India Package Meet is the annual B2B event that traverses various cities and serves as a curtain raiser for the upcoming major event of its organiser- Print-Packaging.Com (P) Ltd. Having visited over 25 major cities and smaller towns in the country and also abroad over the last seven years, the event this time returned to the grassroots of the North that are seeing continuous industrial growth in the large clusters of Himachal and Uttrakhand. The meet took place at Haridwar on 15 April and Baddi on the 17 April 2009, reaching the core of the manufacturing industries and the major users of packaging in these industrial hubs. With 32 exhibitors & 225 visitors at Haridwar and 42 exhibitors & 350 visitors at Baddi, the successful show also set the tone for the main event PackPlus 2009, India’s largest packaging event scheduled from July 8-11 at New Delhi.

Moving From Macro to Micro
In 2006, the India Package Meet was held at Chandigarh, encompassing the industrial areas of Mohali, Chandigarh, Panckula, Patiala, Ambala, Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh, Pawanoo and Kala-Amb and other nearby places. The industrial belt of Baddi, attracting an investment of around Rs. 20,000 crore, has gradually come up as the largest pharma hub in Asia. Besides, several other industries including FMCG, food, personal care and electronics have turned into large consumers of packaging in the area. So, moving from macro to micro, the Grass Root Tour zoomed in the focus on Baddi for the year 2009 road show. While the focus was on the troika of clusters in Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh- the interest transcended to Parwanoo, Kala-Amb and other clusters in the vicinity.

Shifting its paradigm from spirituality to industrialisation and placing itself as a major industrial segment in the Northern India, Haridwar became the second choice of venue for the year 2009. The Haridwar road show, taking off from the 2007 edition of the event in Uttarakhand at Haridwar, Roorkee and Dehradun, attracted visitors from Sidcul, Dehradun, Rudrapur, Roorkee, Rishikesh, Muzafarnagar, Sahranpur and nearby places.

“These areas have become more important for us to net new visitors for PackPlus. This is because many large companies operating in the area have over the last few years decentralised the procurement and packaging development functions to the local units,” said Anil Arora on behalf of the organisers.

Continuing their association from the past, several regional associations at both the venues supported this year’s event too. Himachal Pradesh Corrugated Box Manufacturer Association (HPCBMA), Himachal Pradesh Drugs Manufacturers Association and Parwanoo Industries, Sidcul Industrial Association, Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Industry Association of Uttarakhand, Uttrakhand Industries Welfare Association, Haridwar Industrial Development Association, Roorkee Small Scale Industries Association, Bhagwanpur Industries Association, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association at Haridwar were actively involved in promoting the event among their members. The Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) went a step further adopting the event as its own. It pulled all stops in proactively promoting the event and as a co-organiser was also involved in the operations.

For Northstar Fastners, a BBNIA member company, exhibiting at Baddi was a profitable and learning experience. Commenting on the objectives of the event, Arun Rawat, General Secretary, BBNIA said, “Accepting the challenge of meeting international quality, such events can help emerging businesses and entrepreneurs know about the latest innovations going around.”

Programs & Presentations
The day long programme at The India Package Meet included a full day table top exhibition at both the venues, with exhibitors including the providers of machines, materials and services to end users, package converters and corrugated box makers. Some of the major players among the 50 companies that exhibited at one or both venues were Ajanta Packaging, Bericap India Pvt. Ltd., Century Machines, Great Eastern Impex Pvt. Ltd. Hindustan Tin Works Ltd, Schmersal India Pvt. Ltd., Skypack India Pvt. Ltd, Videojet Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd, Uflex Ltd, and Videojet Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd.

“It has been a total value- for- money event,” stated Vijay Pareek, Genius Flexo Machinery Pvt. Ltd, who participated at both the venues and was also a speaker at the conference. “The event gave us an opportunity to meet pharmaceutical and other companies from these industry hubs giving us a chance to explore the business opportunities in these regions.”

The India Package Meet, following its format, also included a half day conference that provided a peek at the latest developments in packaging with presentations from the best in the field from the country and also abroad. More importantly, it also served as a forum for buyer- supplier interaction with some prominent buyers from the area articulating their needs and concerns. ‘Speaking the same language- the key to a successful Packaging Buyer/ Supplier Partnership’ was the subject dealt with by Dr. Dilip Birdi, Akum Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, at Haridwar. “A successful buyer-supplier partnership can help in providing product security with specific packaging material, building brands and ensuring better quality,” he said, emphasising the major concerns of the pharmaceutical industry. Covering the same subject at Baddi, Debashish Mandal, Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd said, “With the increasing pace of globalisation and competition, harmonisation among the users, suppliers and manufacturers is very important. All the interrelated industries should be on a common platform to deliver desired result and sustain.”

Shivaji Chakraborty, Piramal Heath Care Ltd. gave a brief on the ‘Packaging requirements of Pharma Industry and expectations from suppliers’. Speaking on the current competitive environment, he observed, “Today the manufacturers expect vendors to meet extraordinary quality, production, customisation and timing requirements.” According to him, those meeting these requirements can emerge as profitable market leaders.

Giving an insight into ‘Safety in Package Converting & Machines for Food & Pharmaceuticals’, Samir Kanchan, Schmersal India Pvt. Ltd, said, “It is only with safety in system that the process reliability can be achieved, and this further leads to profitability.” Quality being a matter of concern, Vijay Pareek, Genius Flexo Machinery Pvt. Ltd, covered the topic, ‘Quality Assurance Systems for Packaging and Print’, and spoke about the importance of new norms and inspection systems.

Sharing his knowledge on the colour basics and management, Arnab Maiti, Kodak India Ltd, gave a presentation on ‘Colour Measurement & Standards for Package Printing.’ According to him, every device sees color differently as they work in different color spaces. “And so we need a colour management system,” he asserted. The interactive session with audience was also welcomed by Maiti as well as the other speakers. “We are here to share our experience and would be more than happy to see that the attendees find solution to their problems from it,” said Maiti.

The major concern of the pharmaceutical industry has been a safe and secure packaging of bottles. Expanding on this topic, Volker Spiesmacher, Bericap Holding GmbH, spoke on ‘Replacement of Aluminium ROPP Caps by Pilfer Proof caps for Pharma Bottles.’ Spiesmacher, who was on a visit to his company’s subsidiary in Pune and made substantial adjustments in his itinerary to make it to Baddi, said, “These new design of caps not only give an aesthetic look, but are also damage proof and easily portable.”

Cost reduction has been a priority for the companies in the competitive market. Giving an insight into ‘Adopting performance based specifications for better CFC's’, Harish Madan, Securipax Packaging Pvt. Ltd stated that adopting performance based specifications would lead to more optimised use of materials leading to cost reduction. Giving some practical examples of packaging through his interactive presentation, Ram Ratan Singhi, Strapping Solutions Private Ltd., talked about ‘Improving Efficiency through secondary packaging’.

Naveen Talwar, Skypack India Pvt. Ltd. gave an overview of ‘Tubes for Personal Care & Pharmaceutical Industries’, and Manuraj Kapoor, Bosch Ltd shared his inputs on ‘New Innovations in Flexible Packaging.’

“The conference gave us a platform to benefit from the knowledge and vision of experienced leaders from the packaging industry. It also helped us explore the areas of improvement,” said O.N. Vaishy, Galpha Laboratories Ltd., who attended the conference and also visited the Table Top exhibition at Baddi.

“The India Package Meet at Baddi and Haridwar got an overwhelming response and this encourages us to plan more of such promotional events in the coming years. The success of the road show gives you an idea of things to come for the main event - PackPlus 2009,” said Arora on behalf of the organisers.

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