VDP for authentication and personalization catch on

Condot Systems displayed VDP (variable data printing) with security printing at Printpack India and received a good response from industry visitors. “Many VDP clients are now interested in print and verification with security needs and specialized software integrations for authentication for personalization and consumer protection in a brand loyalty program, which astounded us,” said Jigish Chiniwala of Condot Systems.

The company’s main display concept was inkjet-based variable data printing with verification and authentication. “We want to convey the message that VDP printing without security is useless,” he added.

Customers can use Condot solutions at a resolution of 600 x 600 dpi on the Bobst folder gluer, on newspaper web offset presses running at speeds up to 350 meters a minute. The company offers print and verification at these high resolutions and speed and dpi which it claims no Indian and global company can do.

The company’s applications are attractive in situations and products where there are substantial losses or harm by counterfeiting. These include tax tickets, university question and answer booklets, certificates, other applications, and solutions for the packaging sector on labels and cartons.

“IT solutions, that is hardware and software are challenges for many companies as their readiness, or in-house infrastructure are in question. However, in the traditional marking and batch coding or VDP printing, there is no challenge. But when we talk about track and trace, serialization, and authentication, we still face challenges at different levels of awareness, budget, and the willingness to resolve the issue. Sometimes we feel we are ahead of the times for the local market. For security printing, we need to educate the personnel in many companies. We are proceeding surely, slowly, and gradually, we will be successful,” said Chiniwala.

Chinwala says, there is a technological shift, with many digital presses available and others trying to develop hybrid presses combining the traditional analog units with digital for short-run requirements. One sense is that personalization, authentication, and verification are key value adds for the Indian printing and packaging industry. “An upcoming trend is the short-run digital press and there will be a demand to find out and question spurious suppliers so digital security printing will be a new demand shortly,” he added.

The company faced supply chain issues during the Covid-19 pandemic, but these did not cause significant disruptions since it was a supplier for track and trace, and coding and marking in pharma. “The Indian market is growing very fast and very competitively. It is now providing volumes but needs to be more quality-centric, which is lacking,” concludes Chiniwala.

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.

The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.

Web analytics show that we now have readership in North America and Europe amongst the 90 countries where our five platforms reach. Our traffic which more than doubled in 2020, has at times gone up by another 50% in 2021. And advertising which had fallen to pieces in 2020 and 2021, has started its return since January 2022.

As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.

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