business leaders needed to rethink our strategies to drive resilience and come out of this pandemic stronger rather than weaker. We turned this challenge into an opportunity so that we not only survive but also thrive.

Can you tell us about your current manufacturing facilities and your future development plans at Sparsh industries?

Ashutosh Agarwal: Currently the manufacturing facilities in Kanpur are truly leading edge and have the following capacities:

– BOPET film – Two 8700 mm wide BOPET line with installed capacity 63,000 MTPA – Polymer plant – One with installed capacity of approx. 60,000 MTPA – CPP plant – One 3200 mm wide with installed capacity approx. 9000 MTPA – Metallizers – Five with combined installed capacity of 29,000 MTPA Sparsh Industries has undertaken aggressive expansion plans for the coming years. It aims to increase its overall production capacities by adding more production lines including value-added products in its portfolio. With the ongoing expansions, Sparsh has targeted to commission one BOPET line of 10,600 mm wide (installed capacity 48000 MTPA) and one aluminum foil rolling plant of 2250 mm wide (installed capacity 29000 MTPA) in 2021. Sparsh is also targeted to commission its second polymer plant in 2022 with an installed capacity of 100,000 MTPA. z

z Expansion in line with 5-year growth strategy

LT Foods commissions new packaging line in Rotterdam

G

urugram-headquartered LT Foods has made further investment in the expansion of packaging capabilities by commissioning additional packaging lines in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The expansion is in line with 5-year growth strategy of the company.

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commencement 3 years back, LT Foods has expanded its customer base and has established its footprint across many countries in Europe,” a company spokesperson said.

LT Foods Europe commenced its operations in the Netherlands in 2017 to serve the European market.

The company sells a wide range of rice including popular varieties like Basmati, Thai Jasmine, Long Grain rice from this plant.

“I believe that this investment will allow us to further grow our footprint in Europe and become No.1 supplier of the finest basmati from India and Pakistan.

Our gratitude goes to our key retail partners who have supported us through this expansion phase,” said VK Arora, chairman LT Group.

“The company is located at Maasvlakte, Rotterdam which enjoys a locational advantage for rice import and distribution across Europe. Since its

LT Foods has five processing facilities in India, two packaging units and one ready-to-heat facility in the USA and one processing facility in Rotterdam. z

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LT Foods Europe commenced its operations in the Netherlands in 2017 to serve the European market

Flexibles

z stronger play in beauty and cosmetics segments

EPL to acquire Creative Stylo Packs

E

PL (formerly known as Essel Propack Limited), the world’s largest specialty packaging company, has announced that its Board of Directors have approved the acquisition of Creative Stylo Packs in a part-cash and part-stock transaction. Creative Stylo Packs is an established manufacturer of corrugated boxes, laminated tubes, plastic co-ex tubes and caps-primarily serving personal care, cosmetic, pharmaceuticals and FMCG markets in India.

The transaction entails purchase of 72.5% stake in Creative Stylo Packs through cash. The remaining 27.5% stake will be purchased through issuance of EPL shares to the founders of Creative Stylo Pack post the merger. Bhavik Shah and Darshan Shah, the founders of Creative Stylo Packs will join the EPL management team post the acquisition.

With this acquisition, EPL plans to make a much stronger play in the beauty and cosmetics categories which are growing rapidly. The richer product portfolio will allow it to serve both existing and new customers better, driving both volumes and value. The acquisition will also boost EPL’s plastic tube capabilities, which, combined with EPL’s strong equity in laminate tubes, gives the company a vibrant platform for growth.

The transaction will accelerate revenue and EBITDA growth for EPL. EPL’s managing director and CEO, Sudhanshu Vats, said, “EPL is committed to leading the pack; simultaneously driving market leading revenue growth as well as capital-efficient and consistent earnings growth. A stronger play in beauty and cosmetics is key to this vision. We believe that our acquisition of creative will enrich our portfolio, enabling us to advance our ambition in personal care. This will also strengthen us further in AMESA (Africa, Middle East and South Asia), a key growth region for us.”

May the pride of Tri-colours add more colours to your life.

Sudhanshu Vats, managing director and CEO, EPL

He added, “I am personally delighted to welcome Bhavik and Darshan to the EPL fold. Their entrepreneurial spirit and youthful energy will help us move forward with greater purpose and agility.”

Bhavik Shah, founder of Creative Stylo Packs, said, “Darshan and I are extremely proud of what we have created thus far through innovation and customer centricity and now we have an opportunity to continue and accelerate the growth path through the EPL platform. We are really excited and look forward to working with the EPL team in furthering their cause of being a leading speciality packaging company in the world.”

EY was the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction. Trilegal was the legal advisor for EPL and Cyril Amarchand was the legal advisor for Creative. KPMG provided transaction advisory services. z

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY

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Labels

z Sustainability Goals 2025

Avery India makes progress in reduce, recycle & redesign Recently, we met with Pankaj Bhardwaj, vice president and general manager – India & SAARC, label & graphic materials, Avery Dennison, to learn about the company’s advancement in intelligent labels and sustainability initiatives in India.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Mahan Hazarika: Please tell us about what interesting is happening at Avery Dennison India.

Pankaj Bhardwaj: Interesting things are happening at our organization. There are a few directional themes that we are looking upon currently – first is what we term as intelligent labels where labels do more than simply dissipating passive information and adding an aesthetic touch to products. So that is one direction wherein we are putting in a fair bit of energy into. The second important direction for us is sustainability. We are continuously working on bringing new solutions to the market which are more sustainable and look further to our commitment toward the society that we are living in. The third theme is, continually looking around the challenges that brand owners and customers are facing in the marketplace, and trying to solve them. We have a large R&D development setup in the country which is also clubbed with a knowledge center. This facility is dedicated to developing new solutions befitting the need of the customers in India and nearby markets. While the first two initiatives are more about developing products, the third one is more about developing differentiated services that ultimately deliver better values to customers.

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pioneering integrated RFID solutions designed to help improve inventory management and loss prevention across the value chain, from manufacturing source to consumer.

Pankaj Bhardwaj, vice president and general manager – India & SAARC, label & graphic materials, Avery Dennison

Mahan Hazarika: How are you ensuring that intelligent labels make things smarter for users?

Pankaj Bhardwaj: Intelligent labels or smart labels – labels inlaid with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology – are rapidly improving many aspects of how we live, from the clothes we wear and the food we eat to our cars, medicine, and air travel. As the world’s largest UHF RFID partner, Avery Dennison is at the forefront of this transformation, developing

In intelligent labels, we ensure that we are able to deliver two unique propositions – the first being a better supply chain efficiency. So, we use RFID as the base technology for ensuring that the supply chain footprints are clearly visible, and one is able to manage its inventory, stock upkeep and fulfillment of the trade far better than what the current technologies are offering.

Second, we are using the same base technology through Near Field Communications (NFC) where a label with NFC is able to engage with consumers in a far more meaningful way, and is able to unlock values for brand owners by giving better information around customer, and giving customer far better information around products.

Mahan Hazarika: You have also launched your iLab at ADIKC. How is it adding value to the industry?

Pankaj Bhardwaj: Yes, in India we have recently launched iLab at The Avery Dennison Innovation and Knowledge Centre (ADIKC) so that the industry would be able to use this infrastructure to understand

Labels intelligent labels and their technology better. The lab helps improve the awareness of the technology and get into the immersive experience of how the technology works. The center is up and running and we can already see that a good number of eco-system stakeholders are putting it to good use. Very clearly, we see a lot of interest in the retail sector, companies in logistics warehousing, and to a certain extent, beauty and personal care products exploring and using intelligent labels. We believe that it is at an inflection point where adoption is going to multiply every year.

Even the government is a huge target market for RFID. Mahan Hazarika: Tell us about the developments taking place at Avery Dennison India in the run-up to your 2025 Sustainability Goals.

Pankaj Bhardwaj: As we work toward our 2025 Sustainability Goals, in India we are making progress in all three directions – reduce, recycle and redesign.

First on the reduce, we have got a series of products, wherein without compromising the product performance and quality, we are decreasing the amount of material used for those products. We ensure that these products meet the Avery Dennison ClearIntent Portfolio standards. The Avery Dennison ClearIntent Portfolio offers meaningful improvements in sustainability over other Avery Dennison products. I am glad to share that this year we have doubled the ClearIntent Portfolio over the last. This means, our offerings are significantly ramping up in ClearIntent.

We are continuously redesigning our products to have a lesser carbon footprint as well as help with recycling.

For example, a large portfolio of our paper products today is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

And it is more of an organization-led initiative rather than a customer or market-led initiative. Almost 50% of the paper that we sell today is FSC certified and our goal is to become 100% FSC certified by 2025.

We are continuously re-looking at how we can help circular economy advance from the recycling point of view. So we are designing new adhesive solutions which make separation of labels from bottles much easier and hence the recycling process. Our solution CleanFlake, which we are introducing to the market, makes the separation of labels from polyester bottles much easier.

The third, recycling: we have taken the initiative early on to ensure that we are disposing of whatever waste we generate very responsibly. At our factory, we have been landfill-free for quite some time now. For the

Intelligent or smart labels are rapidly improving many aspects of how we live, from the clothes we wear and the food we eat to our cars, medicine, and air travel

“Intelligent labels or smart labels – labels inlaid with RFID technology – are rapidly improving many aspects of how we live, from the clothes we wear and the food we eat to our cars, medicine, and air travel. As the world’s largest UHF RFID partner, Avery Dennison is at the forefront of this transformation, developing pioneering integrated RFID solutions designed to help improve inventory management and loss prevention across the value chain, from manufacturing source to consumer” – Pankaj Bhardwaj

industry, for which waste management is a huge problem, we have rolled out two programs. These two programs are for liner recycling and matrix recycling.

These projects were extremely difficult to get going initially, but I am happy that we have been able to crack it and now we have tied up with the industry association to ensure that we are creating awareness around these two programs.

We are able to facilitate the pickup of the liner waste from brand owners’ sites and send it to our designated paper mills who are able to recycle it to make industrial tissues. A lot of brand owners have already signed up for this program. The second one is matrix recycling which has been the biggest problem of the industry.

Now we have a program wherein the matrix can be either picked up by a recycling center or transported by converters themselves to a recycling center where it can be either used for generating energy or used for re-polymerization. Both of these programs have come up in the last one year. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Labels

z Practical training programme

YesGo Mumbai students get training at Nilpeter Chennai

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esGo Mumbai students completed their training at Nilpeter on 11 December 2020. The 2-day practical training at Nilpeter was facilitated as a part of YesGo Practical Training Programme. Training at Nilpeter for YesGo Students kicked off from November 2020, which is scheduled to be provided every month specifically for YesGo Students.

The training at Nilpeter was aimed at providing professional training on flexo machines and exposure to flexo prepress to help students gain and enhance technical expertise in flexo within a working environment.

HP, Tetra Pak, Avery Dennison, Essel Propak, Nilpeter, VeePee Art Studios, PRPL and top packaging companies in India are facilitating Industry visits and practical training for YesGo students in gravure, offset, digital, and flexo.

Industry visits and practical training at the industries are an essential part of YesGo training curriculum

The training at Nilpeter was aimed at providing professional training on flexo machines and exposure to flexo prepress

to provide complete practical exposure to students in a working environment to help them hone their skills and get exposed to the vital and practical nuances of premedia prepress, press, and postpress.

