The 9th Speciality Film and Flexible Packaging Global Summit by ElitePlus Business Services was held on 5th, 6th September 2022 at Mumbai. The theme of this year’s Summit was “Flexible Packaging ~ moving to a Sustainable Reincarnation”. A large part of the Summit’s agenda was devoted to sustainability and included eminent Speakers and Leaders from across the World.
The Summit attracted over 1600 delegates representing 680 companies from 18 countries, making it the Largest Packaging Summit of the World.
Nidhi Verma, Founder and MD ElitePlus Business Services welcomed the delegates. The Keynote speakers included Peter Steinbeck, CEO & Managing Partner, Windmöller & Hölscher, Ashok Chaturvedi, CMD Uflex Group , Sudhir Sitapati, Managing Director and CEO, Godrej Consumer Products, Dr. R. S. Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF , (AMUL), Nilesh Shah, Group President & MD, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management.
Mr Steinbeck spoke on Sustainability – more than just a Circular Economy,
Sh Chaturvedi highlighted the Perfect Solution for Sustainability and Circular Economy for the Planet. Godrej CEO topic was The Growth Story of India:FMCG and Sustainability esp. packaging. Dr Sodhi spoke on Amul’s role in the growth of food industry in India and the path ahead. Nilesh Shah shared very positive outlook on The Indian Economic Landscape.Abheek Singhi, MD Boston Consulting Group, India gave an overview of the Emerging Global Trends and how Sustainable packaging influence consumer purchase behaviours. Himanshu Dodeja, MD Blackstone highlighted India’s Role of M&A in consolidation and evaluating takeover opportunities and risks in Flexible Packaging Industry.
Ajit Singh, Chairman, ACG , chaired the session having 3 Veterans sharing their outlook. Role of Private Equity in sparking growth explosion in Flexible Packaging Industry by R.Senguttuvan,Operating Partner, Premji Invest, Suresh Gupta on what companies need to do, to be successful in the Volatile times & Somnath Chatterjee, Head – Supply Chain, ITC, spoke on Growth in the FMCG sector and The impact on packaging
Oriented Films Session was Chaired by Global Plastics Sustainability Lead – Hindustan Unilever . Achieving Recyclability and Sustainability in a Circular Economy was addressed by Pankaj Poddar, Group CEO, Cosmo First . K Manohar, CEO, Max Speciality Films spoke on New gen cast films and barrier film developments .
Safety of Packaging Materials for Food Contact Application was addressed by Dr. T K Srinivasa Gopal, Chairperson -Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Converters perspective Session Chaired by V.K.Taparia, ED Supreme Industries had Prof. Dr. Achim Grefenstein, Global Head of R&D, Constantia Flexibles, Germany speak on Global Megatrends and the Impact on Packaging.
Global vs Indian Flexible Packaging Industry – A SWOT analysis was presented by Mohammed Nadeem, CEO, Paharpur 3P. K Bajaj, Jupitor Laminators speak on Aluminium foil .
The Summit had a Key Note and 2 panel discussions relevant to sustainability.
Surendra Patawari, Founder and Chairman, Gemini Corporation, Belgium gave Keynote Address on Recycling – an excellent arbitrage opportunity for the investor community
An overview on R-Cycle Europe was outlined by Bernd Reifenhäuser – Reifenhäuser Group, Germany with a panel by Esa-Matti Aalto – Olbrich Group, Germany& Richard Sandbrook – Bobst, UK
Second Panel Discussion on Ground Realities – Environment issues, EPR and Sustainability and PWM was Moderated by : Jeevaraj Pillai, Joint President – Uflex with panellists including Dr. Ashok Kumar Tyagi – Haldiram , Mani Vajipey – Banyan Nation, Dr. Vijay Habbu – ICT , Aditya Dalmia – Dalmia Polypro& Srikrishna Balachandran – Recykal.
Panel Discussion on Brand Owners Perspective was moderated by Willem Uijen, Executive Director – Supply Chain, Hindustan Unilever and had eminent panellists -Barun Banerjee – Nestle, Sanjay Gupta – Dharampal Satyapal Group, Paul E Prakash – Pidilite Industries & Kajal Debnath – DFM Foods.
Latest Trends in Machinery and trends and innovations in Technology were addressed by Giovanni Caprioglio, Sales Director Coating, Bobst, Italy, Francesco Peccetti, Sales Manager, Colines, Italy , Vladislav Smirnov & Benjamin Pott – Reifenhäuser,Dr. Holger Niemeier, Executive Vice President, Hosokawa Alpine, Germany.
Session on Advancements in Raw Material for Sustainable Packaging, chaired by Unmesh Nayak, Sr. Vice President – Polymers, Reliance Industries had speakers including Matt Loach, Global Marketing Manager – Polyethylene, ExxonMobil, USA, Dr. Apostolos Krallis, Vice President Innovation, Borouge, UAE, Rakhma Febriani, Product Application Development – APAC, LyondellBasell, Indonesia & Arne Jost, Senior Manager Circularity Henkel Adhesive Technologies, Germany
Business session on Printing was addressed by Jan Scharfenberg, Business Leader ,DuPont Electronics & Industrial, Germany, Pau Xifra, Chief Transformation Officer, Comexi, Spain, Anan Hiyasat, IMEA Region Manager, Uteco Converting S.p.A., Italy , Dr. Dipshikha Banerjee, Head of UV & EB laboratory, Flexible Packaging EMEA Siegwerk, Germany& Yash and Vasu Shrimanker, Directors, Pelican Rotoflex, India
Business Session on Printing& Slitting Solutions had speeches by
Biku Kohli, Managing Director, SP Ultraflex, Reinhard Priller, Sales Director, Brückner Maschinenbau Germany & Tobias Lanksweirt, Managing Director GOEBEL IMS, Germany
Bernhard Lang, MD , LANG LASER-System Germany and Fabrizio Imarisio, VP DEC Impianti, Italy shared increasing efficiency with ancillaries .
All major Associations and Media bodies extended their support to the summit and were prestigious partners. The major USP of the Summit was the high participation of the Brand Owners . The interactive Q and A with delegates of the speakers was very successful. The Gala Dinner was the key highlight where all industry members networked and met physically after a gap of almost 3 years.
The ElitePlus Packaging Summit has emerged as the Most Popular Summit not only in numbers but also in terms of content and value to the participants and partners.