This is a very busy time for the packaging industry, with several events in the country, Europe and Asia overlapping the upcoming holiday season. Nevertheless, with a very interesting agenda including some tough topics, I believe that our interactive discussions will have real take-home value.
Our one-day conference in Mumbai this year looks at the transformative possibilities of examining and improving the industry’s profitability in times of intense cost pressure on raw materials, overall inflation, and low margins. While on the one hand, there seems to be high demand growth, as an industry expert said this past week, extreme competition is leading to demand destruction.
While we will be discussing efficiency and innovation, ethical growth and scaling can only come from healthy bottom lines and profit. The theme of the conference is Packaging for Profit and the triple bottom line of profit, people, and planet.
Can we strengthen these by examining the supply chain, reducing bottlenecks and constraints with automation, data, AI, and innovation? Can we reduce the erosion of brand owners’ profits by improving packaging and brand protection that they will acknowledge and value?
Can innovation and practical steps streamline and align the processes of brand owners, material suppliers, packaging converters, copackers, and retailers? Can we monetize the improvements in efficiency?
While brands have generally seen packaging as something that supported their business, it is time to recognize it as a key element that determines the brand’s commercial success. This shift in thinking is already changing conversations in boardrooms, just as much as it is among product managers, design studios, and packaging innovators.
The choice of materials, recyclability, processes, and circularity now influence far more than price performance. They affect brand security, extended producer responsibility fees, supply-chain resilience, access to recycled materials, regulatory exposure, and ultimately long-term competitiveness. The brands and packaging material suppliers that recognize these multiple parameters earliest will be best positioned to implement and succeed.
Confirmed panelists and speakers from leading brands include Amit Kale, Reliance Consumer Products, Ayan Chattopadhyay, Nestle India, Sanjay Ghoshal, Diageo India, Sandeep Kumar Ghosh, Healthkart, Swarn Singh Grover, Mars Snacking, Nidhi Basundhara, Jyoti Labs, Dr Amarnath Sugumaran of Cipla, Sharad Chandak of Glenmark, Bhupesh Kumar Mittal of Bayer, Naveen Stuart of Marico and Aakriti Goswami of Zomato. Several more brands are expected to join in the coming days.
The Chief Guest is Shri Dnyaneshwar B Patil IAS, the Director of the Indian Institute of Packaging. The industry speakers and panelists include Ramaiah Muthusubramanian, Packfora, Dr Keshav Kumar, forensic and anti-counterfeiting expert, Bhushan Yengade, Binder Technology Consultancy, Barun Banerjee, Monofix Solutions, K Ravi, Raas Intellisolutions, Pranav Bhalara, Balaji Multiflex, Vinay Nalawade, Parakh Flexipack, Ankit Jain, Ribotl Solutions, and Santanu Chowdhury, Core Group Industries, Ajay Dhondarikar, Luk Plastcon, Shekhar Ambedkar, IIP, Vinay Agrawal of Creative Technoplast, and Manish Desai of Mudrika Labels.
The interactive PSA Conference sessions will examine the new role of packaging in the changing context of consumers, including Gen Z and Gen Alpha, as well as the role of startups and eCommerce. It will present packaging experiences, choices, and case studies of brands and packaging suppliers collaborating to unlock technology-led innovation and value, the rising use of AI in supply chain functions, customer engagement, and data analysis in production processes.
We plan to discuss sustainability in the context of viable investments to save energy, raw materials, and chemicals in ecosystems where excellence in quality and efficiency go hand in hand with profitability. Can investments in automation and innovation yield quantifiable results that add to the bottom line?
We are receiving excellent participation from industry leaders in Western India and the Mumbai region, and expect the momentum to build in the final week. Brand owners have praised the agenda as forward-looking. We want more participants from brands and packaging suppliers ready to share challenges, experiences, and ideas for the development and supply of new products and packaging. Join us for these interesting conversations with take-home value, in Mumbai on 9 October at the Novotel in Mumbai.
Register now: https://thepackagingsouthasia.ippstar.org/
Industry support for the conference has grown from both sponsors and participants. We have added Avery Dennison, the Parakh Group, which includes Parakh Foods and Parakh Flexipack, Markem-Imaje, and Monarch Graphics to the list of earlier sponsors that included VK Global Digital, Rajoo Engineers, Bajaj Polymin, Mudrika Labels, and our knowledge partner Packfora. Associations supporting the event include IIP, ASPA, The BMPA, CIPR&TTF, and the FPITA.
