How mail delivers on sustainability

A white paper by By Sander Sondaal, Director Commercial Print Sales, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe says that mail can be a sustainable choice. And by taking every opportunity to reduce the impact it makes throughout its lifecycle; it can contribute to a circular economy while playing an effective role in the marketing mix. 

That is according to the Royal Mail’s Marketreach which commissioned new research by environmental experts WSP to create a full carbon Life Cycle Assessment of Mail. 

It details the environmental impact and carbon emissions for each stage of mail from the forest to end of life including processing, design, production, delivery, and recycling. It quantifies the carbon emissions of some of the most commonly used mail formats. 

Delivery of mail is also considered. This is something the Royal Mail is hoping to address with the use of micro electric vehicles and drones for more remote locations. 

Other European postal service providers are also making strong progress in meeting their 2030 targets. By then Swiss Post is planning to be completely carbon neutral and Austria Post, which has the the largest fleet of electric vehicles in Austria, hopes to achieve 100% CO2-free delivery. 

The assessment by WSP also suggested the following ways to further manage carbon emissions:

• Ensure paper is sourced from certified forests – Certified paper from a well-managed forest, where trees are felled and replanted, absorbs more carbon dioxide (CO2) than a mature forest. Forests represent a proven carbon capture and storage system.
  
  
• Explore format size options – Weight, size, pagination, and type of paper matters. Smaller, simpler formats involve less processing, packaging and reduce carbon footprint when it comes to delivery. Impact can be made with short runs and personalised print featuring bold and creative designs. This is something Ricoh’s sheetfed colour digital printing presses can deliver with cost effective customised and individualised print as well as vibrant colour and metallic finishes using fifth toner technology.
  
  
• Create accurate and engaging personalisation – Careful management of mailing lists reduces waste and gets results. Royal Mail figures show that 95% of mail is engaged with and 87% of recipients describe mail as believable. Maintaining accurate data is crucial to this and can be achieved with software such as /data.mill Data Cleansing Solution. It automatically interrogates and corrects data inaccuracies quickly and simply, aiding a smooth and effective process.
  
  
• Careful design choice – Maximise circularity by caonsidering recycling and reuse. Use good imposition software that helps maximise substrate use to avoid excess waste while also reducing costs. Options include the easy-to-use FusionPro VDP Solutions suite of tools for simple design and production of personalised communications. 

Encourage end users to change their approaches too by helping your clients to become aware of the advantages of circularity. 

Also important is working with partners on the journey towards circularity. Together operations can make small steps towards big changes. This is where Ricoh can partner with you to identify what steps are possible and how best to take them.

Attend the 3rd Annual Computer Software Assurance 2023 to strengthen your CSV and Relook at the CSA Approach

Having organised two successful virtual editions, Eminence Business Media has thrived in addressing the most critical and crucial challenge areas of the Pharma Industry. Obeying the request of the pharma fraternity and living by the motto, "Learning is a constant process", to address the building apprehension and calm the nerves of the pharma industry, we are back with an exciting in-person edition. Eminence Business Media proudly announces the 3rd Annual Computer Software Assurance 2023, Live and In-stereo.

Computer System Validation (CSV) was adopted as a new technology by the pharma industry when technological advancements deterred the quality of systems. It has significantly ensured software quality and demonstrated that computer systems work as intended during inspections and audits. On the other hand, Computer Software Assurance (CSA) is said to be a futuristic mindset based on risk-based critical thinking. The logic promotes simple computerised onboarding with a unique operational context. 

The 3rd Annual Computer Software Assurance 2023 aims to strengthen and empower these systems. The idea is to create a program that explores the various elemental components to strengthen the CSV gameplan, address the challenge areas to boost the existing system and look at the futuristic mindset of CSA by analysing the knowledge gaps and bursting the myths. 

From meeting experts to learning from the regulators themselves, the program is designed to cover different aspects, addressing new challenges, presenting solutions & learning tools that deliver theoretical hypotheses and encourage practical application-based activities. 

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING
1. Interact with your peers and regulators concerning current guidelines.
2. Case study & live example-based sessions followed by group exercises.
3. Understand the CSA approach and strengthen your CSV.
4. Break the industry myths concerning CSA.
5. Dedicated Q&A rounds followed by each session.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS
1. Benefit from the 6-month support of continuous learning.
2. Carefully designed interactive and creative sessions to enhance holistic learning.
3. Networking activities to engage with like-minded individuals and industry leaders.
4. Upskill yourself to reap the desired results and overcome the challenges. 

