Focus on creativity, sustainability, innovation at LMAI meet

The stage is set for the LMAI Conference 2023 scheduled for 20 – 23 July 2023 at The Leela Palace, Jaipur. Organized by the Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI), a central body promoting label manufacturers and their suppliers across India, the event is taking place after a hiatus of four years – aiming to get bigger and better. The focus areas this year are sustainability and innovation among others. “With the support of our members and partners, we have come out of the challenges of the past few years stronger than ever before. We have come out more united, to change the way our industry does business and evolve with the new dynamic scenario,” said a press release from LMAI. Weldon Celloplast, Kwality Labels, Newgen Printonics, Flexo Image Graphics, Alliance Printech, Gallus, Heidelberg, Vetaphone, Omet, and Brotech are among the label machine manufacturers that will attend the 2023 conference. Aryaman Julka, sales engineer of Alliance Printech, said, “Conferences like these are rather important since the packaging industry is growing at a great pace. The label manufacturers also need to touch base with each other from time to time and this conference facilitates that. This is a great networking opportunity for a second-generation provider such as me to know what new technologies and/or setbacks we need to work on.” Creativity, sustainability, and innovation This year’s theme is the gold standard that the labeling industry seeks to adopt to deliver results in the new-age scenario. To bring innovations in various processes, applications, and materials so that the industry can deliver solutions that are not only creative and out of the box but also solutions that are sustainable for the environment and make optimum use of resources. “We last met pre-Covid and during that time, the consumer behavior was predictable,” said Pawandeep Sahni, managing director of Omet. “This conference is happening at a crucial time when the packaging industry needs a revamp as consumer behavior has grown unpredictable. First of all, there are four things to consider that influence a business ecosystem — earth, government, consumer, and brand. Our discussions will be about these factors and how they will affect the packaging industry.” Packaging South Asia — resilient, growing and impactful — daily, monthly — always responsive The multi-channel B2B in print and digital 17-year-old platform matches the industry’s growth trajectory. The Indian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Middle East packaging industries are looking beyond the resilience of the past three years. They are resuming capacity expansion and diversification, with high technology and automation in new plants and projects. As we present our 2024 publishing plan, India’s real GDP growth for the financial year ending 31 March 2024 will exceed 6%. The packaging industry growth will match the GDP growth in volume terms and surpass it by at least 3% in terms of nominal growth allowing for price inflation in energy, raw materials, consumables, and capital equipment. The capacity for flexible film manufacturing in India increased by 45% over the past four years. With orders in place, we expect another 20% capacity addition in 2024 and 2025. Capacities in monocartons, corrugation, aseptic liquid packaging, and labels are grown similarly. As the consumption story returns over the next six months, we expect demand to return and exceed the growth trajectory of previous years. The numbers are positive for most of the economies in the region – and as shown by our analytics, our platform increasingly reaches and influences these. For responsible and sustainable packaging, with its attendant regulations and compliances, there is significant headroom to grow in India and the region. Our coverage includes the entire packaging supply chain – from concept to shelf and to waste collection, sorting, and recycling. We target brand owners, product managers, raw material suppliers, packaging designers and converters, and recyclers. This is a large and complex canvas – the only thing that can work is your agile thinking and innovation together with our continuous learning and persistence. The coming year looks to be an up year in this region, and this is the right time to plan your participation and marketing communication – in our rich and highly targeted business platform with human resources on the ground. Share your thoughts and plans to inspire and mobilize our editorial and advertising teams!