It helps them learn the vital skills required to perform seamlessly and professionally in an organization and empowers them with the expertise to become an assets for the industry. z

z Another Gallus press for Southeast Asia

Mega Label installs second Gallus ECS 340

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ega Label Malaysia invested in a new Gallus ECS machine system. The second Gallus ECS 340 for the printing company was installed in September 2020 in the middle of the corona pandemic.

Key reasons for the investment were the print quality, the Gallus Service Support and the option to use LED UV for an environmental impact.

The LED UV flexo label printing press includes ten flexo

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printing units, two interchangeable Gallus Screeny units for more flexibility, movable cold-foil unit, Infrared (IR) dryer for water-based inks and automatic register control for handling critical substrates perfectly. The machine system is further fitted with auto splicer at the unwinding and rewinding units. Mega Label can print either with LED or conventional UV with this machine configuration. This new Gallus ECS 340 is used for the production of self-adhesive labels, shrink

sleeves, wrap-around labels and further narrow web applications.

Gallus service support “Key reason for this investment for us at Mega Label was the high quality of Gallus service support and the print quality of the label press”, explains Edmund Chan, Group General Manager at Mega Label. “A good

Labels machine performance comes from a good after-sales service. The Gallus ECS 340 has it all: great precision of the machine and thus, reliably very good print results coming along with a great Gallus Service Support. The planning and execution of the installation was very good and impressed me a lot.”

As a label printer, Mega Label knows very well that reliability in high print quality and a smooth production process is indispensable to be successful in the market in the long term. “For us to be successful, we need to make sure that the machine is performing to our standard. This second Gallus ECS 340 with its high standard regarding print quality, stability and service proves once again, that trust in Gallus and our long term partnership,” states Edmund Chan from Mega Label.

With more than 150 employees, 13 lines including 4 Gallus presses and 3 digital presses, Mega Label is based in the state of Johor, south of Malaysia with

multi-sites in Selangor and Penang. The company especially serves as key markets the pharmaceutical, FMCG and garment markets. Mega Label is able to expand its business with this new investment not only because of the quality of the print results and the reliability of the machine, but also because of the flexibility of the machine configuration.

L to R: James Liew, Yew Jin, Edmund Chan, Keith Teh and Quek Keen Chai from Mega Label. Photo: Gallus Ferd.

Rüesch AG

“We are a leading company in environmental protection in Malaysia. With the installation of the LED curing system we can ensure the reduction in the carbon footprint, our factory is also partially powered by solar,” explains Chan. The Gallus ECS 340 is a quiet, user-friendly and exceptionally cost-effective printing press for commodity labels with a very short web path and a running speed up to 165 m/min (541 ft/min).

High flexibility regarding substrates and minimal setup times due to full servo-drive integration are just two reasons that the Gallus ECS 340 is the best-selling machine system in its class with short web path. z

z New installation in Hyderabad after Mumbai

Sreevan Offset installs Lombardi Synchroline 430 label press

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yderabad-based Sreevan Offset has installed a Lombardi Synchroline 430 label press.

Established in the year 2000, Sreevan Offset Printers is a part of a group offering gravure cylinders, flex printing services, and now commercial, label printing, and short-run flexible packaging in the state of Telangana. The press was supplied and installed by Vinsak India. It may be recalled that the new press installation comes close on the heels of a Lombardi press installation by Vinsak in Mumbai.

“The ability of the Lombardi press to print from 12-micron unsupported films to 450-micron carton board material makes it a natural choice for us,” said Karunakar, MD and CEO of Sreevan Offset.

“The market references provided were also impeccable with many customers having multiple installs of the machine which justifies that the entire ecosystem of equipment, services, and support was functioning well, thus enabling the converter to succeed early.”

Karunakar added, “As a part of our service to the gravure printers, and also to brands in the region, we understood that there was a latent demand for the ability to print short-run flexible packaging on a narrow web press using flexo plates which have a lower cost of origination compared to gravure.” In the future, the company plans to cater to the shrink sleeves segment and also to exploit the board printing capabilities on the Synchroline.

Karunakar said, “Vinsak has been highly supportive and instrumental in helping us to finalize on the Synchroline Flexo machine and then install and begin production even during the times of the pandemic. Application support for training our teams has been appreciable.

“Dealing with Sreevan has been an absolute pleasure in terms of their professionalism in discussing the options necessary for the machine, the commercial terms as well their understanding of the end-user market,” added Mohan Pailwan, GM, Vinsak India. z

Karunakar, managing director and CEO, Sreevan Offset Printers

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Labels

z Growth in digital embellishment market

Konica Minolta installs second MGI Jetvarnish at Bahubali Digiglam

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ollowing a successful installation of MGI JV3DS at Bahubali Digiglam Delhi in 2018, Konica Minolta has installed another MGI JETvarnish 3D One at the same company. Due to increased production demand, Bahubali Digiglam has also installed AccurioShine 101, a multipurpose offline foiling solution.

Bahubali is a leading manufacturer of invitation and wedding cards with a pan-India distribution network.

The two new additions have further augmented its existing printing solutions and services, enabling it to cater to the increasing customer demands and serve them more seamlessly, even during the pandemic.

The need for both these installations is attributed to the growing production demand faced by Bahubali Digiglam in categories like specialty printing, packaging, and labeling. It also demonstrates Bahubali’s strong faith in India’s growing digital embellishment market.

MGI JETvarnish is a simple, compact, and affordable digital embellishment press that provides sensory print applications for every size printer. So far, Konica Minolta has sold 20 MGI machines in India, which further exhibits its growing importance among consumers.

Manish Gupta, general manager, PP and IP marketing, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India said, “ We are delighted by the confidence which Bahubali Digilam has with KM. The new install has further strengthened the bond between the two organizations. Bahubali’s decision to go ahead with another big-ticket investment like this is a testimony to our portfolio of unmatched printing, packaging, and labeling solutions.”

The MGI JETvarnish 3D One digital print embellishment press represents a significant new advancement in bringing digital special effects to the mainstream commercial printing, finishing, and packaging industries.

This new press utilizes critical components of the InterTech Award-winning JETvarnish technology –

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Akshat Jain, director of Bahubali Digiglam

including the intelligent and adaptive AIS SmartScanner registration system – and is designed for a compact, cost-effective, entry-level solution for all printers.

Akshat Jain, director of Bahubali Digiglam said, “We are happy to install MGI’s latest tech-driven machine as it not only boosts our productivity but also helps us smoothly adopt the much-needed digital transition. It provides us the ability to generate more high-impact printed communications and profitable decorative embellishments on all commercial and in-plant applications including booklets, brochures, business cards, invitation cards, book covers, sheet-fed labels, small folding cartons, retail display signs and posters. We would also like to appreciate the constant unmatched efforts provided by team Konica Minolta.”

The small operational footprint of the JETvarnish 3D One allows printers, finishers, and converters to have a full in-house production and prototyping print embellishment system without screens, dies, or plates.

The all-purpose patented varnish formula allows both flat 2D Spot UV highlighting and sculptured 3D raised special effects on a wide range of substrate stocks up to 450 gsm, from the offset and digital inks to lamination films and aqueous coatings.

Gupta added, “The demand in specialty printing, packaging and labeling is improving and is slated to grow further higher than the pre-Covid levels. In line with these positive market results, we will continue to invest, innovate and launch more new products that are powered by cutting-edge technologies and are reliable and efficient enough to meet client requirements.” z

Labels

z Offline finishing equipment

UvBiz Indore invests in Brotech DL 430

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ndore-based UvBiz has invested in Brotech DL 430 finishing machine, complete with semi rotary die cutting unit and a conveyor. The company is the packaging division of MB Industries, a contract manufacturer of food products. According to Brotech, the equipment is suitable for offline finishing of IML and other varieties of labels; the equipment will be able to support UvBiz’s endeavor for catering to multiple customers for their short runs.

A forward-thinking enterprise, MB Industries has diversified to flexible packaging as a part of its backwards integration strategy by investing in coating, laminating, printing and converting capabilities to be able to support short and long-term packaging needs of wide range of customers. The company has also invested and set up its own prepress and plate making department.

Rohit Badlani, director of UvBiz says, “We understand that in the evolving marketing scenario across a large country like India short runs in packaging has become a necessity. Brotech is an equipment we shortlisted to enhance our short run delivery process. It will also add to our capability to cater to new smaller customers cost effectively and handle a large number of job changes every day.”

The sale has been handled by Delhi-based Weldon Celloplast. Kanwardeep Sahni, managing director of Weldon says, “UvBiz selected the equipment after thorough evaluation. We are very happy to associate with them.” z

z Partnership with Kolkata-based Printers Supply

Dantex signs digital distributor partnership for India sub-continent

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antex Group has added Printers Supply of Kolkata, India to its distributor network, specifically to sell its UV inkjet digital label press into the Indian sub-continent. The agreement, which covers the entire Pico range of digital UV inkjet printing press equipment and related consumables, sees Printers Supply handling sales in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Printers Supply managing director Amitabh Luthra said, ‘Dantex, with its many years of experience in the packaging industry, has an excellent understanding of market requirements and is a trusted solutions provider. Having a similar mindset, we THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Labels felt that it would be an ideal and constructive partnership.

Commenting on the arrangement, Printers Supply’s managing director, Amitabh Luthra, said, “Dantex, with its many years of experience in the packaging industry, has an excellent understanding of market requirements and is a trusted solutions provider.

Having a similar mindset, we felt that it would be an ideal and constructive partnership. There is a

marked increase in short run print jobs as the Indian label market is expanding and obviously digital is the only way to go to meet this demand. In terms of print quality and cost economy, the PicoColour and PicoJet cater to key market requirements and customer needs.”

This partnership follows similar agreements entered into by Dantex covering the MEA region and South Africa. Simon Cosh, digital business development

manager for the Dantex Pico range, said, “Printers Supply is well placed in the Indian sub-continent to provide service and support to their customers in their digital journey.

“The Pico range offers high quality, efficient solutions with low cost of ownership and we look forward to supporting Amitabh and his team in delivering commercial success to label printers in this region and helping them become more competitive.” z

z Ability to produce a broader range of applications

Anytron – Bitek Technology launches new in-line digital press

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nytron – Bitek Technology, a manufacturer of digital color label printing system, has announced the official launch of its new in-line digital press for label and flexible packaging, the any-JET II. The any-JET II is powered by Memjet inkjet printing technology and offers in-line finishing capabilities, 1600 x 1600 dpi high-resolution lamination, and custom label shapes and sizes with laser die-cutting.

It supports variable printing and cutting speed from 3m/m to 18m/m (9.8 to 59 ft/min) depending on the label design. The unit is designed to give users greater flexibility and the ability to produce a broader range of applications.

The any-JET II is engineered for fast production speeds and high-quality images. This all-in-one machine is designed to have all functions such as over-laminate, laser die cutting, matrix remove and slitting. Additionally, any-JET II can be utilized on flexible packaging printing and laser scribing for easy opening, microwave steam release feature pouches.

One of the key developments in the system is “anyFlow,” an integrated workflow and RIP software to control the printer and laser die-cutter with an integrated user interface. It extracts cutting lines from the printing design when the user loads a design to the system, and the cutting data is automatically sent to the laser die cutter to be production-ready. Furthermore, auto

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job changeover is embedded for users to change their job automatically by reading a QR code that is printed from the print engine.

tion time for production is cut with about 10% to 20%, which can shave off a lot of time on a normal working day.”

Brian Kim, sales manager of anytron (from Bitek Technology Inc.), says about the any-JET II, “Not only will it enhance your production capacity, but it will also expand the flexibility of your application.

