AIFMP Webcouncil

AIFMP Webcouncil – Connecting Printers Pan India

Export Promotion Committee conducts webinar – Export Promotion Web Council: Advantage India.

The Export Promotion Committee of All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) organized a Webcouncil on 09 May 2020 - 04.00 PM to 05.30 PM (IST) via virtual online meeting platform.

The webcouncil began with the President address. Mr Dibyajyoti Kalita, President, AIFMP, said that in this Lockdown period the entire world is disturbed. This is a crucial and unpredictable time.

During this period, it is a Historic Moment for AIFMP in organizing this connecting the Printers pan India for the first time by online mode. It is well-known that Printers are by nature not always adopting digital technology. But India is in a key position to take a lead in world economy due to decentralization.

And the Supply chain has to be relooked. This online technology is helping us to connect with printers big and small without having to travel, and the organizers have identified notable speakers for the webinar.

The president welcomed each speaker and ended his address.

Mr.Manoj Mehta, Chairman, Export Promotion, AIFMP, gave a brief about the purpose of the webinar. He narrated a story of how a farmer keeps ploughing in his field regularly even though there was no rain for a long period, but anticipating the hay days ahead, even if it is uncertain. In the same way, Mr.Mehta insisted that printers keep themselves on their toes during the lockdown so that post-lockdown, unprecedented tasks can focused upon. He added that our Prime Minister has recently made an offering of double the space Taxation. This can be considered a golden chance.

The moderator on the event, Dr.TKS Lakshmi Priya introduced the speakers one by one and speakers took over.

Speaker 1: Mr Mahesh Bhupathi, Retired Tennis Player on Leadership

Padma Shri Mahesh Bhupathi recalled

his tennis days and the Grand Slam Titles that he won along with his team mates. He emphasized on the importance of sharing the strengths of team members.

Comparing his days of tennis, the doubles and mixed-doubles, the importance of backhand-forehand combination and his experience in establishing India’s first ‘Beauty Platform for Celebrities’, he noted that, ‘Leaders ship is more about sharing strengths’ and complement each other.

The business environment had more challenges in terms of a empowerment of team, making them feel part of the team and crisis management. It’s about taking responsibility, doing things and being open to learning from mistakes. More importantly we need to understand that there is no perfect person in this world.

He also made a remark on the difficulty in establishing and running a business in India. Though quite some efforts are made, he feels that, we are still a long way to go in terms of hassles in licensing, permissions etc.

When asked about his tennis academy, he noted that the purpose was to give back with gratitude. The core idea is to expose

youngsters on ‘How to Win?’, How to deal with adversity? And more importantly ‘How to lose?”. He also remembered his childhood days, as a drop out in 6th grade and how travel and sport help him understand life.

Speaker 2: Mr.Ajit Shah, Faculty and Consultant for International Business, on “How we can achieve ‘Advantage India’?”

Mr.Ajit Shah envisions a shift in nature of demand from printing to packaging. On a similar note, supply would require significant improvisation in courier and e-commerce. Food packaging and delivery is one significant sector to watch out for.

In his views, ‘Advantage India’ is a possibility. New opportunities will emerge. The realization of these opportunities would require improvement in quality of products, quality of delivery; on-time every-time and augmented by government reforms in finance and banking.

Mr.Ajit Shah also pointed out the global trend in printing industry. 80% percent of market share in printing is held by china. The Covid effect sees Japanese industries withdrawing out of china. ‘Back to home country’ effect and also shift in base to other business

friendly countries like Philippines Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Srilanka. The changing competitive landscape.

He also went to remark, “We are not a poor country. We are a poorly managed country”. Advantage India can happen as we improve of skills to meet the new global dynamics aided by government reforms.

Mr.Ajit Shah, drawing from the successful model of automotive industry in India, proposes a model where a few large companies can be the face of the printing industry, supported by clusters of small and micro enterprises.

“Social security should be the responsibility of government and not the business”. This he feels would be a great accelerator for growth of Indian industry.