DEPARTMENTS THAT CAN ATTEND
1. IT Quality Teams
2. CSV Teams
3. IT Compliance Teams
4. Corporate Quality Assurance Teams
5. Quality Assurance Teams 

DESIGNATIONS THAT CAN ATTEND
1. Managing Directors
2. Presidents
3. Vice Presidents
4. AVPs/VPs
5. Sr. General Managers, General Managers, Assistant General Managers
6. Team Leads

For more details, log on to https://pharmacsa.com

Novachrome Digital Design & Imaging expands existing Color-Logic license at no cost

In 2013, Novachrome Digital Design and Imaging, in the St. Louis suburb of Brentwood, Missouri, purchased Color-Logic software and began producing exciting metallic images on their FujiFilm Acuity and Canon Arizona large format presses. Recently, Novachrome purchased the new FujiFilm Prime large format engine. To increase Novachrome productivity and to broaden their ability to utilize Color-Logic for enhancing point-of-purchase, signage, packaging prototypes, and short run labels with metallic embellishments for their brand customers, Novachrome immediately submitted test forms from the new FujiFilm Prime for Color-Logic certification. According to Richard Ainge, Color-Logic Chief Technology Officer and developer of the Color-Logic System, “The printed test form sheets supplied by Novachrome indicated that their new FujiFilm Prime produces all Color-Logic embellishments and metallic colors in proper fashion.”

Commenting further upon the Novachrome installation, Color-Logic Director of Sales and Marketing Mark Geeves commented: "Unlike most print software today, Color-Logic provides licensees with a lifetime site license that enables Color-Logic clients to utilize our metallic embellishments and metallic color system on any device we support. When printers like Novachrome acquire new equipment--as Novachrome did with their new FufiFilm Prime--they can continue to enjoy the benefits of Color-Logic metallics and embellishments at no additional cost." 

Color-Logic develops color communication systems and software tool sets for a variety of special effect printing applications.  Color-Logic provides brand owners, product managers, corporations, and their advertising agencies the ability to differentiate themselves and their clients with a simple print production process that yields dramatic results. Color-Logic decorative effects utilize the existing workflows of printers and designers, yielding dynamic results without the use of special equipment. Color-Logic supports the value of print and works with designers and printers to enhance their printed media. For more information, visit www.color-logic.com

Grand Success of the 6th Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2023: EBM does it yet again!

The 6th edition of the Pharma Project & Portfolio Management set very high benchmarks in the originality and creativity of the session and delivered an exciting program filled with learning and experiences. This three-day in-person conference was held at Fairfield by Marriott near the Mumbai International Airport from 26th to 28th April 2023. The program was designed uniquely by balancing the various discussion topics between the project and portfolio management teams. The conference started with the Keynote address from the Managing Director of Eminence Business Media, welcoming everyone and setting the expectations for the three-day unique learning program. The program's first session was taken by Mr Mike Teiler, Principal Consultant, Teiler Group, on Portfolio Strategy and Product Selection.

The session delivered the necessary implications for the project and portfolio management teams required to perform the auction session the next day. The first day of the conference mainly consisted of portfolio management topics where industry leaders like Dr Mukesh Kumar M.D., Mr Edward Coutinho, Dr Paras Vasanani and Mr Pradeep Patni covered issues related to Biosimilars, Pipeline Management and collaborative partnering process to manage the planning perspectives and uncertainties efficiently. The day also explored the nexus of IPR and Portfolio by discussing topics like competitive intelligence for portfolio designing led by Dr Mandar M Kodgule, Chairman and CEO of IQGEN-X Pharma. The day concluded with the delegates solving an exciting case study by Ms Tahseen Rana on the drug development process against the complication of the pandemic and timelines!

The second day of the conference had a different flavour attached to the day by introducing a theme to a conference day, Retro or Bollywood. The delegates dressed up in the styles of the 70s, 80s and 90s and flared their approach with Bollywood ideas. Filled with various group activities and eminent personalities as speakers, the retro theme was the cherry on the cake. The day majorly discussed crossover topics most creatively. Mr Sapan Parikh from Zydus Lifesciences led the issue of supply chain management and vendor selection with a skit performance on stage to showcase the different scenarios of department communications. Mr Nirav Shah followed the session with an exciting and much-required topic: Value leakage of life cycle products. The third session of the day was the much-awaited group activity of Auction, conducted by Mr Mike Teiler. The eight hypothetical companies in the room had to bid for the products on the platform, and the experience created was one-of-a-kind in the pharma world. The second half of the day discussed the various perspectives of the project management by discussing topics like a universe of the PMO by Mr Saifur Rahman and learning about the untapped potential of the Indian pharma industry by Mr Abhilash Soral from Indoco Remedies.