The idea of an inline system is that the prepara-

The unit is designed to eliminate waste and lead times for label orders, improve flexibility to support private branding and personalization strategies, and it supports highly variable applications with just-intime delivery. z

Labels

z Assumes role from Amichai Steimberg

Alon Bar-Shany appointed chairman of Highcon board

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ollowing the successful flotation on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange raising US$ 45 million in an oversubscribed offering, Highcon has made several appointments to bolster its board of directors and executive management team with leading industry figures.

Alon Bar-Shany

The board of directors of Highcon approved the nomination of Alon Bar-Shany, former general manager of HP Indigo, to the role of chairman of the board. During his tenure at HP Indigo as the general manager, BarShany was recognized for having grown the company by over US$ 1 billion in revenues. Prior to that, he ran the HP Indigo business in EMEA, led the worldwide Indigo channel business and was CFO of Indigo at the time of its acquisition by HP. Alon was also a member of the global DSCOOP board working with customers to create a community focused on sharing and growth.

Alon is assuming the chairman role from Amichai Steimberg, who has held this position since mid 2020 during the company’s successful IPO process, and who will be stepping down as planned. Alon will be joining Highcon’s seasoned board of directors comprising Benny Landa, founder of Indigo and chairman of the Landa Group; Fiona Darmon, general partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners; Adina Shorr, previously CEO of Object, Scodix and CellGuide; and Giora Bitan, formerly CFO at ECI, Scitex and a senior partner in several venture capital funds.

Furthermore, the company also announced a key industry hire welcoming Simon Lewis as the company’s new vice president marketing. Simon is well-known in the print industry. He started out 27 years ago at Scitex and has spent most of his career driving analogto-digital transformations. For the past 14 years he has been at HP Indigo where, amongst other roles, he headed up their Strategic Marketing and served on the executive management board. Most recently

he was regional business manager in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Alon Bar-Shany said, “I am looking forward to joining the Highcon board and taking part in the ongoing digital transformation of the printing and packaging industry.

Highcon has been a pioneer in the digitalization of the post-print part of the process which, after the growing adoption of digital printing, is where many bottlenecks now occur. I have known Shlomo for 25 years and in fact, he recruited me to Indigo. I have been following the company and its customers for quite a while and will be supporting Shlomo and the management team to ensure the success of Highcon customers, which will be a key driver for the company’s growth.”

Shlomo Nimrodi, Highcon CEO, added, “We would like first, to express our appreciation to Amichai Steimberg

for his support during the past few months as we prepared and concluded the company’s successful IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. I am proud and happy to have Alon joining us in our digital transformation journey of the packaging industry. Alon’s industry expertise and reach, coupled with his experience in growing a capital equipment company, will be instrumental in executing our go-to-market strategy and scale-up. I am also delighted to welcome Simon to the Highcon team leading our marketing strategy and execution.

As we start the year ahead, with this new team of expert players, Highcon is now well poised for growth and the ability to drive the digital change that is essential to optimize supply chains and reduce the inefficiencies that face the conventional folding carton and corrugated packaging industry.” z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Glass Packaging

z New greenfield plant by 2022

AGI glaspac eyes 18% topline revenue growth

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GI glaspac, a leading global manufacturer of integrated container-glass, inaugurated its new plant work on 9 November 2020. The company has also announced that with the manufacturing of speciality glass, the company foresees topline growth in its revenue by not less than 15-18% by 2022-23. The company last week raised an investment of INR 220 crores to manufacture special glass for premium segments, such as cosmetics, perfumery, personal care, carbonated water and high-end spirits. These special glasses require an additional layer of printing decoration, design and detailing work, which is possible only using specific technologies. AGI glaspac aims to attract further investment to complete the work.

For the printing design and decoration of the speciality glass, AGI glaspac will evaluate engaging with Indian start-ups that can meet the international standards of printing and decoration. The company has been serving its customers in the liquor, wine, food, chemical and pharma industry worldwide with commercial and Type1 glass quality for over 40 years. The addition of clear speciality glass to its portfolio will cater to a new customer segment.

Rajesh Khosla, president and CEO of AGI glaspac, said, “The pandemic has resulted in geopolitical disengagement with certain countries. It will leave the glass industry with a huge void and a shortfall of suppliers or importers in the future. We believe that it is a huge opportunity for Indian manufacturers and start-ups for various industries to increase exports and reduce imports. It is a golden opportunity to raise the bar in the international markets for the ‘Made-in-India’ products. AGI glaspac’s entry in the new segment of manufacturing speciality glass is a strategic decision.

It will allow us to cater to the much-expected rise in the global demand after the pandemic subsides.”

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Manufacturing plant of AGI glaspac in Bhongir

The first phase of investment of INR 220 crores will go towards four levels of expenses – civil construction of the plant, machinery and a new furnace, utilities and finally new team for the development of the newly launched ‘AGI Speciality-Glas Division.’ The company will engage more than 4600 people, including direct and indirect employees. The total strength of the team is 14,700, and it will be 19,300 by the end of 2022.

Early this year, the company had announced a geographical expansion with an estimated investment of INR 700 crores in the eastern part of India. However, due to the pandemic, the company envisaged investment opportunities to expand its existing plant at Bhongir, Telangana. With the ease of doing business at Telangana, the company has chosen the state for the new segment launch. The plan to geographically expand to service the trade-sensitive regions will be taken up later. z

Rajesh Khosla, president and CEO of AGI glaspac

Automation

z Track technology

Leaving traditional production lines behind On bottling and primary packaging lines, direct contact between the machine and the things we put on our kitchen table is inevitable. That’s why these processes are subjected to the absolute highest hygiene standards – and it’s also why any equipment used must lend itself to easy and thorough cleaning. These requirements often present a stumbling block for innovative new solutions.

The IP69K-rated ACOPOStrak is built for high-pressure washdown cleaning using hot water up to 80°C and fully protected against dust ingress

Carola Schwankner

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roduction and packaging machinery used in the food and beverage industry must not only be easy to clean, but also highly resistant to aggressive substances. Powerful cleaning agents and scalding hot water are extremely effective

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at killing bacteria and germs – but over time can take their toll on machine components. These challenges are further compounded as the individualization trend gains momentum in the food and beverage industry.

Machine builders and operators are under pressure to produce goods efficiently in small batch sizes.

“Consumers have shown a willingness to pay a premium for personalized products,” explains Johannes

Vitzthum, product manager for track technology at B&R. “And food and beverages are no exception.”

Real implementation of mass customization, however, has generally been hindered by one core fact that applies in every industry: Whenever you increase a system’s flexibility, you generally decrease its overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). “Producers run the very real risk that individualization will come at the cost of profitability,” says Vitzthum.

Automation Economical production

Completely enclosed stainless steel housing prevents even the tiniest ambient particulate matter from penetrating into the interior of the shuttles and track segments

The goal of mass customization is therefore to keep the three factors of OEE – availability, performance and quality – at a level consistent with what can be achieved in mass production. In addition, manufacturers seek to maximize their return on investment (ROI) and to minimize their time to market (TTM) for new and improved products. “This is the only way to make mass customization a worthwhile investment,” continues Vitzthum.

The obvious focus is on digitalization and software; but optimizing the way products are transported through the line is also a crucial part of the equation.

This is exactly where intelligent track systems play an essential role in getting products to market faster and helping producers remain competitive. Track systems contain permanent magnets and other components, however, that must never come into contact with water or other liquids. This has so far made track systems out of bounds for the food and beverage industry. “The time has now come to equip food and beverage machinery to meet the new demands of its market,” says Vitzthum.

Washdown-protected track system B&R is now offering its intelligent ACOPOStrak system with IP69K protection. “The shuttles and segments of the new washdown variant are constructed of stainless steel, securely welded and resistant to corrosion,” explains Vitzthum. The IP69K-rated ACOPOStrak is built for high-pressure washdown cleaning using hot water up to 80°C and fully protected against dust ingress.

Completely enclosed stainless steel housing prevents even the tiniest ambient particulate matter from penetrating into the interior of the shuttles and track segments. This keeps the permanent magnets perfectly safe, even during washdown. This high level of protection also makes it possible to transport corrosive products or operate the ACOPOStrak in corrosive atmospheres such as salt spray. All surfaces are chemically resistant. Aggressive cleaning agents are no problem for the IP69K-protected ACOPOStrak system.

Mass customized food and beverages What all of this means is that full-scale mass customization is now open for business, even under the demanding constraints of the food and beverage

industry. “You’re now able to install our intelligent track system in stand-up pouch filling machines, for example,” says Vitzthum. “And that opens up some very exciting possibilities for product individualization.”

Stand-up pouches are primarily used for liquid and semi-liquid products, such as fruit purees and energy gels. Now customers can create their own individual assortments and produce them economically using ACOPOStrak. Not only does the system meet all cleaning and hygienic requirements, but the consumer gets exactly the product or products desired.

Split and merge product flows ACOPOStrak makes it possible to group massproduced items such as bottled drinks into custom six-packs on the fly – three bottles of orange juice, two of apple and one cranberry juice – without any changes to the hardware. The magic that allows this to happen is the track system’s unique high-speed diverter solution, which is purely electromagnetic and thus fully immune to mechanical wear. “Diverters split and merge product flows while the shuttles are running at full speed – without any impact on productivity,” underscores Vitzthum.

Modular machinery Track-based transport makes machines more modular and flexible. They can easily be expanded simply by adding on new track segments and parallel processing stations for a substantial boost in productivity. B&R’s IP69K-rated ACOPOStrak now allows industries with strict cleaning and hygienic requirements to enjoy all the benefits of the adaptive machine. z

“The shuttles and segments on the new IP69K-rated ACOPOStrak are made of stainless steel, securely welded and thus resistant to corrosion,” says Johannes Vitzthum, product manager for track technology at B&R.

ACOPOStrak B&R’s flexible and intelligent ACOPOStrak system enables economical mass customization down to batch size one. At a speed of more than four meters per second, workpieces travel between processing stations on independently controlled shuttles. Electromagnetic diverters split and merge product flows, opening up endless possibilities for machine builders and operators to implement fully automated production of individualized products.

– The author is corporate communications editor, B&R THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Coding and Marking

z Acquires Lake Image Systems

Domino brings vision inspection expertise to customers

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omino Printing Sciences has announced its acquisition of Lake Image Systems, a market-leading producer of automated, vision-based inspection systems, for quality control and data verification. The acquisition comes as part of Domino’s ongoing commitment to ‘Do more’ to deliver best-in-class customer experience through products, services, and expertise, that help customers improve production efficiency and cut manufacturing waste. The company recognizes that with the growth of Industry 4.0, intelligent inspection and validation has become increasingly important to global customers within both digital printing, and coding and marking applications.

The acquisition will bring proven solutions into the Domino portfolio and provides customers with the opportunity to benefit from Lake Image Systems’ industry-leading expertise and create production lines with greater intelligence and product accuracy.

Lake Image Systems’ product range includes high-tech camera and lighting applications, and industry-leading image data management software, which combine to produce sophisticated, intelligent vision systems for quality control and data verification purposes. By integrating vision systems into existing production processes, customers can benefit from real-time monitoring of print throughput, allowing issues with print quality and data accuracy to be identified and rectified as they emerge.

Prior to the acquisition, Domino and Lake Image Systems worked together for more than 20 years, on projects to supply vision solutions for data verification to Domino’s commercial and digital printing customers.