Speaker 3: Mr.Satish Malhotra, PP, Chairman Government Relations, AIFMP

Managing Partner of Swan Press on “How Government will support print exports post Covid-19?” Mr.Satish Malhotra gave an outline of the efforts made by our government in these challenging times of Covid. Interest subvention to neutralize high interest rates, MEIS for export licenses, SEIS, Duty exemption and remission, Advance Authorization, EHIA, EPCG, PEE and other industry specific schemes that are under consideration. Embassies trying to become enablers for business is a significant shift that is envisaged.

‘We need to become a worthy and sustainable producer’. The way forward for the industry to realize this would be job standardization, specialization in a niche area and quality of delivery.

Issues of compliance, bureaucratic hassles, easing of labor laws are the concerns that government should address. The golden rule would be to “Export our goods and not our taxes”.

My Satish Malhotra also emphasized the importance of stable currency rate to mitigate losses due to market fluctuations. Speaker 4: Mr.R Suresh, PP AIFMP, CEO S.T.Reddiar & Sons, Cochin Mr. R Suresh on “Exports to all Asian Countries post Covid-19”

Markzware off ers customers free IDMarkz access amid coronavirus!

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IDMarkz is a stand-alone macOS application that will help those customers who have years of work locked away in Adobe InDesign files, to move those documents to preferred editing applications.

Mr. Suresh sees a huge opportunity for exports from India. We have around 200,000 small and medium industries in printing industry.

His optimism comes from the possibility of Joint ventures with Asian countries, embassies becoming business enablers and the large population of our country.

Mr. Suresh, though optimistic, pointed out that the most critical deterrent to our success is our easy going attitude and lack of discipline.

He also emphasized the need for constituting an APEX body to facilitate the progress of printing industry - with focus on skill development, shift to packaging, cluster management and liaise with embassies and global forums.

Interested persons can download the IDMarkz installer and with provided activation details may be allowed to access a fully functional IDMarkz, through May 31, 2020. System requirements include macOS 10.12 or higher, 4GB of RAM, 1024×768 display, and an internet connection.

In addition, Markzware offered a 20% off its products through May 31, 2020, by using provided discount code.

IPIA and BAPC Government meeting gives cause for confidence

The United Kingdom’s Printing industry associations – IPIA and BAPC met with the Government Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on April 15th. Among other key representations the trade associations made on the print industry’s behalf was the critical need for a recovery glide path to be implemented for initiatives such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

BEIS confirmed that the Government was consulting in-depth on a series of strategies to ensure that industries such as print, which have been severely impacted by Covid-19, did not go over a cliff edge as restrictions are lifted. Specifically, that a graduated approach to the withdrawal of Covid-19 business support mechanisms was being explored.

“Our meeting with BEIS was very productive and inspired a tremendous amount of confidence about the Government’s plans to support industries such as ours when we move into the post Covid-19 recovery phase,” says Graeme Smith, IPIA Chairman.

He adds: “They also recognised that the print industry is a decisive barometer for the economic health of every other sector of our economy and is intrinsically linked with each of the UK’s major industrial bases.”

Protecting UK print Recommendations were also made to BEIS on the expansion of business support packages to include: • A time-limited and Government-backed book debt loan scheme • Suspension for twelve months of autoenrolment pension fees for employers • A total suspension of VAT on print and merchandising material for two-years following the lifting of restrictions • A substantial increase in capital equipment allowances

Graeme adds: “We presented the findings of our Covid-19 Business Impact Survey to BEIS, in addition to the initial feedback from our new Finance and Recovery Survey, to provide them with intelligence as to the farreaching economic damage being caused by this crisis.

“Among the recommendations we made based on this research was the need for a glide path for the eventual withdrawal of Government Business Support schemes.

“Another key recommendation is that the Job Retention Scheme needs further flexibility built into it for when restrictions are lifted, and demand starts to flow back into the system.”

Graeme continues: “Specifically, that a staff member’s designated furlough period could be split up over the course of the scheme, instead of having to be taken in one continuous block. Or at least that the minimum furlough period that has to be taken consecutively be reduced to two weeks.”

Help where it’s needed The representatives from the IPIA and BAPC also provided feedback from the print industry on the poor provision of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and how it could be adapted to provide greater financial confidence and support to sectors such as ours.

