IPMMI, the organisers of PackMach Asia Expo, brought together industry experts and packaging professionals to discuss the challenges and benefits of standardising packaging practices. After a presentation by the IPMMI president Anthony D'souza, five prominent speakers shared their insights and experiences related to standardisation in packaging. D’souza focussed on the efforts made by IPMMI with its industry training, international conferences, hosted buyer-seller meetings, knowledge-sharing sessions, social media coverages, academic connect through long term courses etc.

After D'souza's presentation, Dr Ainain Shahidi, director of 4 Sixes packaging and marketing took over the reins and started his moderation of the panel discussion along with Ram Bhadouria (Unilever), Sachin Ghosalkar (Indoco Remedie), Amit Kale (Reliance Retail), Shailesh Laul, president, manufacturing Operations, IPCA Laboratories and Sanjib Sharma (Marico).

Ram Bhadouria highlighted the challenges faced by Unilever in managing a wide range of product variants and packaging options. He discussed the example of 400 shades of lipstick at their Haridwar facility and the presence of hundreds of Unilever factories across the planet and how it requires a team to set up a factory in a new territory. One of the most important things that emerged from  Bhadouria's intervention during the panel discussion on 26 May was about having a humane approach. Be it: building a factory or manufacturing. The theme of dignity and autonomy came to the fore. Unilever succeeded with his method in Assam. Bhadouria also talked about the "dilemma of packaging" for 10,000 SKUs where the shape is changing and utility is changing. He addressed the issue of how the packaging partners can help - and what more they should do.

Shailesh Laul focused on the significance of quality and production in packaging. He shared examples of standardising the neck of PET bottles, allowing for adjustable heights and reducing the inventory of PP caps. Also he discussed the importance of minimising wastage at the supplier's end. In this regard, he mentioned how CIPLA collaborated with the paperboard behemoth ITC PSPD for the creation of a CIpla board. Laul highlighted the positive impact of standardisation on inhaler sizes, resulting in 15-20% less wastage as compared to earlier norms. He emphasised the need to establish standards for blister packs to maximise savings and prevent tablet movement within the packaging.

Amit Kale focused on the importance of speed and accuracy in packaging operations. He shared his experience at Reliance about increasing production from 30,000 packets per day to 4.5 lakh SIM cards per day by reducing the tolerance level from 0.2 mm to achieve greater efficiency using a state-of-the-art machine. He spoke about Reliance's FMCG vertical, where the group is looking for innovative packaging machines, also innovation in sustainable packaging like paper punnets and replacement of EPS with corn-based cushioning material, weight reduction and replacement of rigid packaging with flexible stand up pouches with spout are few notable innovation

Sanjib Sharma addressed the challenges faced by e-commerce companies in transit packaging and the resulting customer complaints. He emphasised the need for approved standard packaging to ensure product safety and customer satisfaction. He stressed the importance of standardising bottle designs to streamline dispensing processes. Sharma highlighted the need for effective solutions to accommodate the erratic nature of e-commerce orders.

Later while interacting with industry leaders during the meet and greet session, three themes emanated. messages. How to encourage packaging innovation; how to provide a reward for innovation and differential pricing policy for products adopting those innovations; and finally to create an ecosystem enabling R&D support measures, incentives and industry-academia partnerships.

The 26 May event was organised by Messe Muenchen India and IPMMI organisers of PackMach Asia Expo which will be hosted at the Pragati Maidan in Delhi from 4 to 6 October 2023.

Besides his day job at TCPL, Vedant Bhalwatkar is the placement co-ordinator (2018-2022) batch at the printing and packaging technology department at SIES GST college