“Our acquisition of Lake Image Systems will expand our coding and marking hardware and software portfolio and further enhance our ability to deliver high-performance, integrated coding solutions. The team’s strength in the inspection solutions market and

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Robert Pulford, CEO at Domino

expertise in camera-based print quality and variable data verification solutions will enable our customers to increase production efficiency, reduce manufacturing waste, and grow smart, sustainable manufacturing operations,” says Robert Pulford, CEO at Domino.

“In addition to Lake Image’s similar approach to hardware and software integration, the company shares many of the same values as Domino, with a determination to service its customers to the highest possible standards. This ensures a seamless transition for its expert consultants and technologists,” he added.

Lake Image Systems was founded in 1994, by Martin Keats, Paul Smith, and Paul Stinson, all of whom will remain within the business as a subsidiary of Domino.

Over the last 26 years, the company has expanded its international operations, and now employees 50 personnel, spread between four offices, including the company headquarters in Tring, UK, as well as the USA, France, and Singapore.

Solutions are available for a wide variety of applications, including: variable code verification to ensure that the correct code is placed on the correct product; barcode grading and classification, to meet specific industry regulations; print integrity verification to identify issues with code duplication or label misplacement; and overall print quality analysis, to identify no-reads, smudges, and color deviation.

“Domino has enjoyed a successful relationship with Lake Image for over 20 years,” says Ben Rock, Strategic Business Development Director at Domino. “Going forward, Lake Image Systems will be integrated into Domino’s Strategic Business Development unit, to create scalable, fully-integrated solutions for customers looking to explore vision control alongside coding and marking and digital printing solutions.”

Looking to the future of manufacturing, Domino recognizes the importance of integration and connectivity when implementing solutions for smart, sustainable production lines. Domino’s latest range of Industry 4.0-ready printers, equipped with Domino Cloud functionality, was launched to provide customers with options for remote monitoring as part of an advanced services suite.

The introduction of intelligent vision solutions in Domino’s product range will further add to this offering, to provide customers with additional solutions to overcome productivity challenges and maximize production line efficiencies.

“We have a long history working with Domino, and by joining forces we have an excellent platform to grow our business and deliver more value to our collective customers and partners,” says Martin Keats. “By combining our technologies and resources, we can accelerate the development of the next generation of integrated, intelligent vision solutions for the wider printing and packaging market.” z

A Knowledge Company For Information, Technology and Business VOLUME 2 l ISSUE 3 l NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2019

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Yansefu making continuous effort to uplift its manufacturing process

Heidelberg seizes upon the dynamism of Asian market

Bobst launches new CI flexo press Vision CI

Alutech Packaging aims at Rs. 300 crore turnover

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Retail

z Retail packaging predictions for 2021

eCommerce and digital transformation to lead the way As 2020 comes to an end, Robert Lockyer, CEO and founder of Delta Global, a sustainable and innovative packaging solutions provider for luxury retail brands around the world, reflects and offers his view on what we can expect in the year to come.

M

aking predictions for the year to come seems a little strange following the unstable nature of events endured over the past 12 months. From split political decisions, social movements, extreme weather conditions, economic turmoil, and a global health pandemic, we’ve really seen it all. And no one could have predicted it.

Just about every industry, business, and individual has been affected by at least one of these events.

Not just affected but shaken to the core in many instances. As a result, we’ve seen some significant shifts in both consumer and stakeholder sentiment, which aren’t necessarily as negative as the events that caused them.

The nature of some of these shifts will be permanent, as they’ve encouraged better ways of living and of doing business. Therefore, the learnings from these changes should inform our plans for the year to come.

In regard to packaging, here are some predictions on how this year’s shifts should change the way businesses approach the role, composition, and manufacturing processes of their container solutions.

Sustainability Just about every industry has its own sustainability goals now, with businesses constantly striving to do their bit to combat the climate crisis. However, this year’s events have truly opened the world’s eyes wider to how important prompt action is. Notably, this year

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Therefore, sustainability will only be given greater focus in 2021, hopefully with more brands investing in eco-friendly packaging solutions that are made from recycled materials and can then also be fully recycled by a customer.

Multifunctional packaging On a similar note, while sustainability remains the overarching goal, those already using eco-friendly packaging will use innovation and creativity to further their efforts.

Robert Lockyer, CEO and Founder of Leicesterheadquartered Delta Global

has seen countries around the world endure some of the most extreme weather conditions on record. The UK battled some of its worst floods, fires in California caused devastating damage, and the Philippines suffered one of the strongest typhoons recorded in history.

Now, more than ever, we are aware that these events are no longer anomalies; rather, they are a direct consequence of our environmental neglect. So, what businesses should be realising is that ‘doing their bit’ simply isn’t enough anymore. Eco-friendly packaging has almost become the bare minimum, and some brands are even yet to do that.

Multifunctional designs will form the premise of this trend. It’s something we are already seeing with fashion products, whereby an item can be worn and used in different ways to encourage consumers to buy less and maximize use.

For example, H&M has added a number of ‘multifunctional’ products to its Conscious line, including a pair of boots that can be transformed into mules, belts that become necklaces, and earrings that can be shortened or lengthened depending on the occasion or outfit.

Louis Vuitton promotes multiuse with its Bandeaus that can be wrapped around bag handles or worn as scarves, hair accessories, or bracelets. And the cult following of Rosie Assoulin’s famous jumper that can be worn in several ways is yet another prime example of the rise of multifunction in luxury fashion.

Retail It’s only natural that the sector’s packaging follows suit. Ultimately, the bags and boxes that brands’ products arrive in will become just as much a part of the product as the item itself. This will encourage reuse, while reducing waste and both the business’s and consumer’s carbon footprint.

Rise of eCommerce Although there has been a steady shift towards eCommerce in recent years, the impacts of the pandemic have accelerated the adoption of digital sales channels among retailers. In fact, during the UK’s initial lockdown, 8,665 fashion and apparel businesses enabled eCommerce functionality or joined an online marketplace.

New to the remote sales route, many businesses will need to rethink the way they engage and connect with their customers, which they’d usually be doing through in-store experiences.

Packaging plays an important role in this, as it becomes the first point of physical contact customers have with brands for online orders. Therefore, packaging must create a personalized customer experience even before it is opened.

Whether that’s through iconic design cues that are significant to the brand – take Chanel’s renowned camelia, for example – or with high-quality materials that boost perceptions of the product and business as a whole. Therefore, 2021 will see more brands investing in the packaging they send to their customers in order to create positive customer experiences. As well as the outer shells, inserts and additional elements will also be considered.

Of course, with the volatile state of our environment, many businesses will opt to either use eco-friendly materials for inserts or reduce them completely by storing additional order information documents online.

Digital transformation eCommerce won’t be the only digital focus for businesses. Rather, more will use the lessons from remote working practices this year to digitize other elements of their processes. Notably, supply chains will be given the greatest focus as it has been made clear that, while, physical site visits and meetings are certainly desirable to ensure efficiency, they are no longer a requirement for a functional chain.

Eco-friendly packaging has almost become the bare minimum

The cost-saving and convenience benefits of not attending sites outweigh possible efficiency gains, particularly when digital solutions can be integrated into the chain to ensure processes keep running smoothly. In packaging supply chains, the benefits go far beyond this and will satisfy many of the issues businesses face in traditional processes, which is why more will invest in digitizing their supply chain in the coming year.

For example, when shops were forced to shut earlier this year, many retailers were left with an overstock of both products and packaging, which were a loss to the business. What would usually be ongoing manufacturing and delivery processes were halted, causing significant disruption, which was passed along points like a domino effect.

Having suffered the impact of this once, many businesses will seek ways to reduce facing similar challenges in the future. And a digital supply chain management system could provide the solution.

When in place, these systems can help businesses streamline their processes, which will help with both reducing cost and waste. Ultimately, supply chains will become more responsive, acting on demand, rather than predicting it. This way, there will be less need to store a backlog of packaging supplies, which there is no guarantee will ever be used, and in turn, free up cash in the business.

These digital systems will help to connect the dots not only in the supply chain, but also between businesses’ sustainability targets, sales channel growth, and creating positive customer experiences. So, while this year has proven the sheer impact that macroenvironmental factors can cause, the year ahead will be all about businesses taking back control and creating a market that has not only recovered, but is in a strong position for a sustainable and successful future. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Sustainability

z Launches Alag Karo 2.0

Tetra Pak, Coca-Cola India and GIZ join hands with Saahas

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fter successful completion of the first phase of Alag Karo – Har Din Teen Bin program, the second phase of the source segregation program – Alag Karo 2.0, was launched in Gurugram earlier this week. Tetra Pak India along with Coca-Cola India and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has once again joined hands with Saahas (a not for profit organization), to extend the program reach in Gurugram as also to select locations in New Delhi.

Marking the commencement of Phase 2 of the Alag Karo program, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and Saahas have signed an MoU to create awareness and implementation of source segregation of waste at Ward levels, including Ward No. 32. While Alag Karo Phase 1 had targeted high-rise residential societies, commercial complexes and institutions, the focus of Phase 2 is directed towards other settlements like independent houses, slums, small shops and street markets in the city.

The Alag Karo 2.0 launch event witnessed participation from wide range of stakeholders across local authorities, RWAs, private partners and NGOs, it highlighted on the importance of citizen engagement

in promotion of waste segregation & management and relentless efforts made by the MCG, in ensuring scientific management of city waste.

Building on the milestones of phase 1 of the program, Alag Karo 2.0 is an initiative to take the impact created by the program to the next stage. The main objective of Alag Karo 2.0 is to enhance the understanding and sensitivity towards sustainable waste management by promoting source segregation, and sensitizing over 100,000 people in the city. The program aims at achieving improved recycling rates and reduction in dumping and landfill, through formal engagement with 300 waste workers for training on systematic waste collection and processing. Additionally, the second phase of the program will extend to New Delhi, reaching 2,000 households initially and will render support towards existing Alag Karo RWA volunteers and apartment communities of the program.

Divya Tewari, CEO, Saahas, said, “We’ve certainly come a long way. Alag Karo, the program which today is entering into its second stage initially kicked off at a city level, on a smaller scale, say in a single colony or a village. Today, it has branched into a systematic

source segregation program with clear and transparent outcomes. Each activity undertaken as a part of the program has brought in new learnings for us and has helped us evolve a detailed step-by-step approach for implementing and sustaining Source Segregation.

We are confident that much like the first phase, Alag Karo 2.0 will also be very successful and rewarding.

We appreciate the support provided from our program partners, Coca-Cola India, Tetra Pak, GIZ and the local authority – Municipal Corporation of Gurugram.” z

z Nano VpCI-powered film

EcoCortec introduces compostable electrostatic dissipating anti-corrosion film

E

coCortec recently announced the Eco-Corr Film ESD – biodegradable, compostable static dissipative films and bags powered by Nano VpCI. This latest film technology is targeted mainly for electronics, telecommunications, packaging and electric car industries seeking environmentally

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friendly packaging solutions. In anticipation of new EU regulations penalizing sales of non-recyclable plastic packaging materials, EcoCortec is offering a commercially compostable alternative to conventional polyethylene electrostatic dissipating (ESD) films.

Eco-Corr Film ESD products are anti-static, corrosion inhibiting films and bags intended for disposal in a commercial composting environment. They are designed for use in the protection of static sensitive multi-metal items such as electronics. The film contains permanent anti-static properties to immediately reduce or eliminate

Sustainability Eco-Corr film disintegrates into carbon dioxide and water within months in a commercial composting environment. Eco-Corr film was tested as part of the pilot project of packaging car parts for shipment to their plant in Pune, India. Several tests were conducted for compliance with strict conditions for transport in sea containers. Quality control did not show any damage or traces of corrosion on the components wrapped in Eco-Corr Film upon arrival in India.

