The Association of Label Printers & Suppliers (ALPS) organized a seminar called “Going Digital – When & How” on November 24 at India Habitat Center in Delhi. The main goal of the seminar was for Indian label industry professional to engage in an open discussion on digital printing and finishing technology, and discuss the topic of moving towards digital printing. The event was co-sponsored by HP, VINSAK & the FIG group and was attended by what ALPS says was a record turnout of printers, converters and media dignitaries from the Delhi/NCR region.

The seminar opened with a speech from Guru Raj Ballarwad, president of ALPS, who gave a warm welcome to all the visitors and shared his views on how ALPS will support the entire printing industry by starting trade publications and organizing seminars, exhibitions and conferences. The event was moderated by Ashish Gupta, managing director of Rational Business Corporation, New Delhi.

Gaurav Roy of FIG Group gave a presentation on how printers can enter the digital printing arena and tackle the entry barriers. He discussed various benefits of digital and inkjet technology. Roy also discussed how an Indian converter can become successful in digital using affordable digital and hybrid technology from Mark Andy.

Shamim Alam of Hewlett Packard (HP) gave a presentation on how printers can create unique labels with digital printing at optimized costing. He has also shared how major global brands such as Coca-Cola oand Oreo are using digital printing technology for personalization.

Ranesh Bajaj of VINSAK India Pvt. Ltd gave a presentation on short-run inline converting and embellishment. He shared his opinions on how to optimize digital finishing costs and save on turnaround time on short to medium run jobs. He emphasized the benefits of variable data personalization on lottery tickets and scratch cards, saying going digital could mean starting as small as adding a variable data printing head to an existing flexo press or finishing line.

The presentations were followed by an open and animated panel discussion where leading Indian converters Sanjiv Sondi of Zircon, Harish Gupta of Sai Com Codes, S Prabhakar of Ikon Labels, and Girender Kumar of Shree ram Vertitech, all presented their thoughts on the barriers to entry as well as the high cost of industrial digital printing equipment. Panelists also noted the reluctance of the brand owners to pay the premium for digital. Vendors tried to offer solutions and advice on these topics, but a key thread to come out of the discussion was that unless both the converters as well as the equipment suppliers joined forces and worked towards educating brand owners and the packaging development teams of key brands, digital will continue to be a hard sell.