BEIS provided very constructive assurances that the issues being experienced with the CBILS provision were a top priority for Government and that over the next two weeks it expects a significant improvement in the take-up of, and access to, the scheme.

A strong case was also made to BEIS about the inclusion of print businesses in the £25,000 Grant Scheme for hospitality, retail and leisure where they can prove they have significant exposure to these sectors. BEIS explained they have been making representations to the Treasury on this specific issue on behalf of several industries with a similar level of exposure. It requested that information and case-studies continue to be provided to them to aid these discussions. Graeme concludes: “We are very heartened by the meeting we have had with BEIS. They clearly understand in detail the significant and very specific challenges facing the UK print industry. They are working very hard to help evolve the package of support measures in place to prevent businesses going into administration and making redundancies if at all possible.

“They have requested that we continue to feed them information on how the range of business support packages are being received on the ground, once they become available, and how our sector is responding to them in practice. We will redouble our efforts in this regard and ensure we are doing our utmost to represent and support the UK print industry.”

The Sourcing Bridge The IPIA and the BAPC have also been working together to help the industry come through the current Covid-19 pandemic by founding creative solutions to help businesses share their resources and strengths. It is recognised that businesses are looking at how they manage the need to reduce costs as work decreases, while supporting staff and customers in a safe and sensible way.

Many are mothballing their entire production and pushing work out to trade suppliers, while others are closing departments or reducing numbers in each department to ensure they survive.

Both Associations have been approached by many members who are looking at sourcing suitable trade suppliers or partners to help them through this crisis.

To this end they have launched a free service called The Sourcing Bridge. The Sourcing Bridge team will discuss specific needs, post the request on a shared IPIA and BAPC Member portal and advise appropriate members regarding available opportunity and connecting them.

All requests will be kept discreet and confidential. The possibility of long-term arrangements, or even mergers has not been ignored. If help is needed, then the BAPC and IPIA will endeavour to find a solution.

DOT Institute of Graphic Communication conducts WEBINAR on 29th May 2020

Eligibility check for the recent schemes announced by RBI & FM (11.00 am – 12.15 pm).

The Coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown has seen most of the industries struggling with their finances and worrying about how to restart operations. During this lockdown, on 27 March 2020 and 22 May 2020, RBI has announced Covid-19 regulatory packages & reduction in key rates. Even the Finance Ministry has come out with a number of schemes on 13 May 2020 to help the MSMEs come back on track.

DOT Institute of Graphic Communication announces a webinar to be conducted by CA Uday Dhote, a finance expert (Past Chairman of Finance & Taxation and Chairman of Education & Training - AIFMP). This webinar will provide in-depth guidelines on the various RBI & Finance Ministry schemes and the papers & letters to be written to the bank in this connection.

Agenda: • 11.00 am to 11.45 am Presentation 11.45 am to 12.15 pm Question & Answers

Free Templates of letters to be written to Banks will be shared with attendees.

Sign up for the webinar to see the very first demo of BoardingPass which will enable customer facing staff (sales, service) at printing companies to quickly onboard PDF jobs, and give customer feedback in a minute, no prepress required.

Want to see how it does that? Register for the session with Andrew Bailes-Collins and guest host Deborah Corn NOW.

Deborah Corn is the Intergalactic Ambassador to The Printerverse at Print Media Centr, a Print Buyerologist, industry

Introducing BoardingPass, a BRAND NEW Enfocus product

Sign up for the webinar to see the very fi rst demo of BoardingPass on May 28, 2020 (7:30 PM - 8:15 PM IST)

speaker and blogger, host of Podcasts from The Printerverse, host of #PrintChat on Twitter, founder of International Print Day, creator of #ProjectPeacock, cultivator of the Print Production Professionals Group - #1 print-related group on LinkedIn, and Girl #1 at GirlsWhoPrint.net / Girls Who Print LinkedIn Group.

Deborah has more than 25 years of experience working in advertising, brand, and corporate print production.