Engine parts wrapped in EcoCorr film

static buildup as long as the films or bags are in use, independent of the presence of humidity.

A Czech subsidiary of one of the world’s three largest car manufacturers selected Eco-Corr Film as a biodegradable substitute to reduce the amount of conventional plastic packaging they use. They tested Eco-Corr Film as part of their new ‘green’ logistics project aimed at decreasing plastic consumption.

EcoCorr extrusion

In order to test if the film were able to be composted according to plan, the staff built compost bins near the plant. After six months, the foils had largely disintegrated in the compost bins, helping them to eliminate plastic waste. Eco-Corr film replaces conventional plastic films they used previously and provides the same effective corrosion protection.

Composted packaging material will be used as soil improver at the plant’s logistics park. The manufacturer was able to cut the amount of conventional plastic packaging in half, thus eliminating a significant amount of plastic waste (as much as 500 kilogram per month). z

z Sustainability without compromising functional performance

Meat packaging material made from mixed post-consumer plastics

D

riven by a shared vision of sustainability and strong collaboration, DSM, SABIC, Cepsa, Fibrant, and Viscofan have together created a multibarrier casing for meat products made via advanced recycling of post-consumer plastics. The transition towards recycled-based multi-layer films enables the packaging industry to adopt a more sustainable solution without compromising on functional performance.

The development of this packaging material underlines a strong commitment to enabling a circular economy by working together with partners throughout the value chain, and addresses the increasing consumer, societal and regulatory demand for more sustainable multi-layer barrier casing solutions.

Produced by Viscofan, the newly developed sustainable casing consists of several layers of different polymers. DSM Engineering Materials supplies the high-

performance certified circular polyamide (PA) Akulon CRC-MB, and SABIC supplies the high-performance certified circular polyethylene (PE) from its TRUCIRCLE portfolio of circular solutions. Both products are based on used and post-consumer plastics which would otherwise be discarded as landfill or lost to incineration. Using advanced recycling, the used plastic is converted into new feedstock, which then enters the production chain to deliver new virgin-quality materials.

Jason Zhang, VP business lines performance polymers at DSM Engineering Materials, says, “By introducing Akulon CRC-MB, DSM is taking an exciting next step in its sustainability journey. The co-development of a recycled-based film for packaging applications underlines DSM’s commitment to working closely with partners, customers and suppliers to realize a more sustainable value chain and economy.”

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Sustainability The high-performance certified circular polyamide Akulon CRC-MB is produced through a strong value chain collaboration involving a range of partners applying a mass-balancing approach. Firstly, SABIC produces certified circular benzene, based on materials produced via feedstock recycling of mixed-used plastics, which is used by Cepsa to make certified circular phenol. Fibrant then uses

the phenol to produce certified circular caprolactam EcoLactam, which is provided to DSM to produce its certified circular polyamide. Finally, Viscofan combines the certified circular polyethylene and polyamide to produce the multi-barrier film used to create casings for a variety of meat products.

Multi-layer barrier films inherently offer strong sustainability advantages by helping to reduce preventable food waste – which accounts for 8% of total global greenhouse gas emissions – and extending the shelf-life of food products. What’s more, using post-consumer plastics as a feedstock mitigates the depletion of natural resources, reduces the accumulation of plastic waste and improves the environmental footprint. z

z Uses-certified renewable polypropylene

Sabic collaborates with Beiersdorf to implement sustainable cosmetics packaging

S

abic, a global enterprise in the chemicals industry, recently announced that Beiersdorf will be using certified renewable polypropylene (PP) from Sabic’s Trucircle portfolio of “second generation” bio-based materials in the skincare company’s cosmetics packaging. The new packaging products will be introduced in the market in 2021 and replace fossil-based virgin PP. Sabic’s certified renewable polymers, including various PP and polyethylene (PE) materials, are derived from animal-free and palm oil-free “‘second-generation”‘ renewable feedstock, such as tall oil waste from the wood pulping process in the paper industry, which is not in direct competition with human food and animal feed production sources.

“The use of renewable raw materials in our product packaging represents a major lever for us to reduce our carbon emissions and improve our ecological footprint,” says Michael Becker, head of Global Packaging Development at Beiersdorf. “We are proud to be the first in our mass-market segment to use polypropylene made from renewable, plant-based raw materials as a packaging material for our cosmetic products, and we are pleased to have a strong, experienced partner with Sabic. Together, we take an important next step towards achieving our ambitious sustainability targets.”

As part of its care beyond skin sustainability agenda

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with ambitious targets to be implemented by 2025, Beiersdorf wants to make its packaging 100% refillable, reusable, or recyclable, increase the share of recycled material in plastic packaging to 30%, and reduce the use of fossil-based virgin plastic by 50% (compared to 2019).

“We are very pleased to welcome Beiersdorf on our journey towards transforming the plastics industry into a circular and sustainable economy,” comments Sergi Monros, vice president of Performance Polymers and Industry Solutions for Petrochemicals at Sabic.

“Innovative cosmetics packaging using our certified renewable PP and PE polyolefins can make a significant contribution to reducing fossil depletion and greenhouse gas emissions. The plant-based materials provide easy drop-in solutions to existing fossil-based

plastic conversion processes and applications without compromises on purity, quality, safety, or convenience.

Sabic is determined to help support its partners in benefiting from this potential.”

Sabic’s certified renewable polymers are based on a mass balance approach in compliance with the widely recognized International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) scheme. The mass balance is determined to allocate the renewable content used in the production and conversion of the plastic material to the ultimate application. This allows brand owners to highlight and quantify the sustainable choice consumers can make by purchasing end products packaged in renewable plastics. The ISCC Plus accreditation verifies that the mass balance accounting follows predefined and transparent rules. In addition,

Sustainability the certification also provides traceability throughout the partners’ entire supply chain from the feedstock to the final product.

Moreover, a cradle-to-gate lifecycle analysis has confirmed the sustainability elements of Sabic’s certified renewable materials. From sourcing the raw feedstock to producing the polymers, each ton of the company’s bio-based PP and PE resin reduces CO2 emissions by an average of 4 kilogram as compared to fossil-based virgin alternatives, while at the same time cutting fossil depletion by up to 80%. The study was carried out according to ISO 14040 and has been validated in a critical third-party review.

Sabic’s complete Trucircle offering comprises design for recyclability services, mechanically recycled materials, certified circular products from chemical recycling of used plastics, and certified renewable polymers from bio-based feedstock.

Effects of the use of biogenic carbon quantified according to PAS 2050 standard LCA done by at Sabic

according to ISO 14040, using the Circularity Footprint Formula (CFF) following the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidance of the European Commission, and reviewed by third-party experts according to ISO 14067 Sabic is a global diversified chemicals company headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sabic manufactures on a global scale in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and the Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity, and high-performance plastics, agri-nutrients, and metals.

Sabic supports its customers by identifying and developing opportunities in key end-use applications such as construction, medical devices, packaging, agri-nutrients, electrical and electronics, transportation, and clean energy. Production in 2019 was 72.6 million metric tons.

Sabic has more than 33,000 employees worldwide and operates in around 50 countries. Fostering innovation and a spirit of ingenuity, Sabic has 12,540 global

patent filings and has significant research resources with innovation hubs in five key geographies – USA, Europe, Middle East, South Asia, and North Asia.

Beiersdorf AG is a leading provider of innovative, high-quality skincare products and has more than 135 years of experience in this market segment.

The Hamburg-based company has about 20,000 employees worldwide and is listed on the DAX, the German benchmark equities index. Beiersdorf generated sales of EUR 7.6 billion in financial year 2019.

Its product portfolio comprises strong, international leading skin and body care brands, including Nivea, Eucerin, Hansaplast/Elastoplast, and La Prairie. Millions of people around the world choose Beiersdorf brands every day because of their innovative, highquality products. Further renowned brands such as Labello, Aquaphor, Florena, 8X4, Hidrofugal, Atrix, Maestro, and Coppertone round off the extensive portfolio. Beiersdorf’s wholly-owned affiliate tesa SE, another globally leading manufacturer in its field, supplies self-adhesive products and system solutions to industry, craft businesses, and consumers. z

z Thinner and lighter packaging

New Nivea bottle uses 50% less plastics

B

ased on intensive research and packaging development, Beiersdorf, the bottle and cap of the new Nivea Naturally Good Body Lotion has been designed to use 50% less plastic than a comparable standard Nivea body lotion packaging.

The bottle is very thin and has a uniquely shaped bottom area which can be easily squeezed and rolled up tightly – very similar to a toothpaste tube. This brings the additional benefit to consumers that the lotion can be used easily until the last drop. The bottle is fully recyclable after usage and can be integrated into the material loop in all countries with existing waste infrastructures. The transportation of the product from the factory to the retailers is also more sustainable, since the new design improved pallet utilization through its thinner and lighter packaging.

90% of PET bottles in Europe will be from recycled plastic by end of 2020 To minimize its environmental footprint, Beiersdorf is following a fourfold approach: the so-called “4R’s” set the company’s frame in the search of innovative ways to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Replace” its plastic packaging across the assortment of its brands, such as Nivea and Eucerin. The overall vision is to achieve a circular economy. One important element in this approach is the use of post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR), materials that originate from the recycling of household waste – such as materials found in the ‘yellow bag’ in Germany. Via the use of such secondary raw materials in product packaging, natural resources are protected, and the use of fossil-based virgin plastic is avoided, hence CO2 emissions are reduced. By the end of 2020, Beiersdorf will have converted 90% of its PET bottles in Europe to include recycled material.

This measure alone will save more than 1,200 tons of fossil-based virgin plastic per year. Also recent product launches, such as the Nivea Shower Fresh Blends, have come to market in PET-bottles made from at least 97% recycled material (PCR), thus avoiding 150 tons of fossil-based virgin plastic. As a first country, Germany will have switched the vast majority of bottles of its Nivea Shower & Shampoo range on market to recycled material before the end of this year, both PET and HDPE bottles will come from post-consumer-waste streams and hence, save around 2,000 tons of fossil-based virgin plastic. Other European countries will follow.

“As we strongly believe the global plastic problem cannot be solved in silos, but a broader collaboration and joined forces are needed, we are taking action beyond our own business. We are teaming up with our suppliers, trade partners, NGOs, scientific institutions and also with other players in our industry,” explains Jean-Francois Pascal, vice president corporate sustainability at Beiersdorf. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Sustainability

z Produces ready-for-market fully formulated polymer pellets

Tomra and Borealis open post-consumer plastic waste sorting and advanced mechanical recycling plant

T

omra and Borealis has started the operation of their advanced mechanical recycling demo plant in Lahnstein, Germany, the result of a partnership that marries chemistry with technology for unsurpassed results.

“This plant is just the beginning of what’s possible when key players in the value chain come together to make a truly significant impact in the market,” says Volker Rehrmann, executive vice president and head of circular economy at Tomra. “Having just launched the new circular economy division, it is clear what a large role waste management and pivotal projects like this have on moving towards a sustainable future. We are proud to have initiated one of the most advanced mechanical recycling plants when it comes to post-consumer polymer waste. This will become an important enabler as we accelerate the transformation to a circular economy in the years to come, and we are excited to be a part of this pioneering project.”