The third day of the conference purely discussed the Project Management topics, including setting up PMOs, discussing the relevant skills for handling biosimilars, emerging markets being the new pharma approach and looking at the old project management concepts from a new lens of evolving unique solutions. The sessions were conducted by Dr Laila Fatima, Mr Abhishek Mittal, Mr Debashis Sarkar and Mr Sivanandam Kesavan. The most refreshing session for Day 3 was conducted by Mr Sushil Barkur, who moderated a one-of-kind invigorating session on soft skills by conducting a session on Game Theory.

Eminence Business Media will soon be back with the dates for the 7th edition of the Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2024. Stay tuned on LinkedIn page and event website for more updates!

Cosmo First expands new businesses while temporary inventory corrections impact specialty sales

Cosmo First Limited today declared its financial results for the quarter ended Dec 2022. During the quarter, BOPP and BOPET industry faced excess supply caused due to bunching of new production lines and on the other hand demand disruptions in overseas markets. The contribution margin dropped below sustainable levels and impacted everyone in the industry. The Company mitigated the impact on the back of its strong presence in specialty films segment. The performance could have been better but for:

• One-time inventory loss in Raw materials and Finished Goods (both in India and subsidiaries)
• Planned maintenance of some of the production lines
• Restricted flow of orders for specialty films due to festive and holiday season in Europe and USA
• Larger funding of operating deficit in the rapidly growing Petcare vertical.

The BOPET line which was commissioned towards the end of last quarter continued to focus on perfecting recipes, processes, and quality parameters for various specialty and value-added films in line with the company’s entry strategy in polyester films. 

The company’s petcare vertical is rapidly expanding and clocked monthly run rate of Rs. 1 crore in sales revenue from its 11 experience centers in various locations and increasing online presence through its website and mobile app. 

The company’s financials remain strong with annualized ROCE and ROE at 20% and 25% respectively and net debt to EBITDA of less than one time. 

In December 2022, the company announced the Buyback of its shares from all the shareholders via the tender route with an outlay of Rs.108 crores. The offer period ended on 9th February 2023 and the shareholders should receive payment by 20th February 2023 as scheduled. 

Commenting on the company’s performance Mr. Pankaj Poddar, Group CEO, Cosmo First Ltd. said “the near-term outlook for BOPP and Polyester films is expected to be challenging though the company’s strong speciality films portfolio should deliver superior returns. Zigly is rapidly becoming well known among pet parents benefitting all pet lovers and the company’s shareholders. Specialty chemicals division should double its net revenues while actively focussing on new product launches.”

Founded in 1981, Cosmo First today has a presence across 100+ countries around the globe. Cosmo First is a global leader in specialty films and an emerging player in specialty chemicals (Masterbatches, Adhesive, Coating & Textile chemicals) along with digital-first Omni channel Pet care business under the brand name ‘Zigly’.

CII Awareness Session on Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Work (POSH)

The Government of India has enacted The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“Act”). The Act requires every employer with 10 or more employees to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (“IC”) that will deal with complaints regarding sexual harassment at the workplace.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) over the years has been committed towards Women Empowerment and works closely with industries to strengthen women’s role and participation in the economic sphere and community affairs. In the forum of empowering and strengthening women, our focus areas had always been, Gender equality at workplace; Prevention of sexual harassment at workplace and Women empowerment at the community level. Sexual Harassment at a workplace is considered violation of women right to equality, life and liberty. It creates an insecure and hostile work environment, which discourages women’s participation in work, thereby adversely affecting their social and economic empowerment and the goal of inclusive growth. 

Against this background, CII WUP is organizing Session on “Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Work (POSH)” from 1500 – 1700 hrs on 3rd March 2023 at Virtual platform (Cisco Webex). Please note that the POSH Training once a year is mandatory for every organisation to keep in accordance with the law. 

This workshop is aimed at enabling participants to develop greater understanding of behaviours that maybe considered inappropriate at the workplace in context of Sexual Harassment and the impact of such behaviours. It will also help develop deeper understanding at the leadership level about the responsibilities, impact, and risks for the organization, as a result of behaviour and complaints relating to Sexual Harassment at the workplace. Building skills and enabling the leadership team to carry out its duties as per laid down procedure and follow the law in its true spirit. 

The workshop will focus on following key area:

• The Scope and Applicability of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act 2013.
• What amounts to Sexual Harassment?
• The importance of constituting an Internal Committee and its powers and responsibilities.
• The redressal mechanism available under the Act.
• Compliances required under the Act.          