Andrew Bailes-Collins is Senior Product Manager at Enfocus. He has worked for a number of vendors in the printing and

The medium of the Webinar will be Hindi and English. The Webinar will be having limited intake of attendees.

The meeting is registration based. Charges for the session are Rs. 400/-.

publishing sector, including Scangraphic, Apple and DuPont/Crosfield. Andrew has been Prepress Manager for several high-quality printing companies in London, managing the change from conventional production techniques to digital. An early adopter of computer-to-plate and PDF workflow, Andrew then worked at OneVision Software for ten years.

Andrew joined Enfocus and moved to Belgium in 2011 and is the Senior Product Manager responsible for the PitStop family of products. He is also the Technical Officer for the Ghent Workgroup and Co-Chair of the GWG specifications sub-committee.

Ghent Workgroup announces Global Graphics Software as new vendor member

Being a member of the GWG provides one with the ability to infl uence and set industry standards, to network with an international group of experts and to be the best in class in one’s industry.

Ghent Workgroup continues to bring the international graphic arts community’s best minds together to develop best practices for the benefit of the print and publishing industry worldwide. Recently the Ghent Workgroup welcomed its new member Global Graphics Software, one of the leading developers of software platforms for highspeed digital printing.

The Ghent Workgroup is an international organization made up of graphic arts users, associations & developers building best practices for publishing and packaging workflows. The resulting recommendations and specifications make it easy for increasing numbers of professionals around the world to successfully create, process, and exchange graphic arts files for numerous applications.

Global Graphics Software: experts in printing, PDF and digital document software Global Graphics Software is one of the leading developers of software platforms for high-speed digital printing and is the developer of the industry famous Harlequin RIP. Its technologies are designed to meet the most demanding printing applications from general commercial printing to labels and packaging and industrial inkjet applications such as textiles, ceramics and décor.

Global Graphics Software is subsidiary of Global Graphics PLC. With more than 30 years’ expertise in printing and document technology, they provide the performance, quality and engineering know-how needed for industrial inkjet printing, high volume digital printing and digital labels and packaging.

David Zwang, Chair of Ghent Workgroup, says: “We welcome the membership of Global Graphics to the GWG. As one of the largest developers of printing software platforms, they are at the leading edge of the transition to digital print across many applications. We look forward to their participation in the continued development of GWG efforts to help bring coordination and best practices to help drive the industry transition and growth.”

“We are excited to join the Ghent Workgroup as we have always prided ourselves on the rendering accuracy of our technology. One of the reasons prospects choose to work with Global Graphics is the high quality and compliancy of our technology with industry standards. To be able to say that we are compliant with the Ghent PDF Output Suite and to have a more formal association with them, makes perfect sense for us,” Justin Bailey, managing director Global Graphics Software.

Harlequin RIP achieves Ghent PDF Output Suite 5 compliancy The Ghent PDF Output Suite determines whether workflows are behaving as expected and gives users the ability to quickly and easily identify errors. The PDF Output Suite includes test patches for compatibility issues that might appear in an PDF/X-4 (ISO 15930- 7) compliant workflow. Harlequin RIP has perfectly passed the critical test, processing all 48 test patches without any problems and is now fully compliant with the Ghent PDF Output Suite 5.

Harlequin Host Renderer is a Raster Image Processor, or RIP. It converts text and image data from many file formats including PDF, TIFF or JPEG, into a format that a printing device such as an inkjet printhead, toner marking engine or laser plate-setter can understand. It produces unbeatable quality at very high speed.

“The Harlequin RIP has been compliant with PDF/X standards for over twenty years now (from the original CGATS standard in 1999), and we’re very happy that our commitment to easy and predictable high-quality print is being recognized by listing as compliant with the GWG Output Suite 5.” Martin Bailey, CTO, Global Graphics Software.

Stephan Jaeggi, chair of the Process Control subcommittee, states: “I welcome Global Graphics back as a member of the

Ghent Workgroup. Martin Bailey has already significantly contributed to the first version of the Ghent PDF Output Suite in 2006. Therefore, I am glad that Global Graphics has successfully passed the latest Ghent PDF Output Suite 5 compliancy test. The Harlequin RIP is one of the most important PDF RIPs for production printing which is used by many vendors in their PDF output workflows. By using the instructions published on the GWG website all users of these systems can achieve full PDF/X-4 compatibility.”