“This plant embodies the principles of the EverMinds platform founded by Borealis, which seeks to innovate plastics circularity through collaboration,” says Lucrèce Foufopoulos, Borealis executive vice president Polyolefins, Innovation & Technology and Circular Economy Solutions. “Offering brand owners and converters top quality recycled material, suitable for use in highly demanding applications is Borealis’ latest contribution to a more circular economy of plastics. Life demands progress, and through collaboration we re-invent for more sustainable living.”

Operation of the plant is a joint enterprise between Tomra, Borealis and Zimmerman. Borealis is responsible for the plant’s commercial success and contributes its expertise and knowledge in innovation, recycling

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Polypropylene bales

and compounding. Likewise, Tomra contributes as a provider of technology-led solutions and brings its proven expertise, established process and market knowledge which, in turn, enable the circular economy through advanced collection and sorting systems.

Zimmerman is a waste management company with experience in sorting multiple types of waste, including plastics, and is responsible for successful plant operations and product quality.

The state-of-the-art plant processes both rigid and flexible plastic waste from households. And unlike

many current recycling plants, it will produce the advanced solutions necessary for use in high-demanding plastic applications in various industries, including automotive and consumer products. With high purity, low odour, high product consistency and light colour fractions, these Borcycle M grade recycled polymers will meet customer quality requirements across the value chain.

The purpose of this demo plant is to generate material for brand owners and converters to qualify, validate and prove fit for use in their highly demanding ap-

Sustainability

Sorting for recycling

plications. Technical success will set the groundwork for a commercial-scale advanced recycling plant.

“At P&G we are making packaging with the ‘next life’ in mind to help drive a more robust circular economy.

We must increase the supply of high quality recycled plastic to enable the industry to deliver on this vision,” says Gian De Belder, Procter & Gamble technical director, R&D packaging sustainability. “The innovative new approach that Tomra and Borealis are taking shows potential to step-change both the quantity and quality of PCR available for our brands, and help us to achieve our 2030 goal to reduce our use of virgin plastic in packaging by 50%, or 300 kilotonnes annually. Early tests of the material looks very promising.”

“At Henkel, we want to reduce fossil-based virgin plastic to 50% by 2025 – for example, by increasing the share of recycled plastics to more than 30% globally. One major challenge towards more circular packaging is the availability of high-quality recycled plastics that can be used in the packaging of our brands,” says Thorsten Leopold, director international packaging technology home care at Henkel. “We are, therefore, very excited that this project brings together three proven experts along the value chain with the ambition to lift mechanical recycling to a new level.” z

Polypropylene flakes

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Pharma Packaging

z Investment of 40 million euros and 100 new jobs

Schott builds second melting tank for pharmaceutical glass tubing in Mainz

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he international specialty glass manufacturer Schott is building a second melting tank for pharmaceutical glass tubing at its main plant in Mainz, Germany. The investment volume amounts to 40 million euros. The new production facility is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2022 and will then offer 100 new jobs, 50 of which will be directly at Schott. With this investment, Schott is responding to the dynamically increasing global demand for glass tubing for pharmaceutical packaging.

The international specialty glass manufacturer Schott is building a second melting tank for pharmaceutical glass tubing at its main plant in Mainz, Germany. The investment volume amounts to 40 million euros. The new production facility is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2022 and will then offer 100 new jobs, 50 of which will be directly at Schott. With this investment, Schott is responding to the dynamically increasing global demand for glass tubing for pharmaceutical packaging. “We decided in favor of the Mainz site in order to further strengthen our production base for pharmaceutical glass tubing in Germany and Europe. In doing so, we naturally also have our sights set on the manufacturers of COVID-19 pandemic vaccines based here and the European pharmaceutical industry as a whole,� explained Dr. Frank Heinricht, chairman of the Board of Management of Schott AG. Due to the importance of this capacity expansion for the health care system in Germany and Europe, Schott is exploring possible support with subsidies in talks with the regional government of Rhineland-Palatinate, the federal government of Germany and the European Union.

The pharmaceutical glass production in Mainz is part of a global production network of the Tubing Business Unit, which also includes the Mitterteich site in Germany as well as factories in Brazil, India and China. Schott has already significantly expanded its

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Schott main plant in Mainz, Germany. Photo: Schott

The new production facility is scheduled to go into operation in mid2022 and will then offer 100 new jobs, 50 of which will be directly at Schott. The investment volume amounts to 40 million euros. With this investment, Schott is responding to the dynamically increasing global demand for glass tubing for pharmaceutical packaging.

production capacities for pharmaceutical tubing in Asia in the fall of 2020 with the commissioning of another tank in India and a completely new plant in China.

FIOLAX pharmaceutical glass tubing from Schott meets the highest quality standards in the pharmaceutical industry and is considered the gold standard for packaging medications. The borosilicate glass prevents interaction

between the glass packaging and the medication, thus preserving the effectiveness of the medication. Schott itself and its customers in the pharmaceutical packaging industry manufacture billions of vials, ampoules, syringes and cartridges from this special glass. Right now, Schott’s pharmaceutical vials are playing a special role in the fight against the Corona pandemic because the vaccines are being filled in them. z

Pharma Packaging

z Protects diagnostic test kits

Aptar increases capacity for active packaging solutions

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ptar CSP Technologies has expanded capacity for producing multiple configurations of its patented 3-Phase ActivPolymer technology to support increased demand for diagnostic test kits protection solutions.

Patented 3-Phase Activ-Polymer platform technology protects electrochemical, lateral flow, and molecular diagnostic test kits to assure accurate results

The recent surge in the development of new COVID-19 test kits in tandem with pandemic-related supply chain challenges has led to increased demand for solutions to improve result accuracy of critical diagnostic tests.

Aptar’s 3-Phase Activ-Polymer technology provides unique and customizable integrated solutions that create a microclimate within both strip-based and cassette-format lateral flow tests. The user-friendly, seamless integration of this technology adsorbs moisture to provide environmental conditions that preserve test integrity and ensure accurate results.

“With the coronavirus pandemic intensifying, not only are we dealing with a situation where test accuracy is of the utmost importance, but speed of execution is critical and protection throughout the supply chain has become a more formidable challenge,” said Badre Hammond, VP, commercial operations, Aptar CSP Technologies. “As a global leader in the protection of diagnostic test kits and trusted partner of leading diagnostic manufacturers for more than 20 years, Aptar has a depth of expertise in this market that can be readily applied to quickly solve the stability challenges diagnostic kit manufacturers are facing as they bring these important test kits to market.”

Aptar’s material-science based active packaging solutions are currently used to protect a range of electrochemical, lateral flow, and molecular diagnostic test kits on the market today, including Quidel Corporation’s QuickVue Influenza Test. The leading diagnostic healthcare manufacturer has trusted Aptar’s 3-Phase Activ-Polymer technology to protect its lateral flow diagnostic strips from moisture and help ensure test accuracy since 2007.

Aptar’s material-science based active packaging solutions are currently used to protect a range of electrochemical, lateral flow, and molecular diagnostic test kits on the market today, including Quidel Corporation’s QuickVue Influenza Test. The leading diagnostic healthcare manufacturer has trusted Aptar’s 3-Phase Activ-Polymer technology to protect its lateral flow diagnostic strips from moisture and help ensure test accuracy since 2007.

3-Phase Activ-Polymer technology provides a broad spectrum of custom-engineered protection in a variety of configurations. Proven solutions for the diagnostics market include the company’s Activ-Vial, which can be used to house swabs or test strips, and Activ-Film and active molded components that can be seamlessly integrated into kit components or packaging.

“We are committed to leveraging our material science expertise to enable our customers to meet the ongoing demand for innovative healthcare solutions that help improve and save lives,” said Hammond. “Expanding

our capacity to meet this increased demand and serve this important market during this critical time in our history is a key part of that commitment.”

In addition to diagnostics, 3-Phase Activ-Polymer technology is utilized in a variety of configurations for a wide range of application fields such as oral solid dose drugs, transdermal drug delivery, medical devices, and probiotics. The technology can be engineered to deliver active packaging solutions that adsorb moisture, scavenge odor, oxygen, or VOCs, emit aromas, or reduce pathogens. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Filling and Sealing

z Larger variety of kegs and products possible

KHS further develops its keg fillers

K

HS makes its Innokeg Transomat and Innokeg CombiKeg keg fillers even more sustainable, efficient and future-proof with a whole host of innovations. As minor as some of these may seem in detail, together they prove extremely effective.

Keg fillers Innokeg Transomat and Innokeg CombiKeg, both established on the market, are the flagships of KHS’ line of business in machines used to rack beer and other beverages into kegs. The Transomat is a modular system for interior washing and filling, designed – depending on the configuration – for the medium capacity range of 80 to 800 kegs an hour holding between seven and 58 liters. This makes it ideal for breweries of all sizes. Since its market launch in 1993 the Transomat has been further developed several times over in order to keep step with industry requirements.

Keg filling in a compact format: the Innokeg CombiKeg is easy to ship and quickly installed on site

is pursuing four goals, Daum emphasizes: “Flexibility, efficiency, safety and viability for the future.”

More flexibility In contrast, the CombiKeg is suitable for up-andcoming craft brewers who have already outgrown the small capacity range and need a machine with an output of up to 85 kegs per hour. Its appeal lies chiefly in its compact format that fits into a standard overseas container. This not only saves a considerable amount of space but also makes for a quick installation and commissioning process. Everything is pre-installed – from interior and exterior washing to filling – so that the system is ready for operation within a very short time indeed: a big move towards providing a plug-and-produce setup.

Fifty years of experience “As one of the first suppliers of keg fillers and thanks to what now amounts to more than 50 years of kegging expertise, KHS has always been up to the minute in this segment,” says Roger Daum, keg product manager.

“We’re constantly optimizing our systems to keep pace with the developments on the market. We’ve now brought both the Transomat and CombiKeg into line with the technological state of the art by introducing a whole set of further developments.” In doing so, KHS

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Numerous technical upgrades are to enable the machines to adapt to as many different containers as possible and fill a diverse range of products – from beer as the key product through carbonated soft drinks, wine and syrup to water. One new feature is thus the pressing cylinder with one-way keg detection where a sensor identifies the keg entering the machine.

The program is set on the machine accordingly, with non-returnable kegs not being washed, traveling at a lower speed and being subjected to a lower pressure, for example. Subsequently, all standard market non-returnable kegs can be run on the system, including those with an integrated bag. For the latter a patented circuit has also been developed that is directly integrated on the head and thus extremely hygienic. This means that media is changed over in a very small space that is easy to clean.

MID flow metering turns the filling segment into a measuring device with a fill function – an important requirement if companies are to produce according to the law in the European Economic Area

Filling and Sealing The extended Plexiglas safety paneling that now also covers the media valves is a new safety feature on the keg fillers

As a rule, the format parts required for the various fittings can be easily replaced without the need for tools. The Transomat can also be equipped with a reworked filling system as an option. This adjusts the product, supply and return gas pressure and other filling parameters automatically. The new system increases the product spectrum and ensures product quality through gentle filling. It accepts new products and recipes fully automatically without the need for any adaptations, thus saving time, energy and CO2.

The CombiKeg in particular has been provided with a new keg pull-in whose robust design can also process kegs with a higher mass – plus a larger variety of one-way kegs as it is suitable for use with different coupling depths.

product. Standardized valves for washing and filling, this technology tried and tested on KHS’ bottle fillers, lower the level of complexity, simplify warehousing and trigger fewer faults. They are suitable for both the soiled caustic generated during the first interior washing processes and for the sensitive filling process – without robustness or hygiene being compromised in any way whatsoever.