The Faculty, Ms Raddhika Singh is a lawyer with over 16 years of experience and is the Managing Partner at Aletheiaa Legal a law firm she founded in August 2014. She is an Intellectual property & commercial lawyer and startup advisor. Ms Singh has worked with tier 1 law firms of India - Remfry & Sagar, K&S Partners, Luthra & Luthra. She has conducted trainings and workshops for over 8000 participants on matters pertaining to Intellectual property rights, Information Technology laws and Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace and has advised over 350 start-ups on various legal compliances and policy requirements. She has done LLM in Intellectual Property Laws, Kings College London and University of London and LL.B from Delhi University.

NDigitec introduces benefits of Catena exposure technology to the Middle East

A new ThermoFlexX Catena-E 80 exposure unit from XSYS has allowed the UAE-headquartered company to elevate its plate-making capabilities to new heights. By integrating this innovative UV LED technology, NDigitec can now supply customers with higher-quality digital flexo plates and enjoy faster processing times than before, while reducing plate waste and energy consumption.

Namma Int’l Digitec FZ LLC – known as NDigitec – is a family-run business founded in 2005 in Dubai (UAE). As the industry leader in the MEA region in terms of production facilities, staff members, and square meter consumption, the prepress division of the company supplies a complete package of services – from file reparation to final processed flexo printing plate.

Employing a total of 125 staff across two branches in Dubai, a facility in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), and an office in Yerevan (Armenia), NDigitec also offers digital printing solutions, e-commerce, creative media production, and fabrication of exhibition equipment. Some 500 customers in 25 countries avail themselves of the company’s many high-end competencies, which also include Online competencies: the DUBAIPRINT.COM web-to-print platform with solutions for the widest variety of print applications, and FLEXOEASY.COM, an unprecedented digital platform that makes flexographic plate-making easy and allows customers to access high-quality Prepress and Premedia services from anywhere in the world.

Plate innovation leader with big ambitions

NDigitec Prepress is known as an innovation trailblazer, always seeking out the latest plate-making technologies to stay ahead of developments and to deliver leading solutions to its global brand owner customers. Some 55% of the annual 50,000 sqm plate output is supplied to the flexible packaging industry, another 25% goes to the corrugated segment, while the remaining 20% is divided between folding cartons and labels.

“We were the first prepress company in the region to bring in LED exposure technology for making flexo plates with the Flint Group nyloflex® NExT system back in 2016,” said Shahe Kavlakian, Executive Manager for Prepress at NDigitec and brother of the company’s CEO Vatche Kavlakian, who as a pioneer of integrated prepress and printing services, laid the roots for the business in the early 1990s.

“Now we are once again taking the lead as the first to install the XSYS ThermoFlexX Catena-E system; an investment we have made because we believe that this solution will best support us in responding to the many varied customer demands we are currently facing and to allow us to continue our global expansion.”

Improving quality and reducing waste

Providing high-performance LED exposure for precise image reproduction, the ThermoFlexX Catena-E 80 is an open system that can process plates in sizes up to 1270 x 2032mm (50 x 80”) and all thicknesses for any type of flexo printing. With a very high level of automation, the unit can also be combined with a ThermoFlexX imager and Catena washer, dryer, and light finisher units for a full end-to-end plate production line, an option that NDigitec is closely evaluating as part of its future strategy. While the Catena-E 80 has been installed in Dubai, there are more immediate plans to upgrade the company’s exposure hardware across the other sites.

“The effect of the new Catena unit has been very noticeable,” said Shahe Kavlakian, who explained more about the team’s criteria in evaluating the technology. “We are looking for standardization, durability, efficiency, and stability in plate production; these aspects are key to maintaining productivity and quality. Particularly in flexible packaging, consistent solid ink density with perfect highlights is a challenge, but with the Catena system and our own micro surface screening, we can deliver results that are much better than with other LED solutions.”

Among the other immediate benefits enjoyed in Dubai was a reduction in waste compared to the existing system. “The Catena-E is definitely helping to improve the sustainability of our plate-making operation because we can combine different jobs on the same plate. By our latest estimations, plate waste has gone down from around 26% to 16%, and we know that with the latest LEDs in the machine, energy consumption will also be less. So, from an environmental point of view, as well as in terms of costs, this is a great improvement.”

Quick and effective implementation

With any new technology, there is inevitably a learning curve, but the near plug’n’play nature of the Catena system meant that the unit was in full production at NDigitec within a week. Mr. Kavlakian praised the simplicity of the design and the user interface, and in particular, highlighted the ability to access the unit controls remotely.

