The world’s struggling economy made events worldwide in 2009 a damp squib. It had little effect on India’s print industry and on Pamex 2010. And this year’s event is set to be no different.

If you have still not thought what to do after the Diwali festivities are over, listen up, because between 1-4 November something important is happening in New Delhi.

New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan will play host to around 190 exhibitors, big, medium and small, demonstrating the latest technology. The last Pamex saw 176 exhibitors share 10,000 sq/mtr of floor space. And this time there are more exhibitors, occupying bigger floor space of over 13,000 sq/mtr.

It is hoped that this year’s event will be better then the last one, where positive exhibitor feedback matched the visitor numbers. According to AIFMP, 84% of visitors were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality and number of visitors, which stood at 20,129. IP Wadhwa, director at Tafcon, the co-organiser of Pamex says the previous Pamex-exhibitor partnership was a win-win for both the parties. "About 71% pushed sales, 24% were able to locate foreign buyers while 5% forged joint venture. With printers looking for solutions that would boost their business growth, Pamex is a platform they can latch on to realise their goals. Hence we expect the business transaction to double during this year’s Pamex."

The recent success of Ipex South Asia, even though a niche show, has augured well for the print manufacturing and supplies industry. This feel-good factor will be seen to good effect at Pamex 2011. All the five halls are full, with most of the exhibitors of the last edition returning and new ones joining the bandwagon. The likes of TechNova, Heidelberg, Ricoh, Canon, Kodak, Xerox, HP, EskoArtwork and more showcasing machinery and solutions across pre-press, in-press, post-press, publishing and signage segments of print. While some will run live presentations on the hall floors, some will display working equipment.

All things digital will undoubtedly hold fort, but this years the show has broadened its horizons and sign-ups from across the print horizon. Short-run printing and finishing options will be key themes, as will business opportunities for printers.

Manoj Mehta, chairman of Pamex and a key member of the All India Federation of Master Printers, says Pamex will offer "generation-next technologies from worldwide solution providers".
He adds that Pamex is not just a window to the expanding printing industry in India but also offers a passage to the Asian markets that hold tremendous potential. "It’s an event where key decision-makers will be able to network in an ideal B2B platform that results in lucrative business. In other words, all the things to help printers improve their businesses, increase profitability and look for areas across growth."

Key tie-ups at Pamex
Early in 2011, giants, Ricoh Company (Ricoh) and Heidelberg announced a global strategic co-operation, and as a first step, both firms agreed to enter into a global distribution contract for Ricoh’s production printing product portfolio. Since then the companies have signed contracts to make markets in Europe and America to participate in the phased global co-operation. Will the Indian market be the next one? That’s the question that is making the rounds.

Likewise, there are two other tie-ups that came up early this year. The Kodak-Konica Minolta and KBA-RR Donnelley tie-ups. While not much is heard about the KBA-RR Donnelley tie-up, we understand that the Kodak-Konica Minolta tie-up in India will enable Kodak to sell KM’s flagship Bizhub Press C8000. "Konica Minolta’s strength lies in light production printers and the share in the market for high-volume digital printers is expected to grow as firms switch to a flexible technology from analogue offset printing," says Ramani Viswanathan, vice president for sales, digital print, EPS business at Kodak India. Konica Minolta’s other partners in India – HCL Infosystems, KMI Business Technologies and Monotech will continue to represent the company.

During PrintPack India early this year, following Canon’s Oce buy, Canon India  announced the launch of a staggering 53 product lines as part of their combined portfolio in the digital and wide-format segments. It will continue to showcase them at Pamex.

Finishing options
As has been the trend, Indian as well as international finishing suppliers are joining the Pamex 2011 line-up. Welbound, Pramod Engineering, Paper Idea, Printools, Fortec, Megabound, Proteck, Indo-European Machinery and Suba Solutions have confirmed their attendance.

P Sajith, director for marketing at Welbound Worldwide, which will display its unique solutions for adhesive binding (hotmelts, water-based and PUR) as well as saddle-stitching, says, his company’s reason for participating this time around is two-fold. "One is to put across the message that finishing equipment can win business for printers by improving their overall production and productivity, and the other is to make this a platform to meet delegates for the first National Book Printing Conference." PrintWeek India is the knowledge partner of the first-ever National Book Printing Conference to be held from 16-18 November, 2011 in Trivandrum.

While finishing in the book and commercial segment is well represented, there are only two major players in packaging finishing. They are Bobst and the start-up first timer at Pamex, Galaxy Propack. "It’s exciting time for the sector. We have a lot of our customers in the north and we have to be there," said Venugopal Menon, vice-president, business unit sheetfed, Indian sub-continent at Bobst.

Digital workflow and colour management
Though Vishnu Kamat of AGS says that there’s no special plans for Pamex, AGS will be showcasing colour management solutions from X-Rite and InkZone. The main focus as usual will be on the package solution of  X-Rite EasyTrax and the InkZone presets and closed loop solution. The appeal of X-Rite EasyTrax, which can cost well under Rs six-lakh, is understandable because Kamat has achieved his original aims for the products. "The reason for keeping it low-priced is to find a way for printers to use it and achieve what they want to without it being cost prohibitive," says Kamat.
EskoArtwork will showcase, among others its latest upgrade of Esko Suite 10, the PackEdge 10.

Traditional software packaging is often based on a folding carton shelve box, but EskoArtwork’s PackEdge 10 provides solutions to all kinds of packaging that can be different and innovative, says HS Arun, senior solutions expert South Asia at EskoArtwork. This steroid-bound Packaging Editor on Windows platform is used by companies like Shilp Gravure, Universal Print Systems, Vakils Pre-media, Comart, Parksons Packaging, TCPL Packaging, Utility Printers, ITC, Pragati, EIH Press, Reynders India, Veepee Graphics, Numex Blocks and ColorDot to name a few.

Arun says: "The PackEdge suite 10 is a benchmark software for packaging printing, created with value added features to significantly reduce the errors in pre-press activity and delivers higher precisions." He adds: "We’re looking at how we can help make printers more profitable and successful."

Presses at the show
Heidelberg India, Komori including its representative Insight Print Communication and Printools, Ryobi through its Indian representative Indo-European Machinery and SL Kulkarni Cyril Graphic with Goss will also showcase their presses. Heidelberg India will exhibit the entire commercial workflow on the floor. Among the Indian manufacturer, Autoprint will have on show its popular small offset Dion 450 four-colour press, which has an installation base of 60, of which 40 have been installed in India.

And there are screen print manufacturers like Grafica Flextronica, Kunal Enterprises with Sakurai screen print presses, UV Graphic Technologies among others.

TechNova, which has been participating since the first Pamex in 1981, will showcase its green range of solutions for the printing industry.

With so many options to look for, will Pamex be able to pull visitors?  Ravi Phulsundar of Mumbai-based Yogi Print and Karan Mohta of Kiran Business Forms Print in Navi Mumbai have made plans to visit Pamex. Mohta has been to the show before and this VDP print firm is keen to see new technologies which improve productivity, finishing kit in particular. Mohta says: "It’s a show that has been around for some time and it’s good. And it’s just big enough to get around in about two days, enough to see and talk to lot of people on the stands."

So from all account, Pamex 2011 is set to be a useful outing for any printer who has a plan to invest or to improve their business.