On the CombiKeg a new exterior washer with optimized multiple use of the washing water earns extra points by saving on resources. The rotary inspection flap facilitates maintenance as it provides easier access to wear parts in the CombiKeg’s rotor shaft.

Greater efficiency Improved safety Efficiency in the filling process includes the brewer being able to determine exactly how much beer the full keg actually contains. In view of the large range of kegs of varying age that arrive from different manufacturers and breweries and are often run in mixed batches, differences in weight of up to two kilograms are no rare occurrence. In order to eliminate this as a source of error, KHS has developed gross tare weighing used on systems for large capacities.

On the Transomat and CombiKeg KHS’ precision filling and measurement system (certified according to the MID1 for the European market) makes sure that the kegs are racked with the exact required volume of

When deformed or crooked kegs become stuck in the machine, the operator has to intervene. A pressure reducer between the media valves and treatment heads prevents caustic or other liquids from squirting out of the system. This increases safety for the machine operator if, for instance, the machine cladding has to be opened during production – such as when a damaged keg is not properly seated on the treatment head and has to be corrected or removed.

The bottom edge of the Plexiglas safety paneling has also been extended for improved shielding and now covers the media valves. As a further option, machines arranged in blocks can also be safely and individually shut down.

Future-proof network Thanks to the standard integration of IO-Link the systems are equipped with intelligent sensors and actuators for measuring pressure, for example, or level probes. Signals are provided directly without converters and thus without any of the time loss associated with the latter. Furthermore, a data world is created that permits predictive maintenance in the future, for instance.

Claim to leadership in keg filling

“As one of the first suppliers of keg fillers and thanks to what now amounts to more than 50 years of kegging expertise, KHS has always been up to the minute in this segment,” says Roger Daum, keg product manager at KHS

The sheer number of all of these significant further developments underlines the Dortmund machine and systems manufacturer’s claim to leadership also with keg filling systems, Daum believes. “With the above we’re creating an ideal setup that allows our customers to continue filling their beverages into kegs flexibly, efficiently, safely and sustainably in the future, too,” he concludes. z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Filling and Sealing

z Upgraded cross-seal and fin-seal units for improved sealing quality

New Syntegon Pack 202 flow wrapper

S

yntegon Technology has launched the next generation of flow wrappers – the Pack 202. As the successor of the Pack 201, the machine is a fully automated horizontal flow wrapping machine for low to medium speeds. The flow wrapper is suitable for bars, bakery products, cookies and crackers, as well as non-food applications. With the Pack 202, manufacturers benefit from a number of technological advances that were first introduced on the new Pack 403 last year, including an easily removable discharge belt, upgrades to the cross-seal and fin seal units, and a highly intuitive, user-centered design. “Our new flow wrapper for small to mid-sized manufacturers certainly packs a punch: We were able to integrate some of the features of our Pack 403 for medium to high speed applications into the new Pack 202. The machine is easy to operate, clean and maintain, which reduces downtime and maximizes overall equipment effectiveness,” Kelly Meer, product manager at Syntegon in New Richmond, Wisconsin, USA, states.

Syntegon has launched the Pack 202 – the successor of the Pack 201. The machine is a fully automated horizontal flow wrapper for low to medium speeds.

Borrowed from the Pack 403 Ideal for multi-product applications, the Pack 202 can wrap individual or grouped products including bakery goods, bars, fresh and frozen products, confectionery, snacks, medical products, prepared foods, household goods, and many other food and non-food items. The Pack 202 profits from a number of cross- and fin-seal improvements that were first introduced on the Pack 403 flow wrapping machine last year. The finwheel modules have been synchronized and the Pack 202 now features an improved canting mechanism: At the turn of a knob, operators can tilt the fin modules.

The cross-seal unit on the Pack 202 has also been improved significantly: The standard double-spring kit offers more consistent and stable seals, while the adjustment resolution has been doubled, thus enabling

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more precise and repeatable crimper adjustments.

User-friendly design for easy handling User-friendliness and ease of operation are at the heart of the Pack 202’s design – just like the Pack 403. A number of features on the Pack 403 have been integrated into the Pack 202 to improve the user experience. Sequentially numbered film rollers facilitate film threading for repeatable, consistent changeovers and minimize downtime caused by “trial-and-error” adjustments. The flow wrapper also comprises an optional automatic film splicer with laseretched instructions on the deckplate to secure fast and smooth film changes without having to stop the machine.

Syntegon has equipped the Pack 202 with a standard 450-millimeter dual backstand. Depending on brand owners’ needs, a 650-millimeter single backstand

is also available. The Pack 202 is equipped with a one-meter-long reject belt. The upper section of the reject belt is easy to remove for quick belt changes and cleaning processes. The detection function on the short discharge belt rejects faulty packages and automatically ejects them using compressed air. For larger and heavier products, a two-meter-long discharge module with reject plow is available as an option.

Intelligent and sustainable technologies Syntegon has intensified its efforts to develop intelligent and sustainable technologies.The packaging experts work with material suppliers and brand owners throughout the supply chain to test and adjust the machine runability of alternative packaging materials. z

Events

Printpack India 2021 postponed

T

he Governing Council of Indian Printing Packaging & Allied Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (IPAMA) has postponed the upcoming Printpack India 2021 exhibition which was earlier slated to be held at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida from 03-08 February 2021.

Keeping in view the impact of Corona virus, safety and healthcare of exhibitors and business visitors, prevailing market conditions, and travel restrictions, IPAMA had conducted a detailed survey which found that 85% of the companies had suggested postponement of Printpack India 2021. Based on the survey results, the IPAMA council has decided to postpone the 15th edition of Printpack India Exhibition and the concurrent India Sign & Led Expo event – all of them be organized later, preferably during a safer period.

The exact dates will be finalized and conveyed to the concerned, in due course of time. z

Fachpack to take place in 2021

F

achpack will take place in line with its regular schedule from 28 to 30 September 2021. “Current registration numbers are extremely satisfactory given the pandemic situation.

We are expecting 1,300 exhibitors, primarily from Central Europe,” says Heike Slotta, executive director at NürnbergMesse. “In the course of conversations with our customers from the packaging industry, we have noticed how much they are longing to finally meet again in person at a trade fair, especially after all the relevant fairs for the packaging industry scheduled for spring 2021 were canceled. We will do everything in our power to host a safe Fachpack in late summer 2021,” she adds.

Fachpack goes digital In future, Fachpack will also extend its reach into the digital environment. In recent months, NürnbergMesse has had a lot of positive experience with virtual and hybrid (partly on-site and partly virtual) event formats.

What this specifically means for Fachpack is that presentations at the event will be streamed to the internet where they can also subsequently be downloaded. Alongside the face-to-face contact options at the exhibition stands, virtual matchmaking tools will also be offered at the event. This allows contacts to be made and appointments arranged ahead of the event. Digital tools can also be used to facilitate the search for suitable packaging solutions that meet customer requirements. z

In future, Fachpack will also extend its reach into the digital environment

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Industry News

H.B. Fuller unveils cold-resistant adhesives for COVID-19 vaccine delivery

H

.B. Fuller has unveiled a readily available adhesive grades with hot melt advanced technology for extreme cold storage of vaccines and medication packaging. Advantra adhesives reportedly provide a secure bond at -70 C with tamper evident fiber tear.

Proper packaging is essential to securely and reliably preserve and transport pharmaceutical products, including vaccines and medication, from the time they are filled until they get to a patient. Adhesives play a key role in packaging performance, especially in the face of strict storage requirements. Some vaccines need to be kept at -70 C (-94 F), which leads to complex packaging requirements and the need to set up ultra-low-temperature freezers at vaccination centers. These storage requisites create logistics and

transportation challenges for carriers and a wide preparation for national health systems.

H.B. Fuller offers readily available extreme cold resistant adhesive grades with Advantra 9280 EU and Advantra BOLD 9480. These have been designed for tough surfaces and harsh conditions such as high speed pharmaceutical packaging lines without counterpressure. Both solutions are commercially available in Europe, India, Middle East, and Africa (EIMEA) and with equivalent performance grades available globally.

The adhesive innovator has conducted a series of tests with several industry standard pharmaceutical packaging carton samples at its H.B. Fuller’s Lüneburg Adhesive Academy, in Germany. These solutions have

been carefully formulated for reliable adhesion on GC1 and GC2 type carton boards. After extensive testing, H.B. Fuller’s Advantra adhesives demonstrate tamper evident fiber tear on pharmaceutical packaging and confirmed fiber tear after seven days storage at -70 C and after reconditioning at refrigerator temperatures of 4 C (39 F). H.B. Fuller recommends pharmaceutical companies to conduct additional testing on their specific materials before commercial use. z

Mondi to acquire corrugated packaging company Olmuksan

M

ondi has agreed to acquire 90.38% of the outstanding shares in Olmuksan International Paper Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret from International Paper for a total consideration of €66 million. The implied enterprise value on a 100% basis would amount to around €88 million.

Olmuksan is a leading and well-established corrugated packaging player in Turkey, listed on the Istanbul stock exchange. Its network of five plants provides a diverse customer base with high-quality sustainable packaging for food, beverage, agriculture and industrial applications. For the twelve months ended 30 September 2020, the company produced 256 thousand tonnes of corrugated packaging and generated revenues of TRY1,093 million (€150 million).

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Mondi has operated successfully in Turkey for many years and has developed a strong understanding of the market and its long-term opportunities. Our current Turkish footprint includes four corrugated packaging plants and a recycled containerboard paper mill, as well as three flexible packaging sites. Leveraging our expertise and experience in this market, together with our global virgin and recycled container board portfolio, we expect to generate significant operational improvements and paper integration upside,” says Andrew King, group chief executive officer of Mondi The transaction remains subject to competition clearance and other closing conditions and is expected to complete in the first half of 2021. Following the completion of the transaction, Mondi will launch a mandatory tender offer to acquire the remaining

9.62% of outstanding shares in the company held by minority shareholders. z

Industry News

Ashish Pradhan appointed president of Siegwerk Asia

S

iegwerk, one of the leading global suppliers of printing inks for packaging applications and labels, has announced the appointment of Ashish Pradhan as the president of Siegwerk Asia. In this role, Ashish will take over responsibility for South East Asia in addition to his current responsibilities for India and Greater China.

Ashish Pradhan is a graduate in engineering with post graduate qualifications in management. He joined Siegwerk in 2015 with more than 24 years of industry experience globally with companies such as Huhtamaki, Positive Packaging, Henkel and International Paper. Since taking over as CEO India in April 2016, he has successfully increased both sales and profitability and in his recent role as president India and Greater China, was also able to turn around Siegwerk’s business in China.

On the appointment, Herbert Forker, CEO, Siegwerk Group said, “We are confident that Ashish’s extensive knowledge of the ink industry and deep understanding of Siegwerk and its customers, will enable him to take Siegwerk Asia to the next level of success.”

“We have a tremendous opportunity to take our strong business in the Asia region to greater heights and match the high demands and expectations of our customers. I am excited about my new role and look forward to working with our great teams across Asia,” said Pradhan.

Siegwerk has also announced the appointment of Janarthanan Nallasura as managing director South East Asia with effect from 1 January 2021. In this role, Janarthanan will report directly to Ashish Pradhan, president Asia. z

Ashish Pradhan

Guala Closures signs exclusive agreement with Oceanworks

G

uala Closures Group, the global producer of non-refillable and aluminum beverage closures, has partnered with Oceanworks, the largest global marketplace for sustainable materials, to develop a range of closures produced using ocean plastics.