“The Catena is very easy to operate with straightforward instructions and options, so training was pretty quick. It also comes with remote capabilities which means that calibration and regular maintenance checks can be done without having anyone coming on-site. This is of course a fantastic feature as we can avoid unwanted downtime because we don’t have to wait for an engineer to attend in person,” he said.

Supporting future growth

Looking to the future, NDigitec has major plans to take more of the global market share. To further this goal, it opened a new state-of-the-art 50,000 sqm factory in Dubai Production City in 2020. Another 3,000 sqm facility operates as an incubator for joint venture projects aimed at advancing innovation in flexo print production, complemented by more investment in best-in-class imaging, processing, and screening technologies.

“In addition to the immediate benefits we have already experienced, the ThermoFlexX Catena-E 80 exposure technology will give us a stable platform to build our future plate-making infrastructure, stay competitive, and support our ambitious growth strategy,” concluded Shahe Kavlakian.

Register Now to Visit Pamex 2023 Mumbai

PrintWeek is celebrating the power of women with The Women to Watch in 2023

 PrintWeek is celebrating the power of women with The Women to Watch in 2023. The Women to Watch Awards are for outstanding women who lead, inspire, and motivate greatness in the printing and packaging community. As part of PrintWeek’s commitment to promote the advancement of diversity, inclusion, and equality in the printing industry, these awards, in their first ever year, celebrate the achievements of India’s business leaders, change makers, trailblazers, and rising stars.

We invite the industry (that is, you) to help us recognise the women who, over the last 12 months, have shown outstanding leadership and fostered groundbreaking innovation in the printing, packaging, research, and development, as well as the future leaders of tomorrow. Women may nominate themselves or any women, team and businesses that have inspired them and made an impact in the community.

We look forward to celebrating the achievements and championing the advancement of Women in 2023.

6th Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2023 awaits you

Eminence Business Media is proud to announce the 6th Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2023 to the most demanding and accountability-driven teams of the Pharma Industry! The success of the previous 5 editions of Pharma Project & Portfolio Management tempts EBM to, once again, proudly announce the 6th Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2023. It is the perfect one-stop destination to learn everything from dealing with the day-to-day complexities to developing a futuristic vision within the industry.

True to its essence and intention, this year's program has been designed in the most creative sought-after method that collates and captures the most relevant and essential discussion areas to promote conversations based on provocative thinking. The sessions have been planned to cater to and solve the existing head challenges by addressing the current skill gap and lack of competitors' knowledge and analysing the pharma trends about IP and finance. 

The forum comprises expertise-based creative sessions, live-case studies, dedicated Q&A rounds, hands-on soft skill learnings, and peer-led networking. Top-level management and pharma experts from project and portfolio management teams will share their insights and present solutions and strategies that help individuals meet their organisational goals. Join us at the 6th Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2023 and witness the most intriguing and niche topic discussions with the most unique problem-solving perspectives. 

WHY ATTEND?
1. Be a part of the one-of-a-kind Pharma Auction and learn concepts with real-time competition.
2. Learn Technical and Soft Skills by the application of Game Theory.
3. Solve Live-case studies and form practical solutions and frameworks.
4. Discuss and resolve queries with the dedicated Q&A session after every session.
5. Benefit from the 6-month support of continuous learning.
6. Carefully designed interactive and creative sessions to enhance holistic learning.
7. Multiple Networking Sessions.
8. Rejuvenating activities to enhance the learning potential.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
President, Managing Directors, CXOs, Sr. VPs, VPs, GMs, Sr. Managers, Managers and Professionals from :
1. Portfolio Management Teams
2. Project Management Teams
3. IP Teams
4. Finance Teams
5. Supply Chain Management Teams
6. Academia

“For the past five editions we have thrived on our unique event format and content. In the last couple of years, we have adopted innovative ways of working learned from them and realized their benefits. At Eminence Business Media we believe learning should not stop. Hence after deliberating with the experts with immense experience in the industry, we bring to you the 6th Annual Pharma Project & Portfolio Management 2023 Mumbai where we are focusing on the challenges and opportunities thrown at the Project and the Portfolio teams in the new normal. In this edition dig deeper into the innovative technologies like AI & ML that can be leveraged to enhance our decision-making. Envisioning the future let us discuss how hybrid working will help us perform better on our projects. With innovations also comes challenges and risks so let's discuss the solutions together. On this open platform let us come together and use this opportunity to meet each other learn from the experiences of our peers and grow together,” concludes Ravnish Juneja of EBM.

For more details, log on to http://www.pharmaprojectandportfolio.com/