"The two-day conference without any product-sell saw a series of technical presentations and demonstrations, panel discussions, which followed the keynote address by Professor Werner Rebsamen. This culminated with the launch of a White Paper (Making India the largest book print exporter of 2017) by India’s biggest book print and publishing CEOs.

The mini-exhibition of machines and the technical demonstrations that there was no hidden agenda other than the uplifting of the book printing industry.

Professor Rebsaman in his keynote address touched upon the conventional book manufacture, trends in digital print, ebooks, textbooks, international competition and opportunities for India.

Thereafter in two panel discussions, top print CEOs from Manipal Technologies, Multivista Global, Repro India and Thomson Press enlightened the participants about the opportunities and challenges in the world book print market. The PrintWeek India, editor Ramu Ramnathan chaired the panel discussion and Sadashiv Nayak, CEO of Big Bazaar was the respondent. The success stories of the leading print firms inspired the small and medium size who attended the conference.

The machine manufacturer's panel discussion was moderated by Faheem Agbotwala. It touched upon aspects of PUR v/s section sewing and material handling in the post-press department.

The organisers, Welbound and Henkel had arranged workshops on ‘How to meet expectations of European Publishers’ for the benefit of new entrants to the export market. The talk by Dr Michael Euler demystified the systems followed in European market. Many workshops were arranged in parallel sessions viz; which included: Anil Krishna, Henkel India (How to reduce your costs of book production elimination of rejections, savings in operational costs); Peter Gyger, Robatech AG (PUR – the preferred technology in Europe); Ajay Bhatia, Kodak (digital printing, Print on Demand); Sven Schubert of Baumann, Wohlenberg Group (paper handling systems – How to increase efficiency, reduce costs and have happy employees).

On day two, the managing director of Hatchette India, Thomas Abraham presented key trends in Indian publishing. His presentation took the conference to a different height and created hopes for good prospects and confidence in the hearts of the participants.

The panel discussion of leading Indian publishers like Cinnamon Teal, Hatchette India and Pearson Group, in the opinion of print CEOs was one-sided. The publishers projected their expectations from the printers. 24x7 services, checking files and report correction, QSS to be maintained by the printers, adhering to scheduled delivery dates (as prescribed by the publishers). Print CEOs the expectations were unreasonable because at times, there were all sorts of delay caused by publishers and authors.

The conference was a great success. The icing on the cake was Pramod Khera of Repro India outlining the blue-print of India: Vision 2017 with books for the world, made in India. Almost everyone felt it was an interesting concept.

We sincerely appreciate the efforts and the initiative taken by Welbound Worldwide, PrintWeek India and Henkel India, in organising this conference free of cost. On behalf of the print industry we extend a big thank you to them and assure any support for organising such conferences in future (preferably, a paid conference)."