Headquartered in California, USA, Oceanworks is a digital marketplace that streamlines the sourcing of verified recycled material collected from coastal ecosystems where it is at significant risk of ending up in the ocean. Oceanworks network collects millions of pounds of ocean plastic annually. Oceanworks will supply 100% recycled polymers to Guala Closures, which will be used to develop closures for its wine and spirits range. This partnership extends to the Group’s worldwide market reach and its sole use of Oceanworks materials for all its closures for spirits and wine using these recycled polymers.

Guala Closures will initially use these polymers in the production of its T-bar models for spirits included in the recently launched Blossom range, and more models will be introduced soon. The caps produced with 100% recycled Oceanworks polymers are designed following the “design to change” model of the company’s recently published eco-design guidelines.

Commenting on this major development Fulvio Bosano, Guala Closures’ R&D director, said, “This important agreement strengthens the Group’s commitment toward more sustainable solutions, making our closures part of the future circular economy. It is a significant step in Guala Closures’ objective to use 35% of recycled materials in our products by 2025. The success of our sustainability strategy depends on both strong internal research and partnerships with key players such as Oceanworks.”

Rob Ianelli, president and founder of Oceanworks,

added, “Helping our customers in developing new products using our 100% recycled ocean plastics is an important step toward a real circular economy.

Thanks to this partnership, we have the opportunity to make a significant impact by scaling the production of a more sustainable packaging from materials that would otherwise be polluting our planet’s oceans. It is a real win-win.” z THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

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Industry News

Scodix’s PolySense to make food packaging enhancement more accessible

S

codix has announced the release of PolySense 550, a new polymer for digital enhancement developed for the food packaging industry. Compatible with the entire Scodix Ultra portfolio, the polymer is already being used by Italian folding carton producer, Packly, to great effect. Guy Alon, VP of R&D at Scodix, says, “Scodix enhancements create great visual impact for the brands who use them, and food packaging is no exception. The new Scodix PolySense 550 polymer broadens the Scodix portfolio while presenting customers with the ability to further differentiate themselves from the competition – which is crucial on the packed supermarket shelves. The value of adding digital enhancements to food packaging with the assurance that the printing procedure is safe for consumers according to food packaging standards is a big step forward for Scodix Ultra users.”

Scodix PolySense 550 food packaging compliance refers to indirect contact for low migration. Scodix capitalized on its four years’ experience in manufacturing low migration Scodix PolySense for the Scodix E106 press – which works daily in the packaging industry. This development was validated by the world renowned SQTS Labs in Zurich Switzerland and was tested and approved according to Swiss Ordinance.

Giuseppe Prioriello, CEO and founder of Packly, says, “Scodix PolySense 550 augments existing Scodix applications with the ability to apply it to food-grade packaging. It is a Packly company priority to guarantee 100 percent safe packaging in the food sector, as well as the other sectors we operate in. We strongly believe that producers must be ahead of the game and provide safe packaging for short runs without waiting

for the customer to request the service. This is the reason why we are using this food compliant polymer.”

Prioriello adds, “We are already experiencing an increase in business as brands are personalizing their packaging while taking advantage of the shorter runs and faster lead times. With no set-up, no waste and the fast time-to-market, food packaging digital enhancement has just broadened the possibilities for the industry dramatically.”

Scodix applications that can use Scodix PolySense 550 include Scodix Sense, Scodix Foil, Scodix VDE, Scodix Cast&Cure and Scodix Glitter. Types of substrates applicable include offset, HP Indigo ElectroInk and Lamination. z

Digiflex brings Bellissima DMS to India market

P

repress company Hamillroad Software has appointed Digiflex, one of India’s leading flexographic plate-making companies, to take its Bellissima DMS screening to market. Digiflex is a leading flexographic platemaker based in Hyderabad, India.

Muralidhar Nalli, Digiflex CEO, said, “When we decide to invest in the latest technology and equipment, we research the market to offer something new that gives our customers and us a unique selling proposition. From day one, we developed a customer-focused culture within the business; we listen to the needs of the market and look to address the challenges with technology and people. The Indian market is rich in rotogravure printing for flexible packaging. Still, as brands and printers look to adopt more environmentally friendly and cost-effective approaches, flexographic printing is seen as the preferred printing application to address these concerns.

“We have seen many Bellissima print samples, from promotional to production pieces, and they are pho-

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Team Digiflex

tographic quality prints. We lead the India print market in redefining flexo plate and print quality – Bellissima gives our customers and us an economic and competitive advantage over rotogravure. We are very excited about the future by introducing this technology.”

Pierre Hammond, commercial Director at Hamillroad, said, “The team at Digifex are a good fit with Bellissima. They have a clear understanding of where technology meets the market’s needs and are very proactive in their approach. We expect them to be very successful in India.”

“Brand owners are looking for a no-compromise solution to replace gravure, and since its launch in 2017, Bellissima has replaced gravure production jobs globally. We’re also seeing users exploit Bellissima’s long-run capabilities in anger, with a 2.0 million linear meters wide web flexible packaging run completed on just one set of MacDermid LUX ITP 60 plates.

Our mission is to continue building on this and make Bellissima the cost effect Ultra-HD flexo print solution for all flexible packaging.” z

Industry News

Clariant appoints Conrad Keijzer as chief executive officer

C

lariant – a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company – has announced that Conrad Keijzer will become Clariant’s new Chief Executive Officer. The Board of Directors has appointed him in its meeting on 8 December 2020. Conrad Keijzer will officially join the company as of 1 January 2021.

Executive chairman ad interim Hariolf Kottmann will then return to his position as Chairman of the Board.

Conrad Keijzer is a Dutch citizen with a long and successful track record in the chemical industry, most notably his 24 years with the leading global paints and coatings manufacturer AkzoNobel. At AkzoNobel, he last held the position as CEO of the Performance Coatings Division and was a member of the Executive Committee. Most recently, Keijzer was CEO at Imerys, the French supplier of mineral-based specialty solutions.

“I am very happy to announce that, after an in-depth search process, Clariant’s Board of Directors has appointed Conrad Keijzer as the company’s new chief

executive officer. This decision is fully supported by the Board representatives of our two major shareholders SABIC and the Süd-Chemie legacy shareholders. Our Group will benefit greatly from both his international experience and his track record in the specialty chemicals industry. With his impressive accomplishments in managing large industrial and chemical businesses, his experience in working in different regions, his proven focus on customer needs and his passion for sustainability, Conrad Keijzer is an excellent choice to guide Clariant into a successful future,” said Hariolf Kottmann, Executive Chairman ad interim of Clariant.

“I consider it a privilege to become the CEO of Clariant, an iconic company whose values are closely aligned to mine. Together with the experienced members of the Executive Committee, I look forward to untapping the full potential of this great company and to leading Clariant in the next phase of its important transformation into a high-value specialty chemicals company,” said Keijzer, CEO-designate of Clariant. z

Clariant welcomes Conrad Keijzer as chief executive officer as of 1 January 2021. Photo: Clariant

Nestle adds head of strategic business

B

ernard Meunier has been tapped as the new head of strategic business units, marketing and sales, for Nestle SA, effective 1 March 2021. He will succeed Patrice Bula, who plans to retire in February 2021 after 40 years with the company.

A 35-year veteran of Nestle, Meunier was most recently head of Nestle Purina PetCare’s Europe, Middle East and North Africa businesses, a role he held for the past seven years. Before that, he held senior leadership positions in marketing, commercial and general management for the company, including serving as market head in Hungary, the Russia and Eurasia region and the Iberia region.

Additionally, David Rennie, head of the Nestle Coffee Brands group, has become a member of the company’s executive board, effective March 1, 2021. The decision

reflects the strategic nature of his role, Nestle said, as coffee is one of the company’s main growth pillars.

“On behalf of our board of directors and our executive board, I would like to thank Patrice for the tremendous job he has done over the course of 40 years at Nestle,” said Mark Schneider, chief executive officer of Nestle. “We are excited that, in Bernard, we have a successor who is a dynamic leader with the proven ability to grow businesses. We are equally delighted to welcome David Rennie to the group executive board.

With his strategic vision, ability to execute and stellar record of success in coffee, he will make a valuable contribution.” z Bernard Meunier

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Services

Events Calendar Dates Event Name

Place

26 to 28 November 2019

CPhI India (P’Mec)

Greater Noida, India

3 to 6 December 2019

Paperex

Delhi, India

6 to 8 December 2019

Print & Packtech

Bangalore, India

12 to 14 December 2019

Pacprocess Food Pex

Delhi, India

6 to 9 January 2020

Pamex 2020

Mumbai, India

16 to 20 January 2020

Plastivision 2020

Mumbai, India

28 Feb to 1 March 2020

PacProTech

Kathmandu

19 to 21 March 2020

Asia Packaging & Printing Industry Expo

Shenzhen, China

PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR THE UPDATED EVENTS CALENDAR

58

20 to 22 March 2020

PackPlus South 2020

Hyderabad, India

21 to 23 April 2020

Label & Flexible Packaging & Film Expo 2020

Shanghai, China

24 to 26 April 2020

Food Pack India Expo

Chennai, India

5 to 9 May 2020

Metpack 2020

Messe Essen, German

7 to 13 May 2020

interpack 2020

Dusseldorf, Germany

3 to 4 June 2020

Innopack Pharma Confex

Mumbai, India

16 to 26 June 2020

drupa 2020

Dusseldorf, Germany

19 to 22 June 2020

Plastasia 2020

Bangalore, India

6 to 9 August 2020

PackPlus Delhi

Delhi, India

17 to 19 September 2020

Pharma Pro&Pack 2020

Hyderabad, India

30 September to 2 October 2020

IndiaCorr Expo

Mumbai, India

8 to 10 October 2020

ProPak India

Delhi, India

25 to 27 November 2020

CPhI & P-MEC India

Greater Noida, India

29 October to 1 November 2020

Labelexpo India 2020

Greater Noida, India

29 October to 1 November 2020

Brand Print India 2020

Greater Noida, India

9 to 11 December 2020

pacprocess India

Mumbai, India

3 to 8 February 2021

Printpack India 2021

Greater Noida, India

4 to 8 February 2021

PlastIndia 2021

Delhi, India

THE PACKMAN | jan-feb 2021

www.thepack man.in

RNI UPENG/2018/76741 Editor Mahan Jyoti Hazarika editor@thepackman.in Cell: +91 9910189285 Senior Desk Editor Sunil Jain Senior Associate Editor Dev Kumar Dutta Associate Editors Pranay Mathur Manash Das Guest Editor Anwesh Koley Design and Production Biswajeet Chaliha Sales and Marketing Mahan Jyoti Hazarika Subscription Address E448, Gaur City 1, First Avenue, Greater Noida West, Gautam Buddha Nagar 201301, Uttar Pradesh, India Issue Published on 8 January 2021 Printed at JK Offset Graphics Pvt. Ltd. Printed, Published and Owned by Mahan Jyoti Hazarika, and Printed at JK offset Graphics Pvt. Ltd., B278 Okhla Phase I, New Delhi 110 020, India and Published From E448, Gaur City 1, First Avenue, Greater Noida West, Gautam Buddha Nagar 201301, Uttar Pradesh, India Editor: Mahan Jyoti Hazarika

Industry News

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Innovation

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