Founded in June 2002, the Ghent Workgroup is an international assembly of industry associations, suppliers, educators, and industry members from around the globe. Members are comprised of graphic arts associations including CIP4, CMBO, Febelgra, Fespa, Medibel+, PDFX-ready, Printing Industries of America, and VIGC. Vendor members include Adobe, Agfa, callas software, CHILI publish, DALIM Software, EFI, Enfocus, EngView Systems, Esko, Global Graphics, Heidelberg, HYBRID Software, Kodak, Océ, Quark, Ricoh, Ultimate Technographics, and Xerox IMPIKA. There are also many Industry and Educational members.

World News Media Congress 2020 postponed

The previously scheduled June event will now take place in September due to the present COVID-19 crisis.

WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers, has postponed its World News Media Congress in Zaragoza, Spain. The Congress was initially scheduled to take place in June. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WAN-IFRA and its local host, Henneo Group, have decided to move the event to 17-19 September 2020.

“Demand for quality journalism has never been greater, the societal need for it rarely more urgent. We are doing our utmost to work alongside our members during this challenging period for the profession,” said Fernando de Yarza López-Madrazo, President of the Spanish media house Henneo and the President of WAN-IFRA. “I believe this Congress, in particular, will be a key moment for the industry to reconnect and figure out what will be a new baseline for the future of the industry. We hope that this discussion and sharing will lay the foundation for a critical meeting of editors and publishers in Zaragoza,” he added.

Said WAN-IFRA CEO Vincent Peyrègne: “The news media industry needs to urgently discuss the current crisis and its devastating impact on our businesses. It would have been inconceivable to hold this exchange safely in June. We plan to meet at the earliest opportunity, and we have decided to reschedule the World News Media Congress to 17-19 September in Zaragoza. Our primary concern and responsibility is the health and safety of our delegates, speakers and partners, we had little choice but to look for a new date.”

“Solidarity in action is more important than ever in these times of turmoil,” Peyrègne added. “We have seen how restrictions on freedom of expression have been extremely detrimental to a rapid and effective response. During this period, we have had to repeatedly intervene to support our members and publicly call on the authorities to ensure the safety of journalists in covering the health crisis and its social implications, as per international standards on freedom of expression. I am particularly proud and grateful to our staff and partners who welcome our members in the best conditions onboard our new online platforms and virtual meeting rooms to exchange their experiences, ideas and support for each other. The longer the crisis lasts, the more new digital formats will be offered on our part to help our members in these challenging times.”

In this exceptional context, WAN-IFRA is committed to addressing the safety of journalists and the continuity of the critical mission of the press. The organisation is connecting with members via live web meetings, association outreach, webinars, and has set up coronanewsroom.org, an online resource desk available for news media professionals to address the main challenges facing news media and share solutions in the context of the current global Coronavirus outbreak.

The World News Media Congress is the annual meeting of news publishers, editors and owners from all over the world. It is hosted in a different city each year. The

2019 Congress in Glasgow drew around 900 people from over 60 countries for three days of conferences, executive meetings, networking, and social events. A list of previous host cities for WAN-IFRA Congresses, from 1948 to the present, can be found on WAN-IFRA website.

Zaragoza is one of Spain’s five largest cities and is the capital of the region of Aragón. It is situated the crossroads of the country’s major journalism centres, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia. The pilgrimage city is a tapestry of 2,000-year-old Roman buildings, Muslim and Christian monuments from the Middle Ages, the impressive baroque Pilar Basilica with its epoch-defining art of local genius painter Francisco de Goya, and modern 21st-century architecture

Programme Elements Women in News Summit - an invigorating gathering to support WAN-IFRA’s sectorleading initiative to increase women’s leadership and voices in news.

World Digital Revenue Forum - a stream for publishers, owners, CEOs and all those invested in building sustainable news organisations.

World Editors Forum - for editors, editorial managers and journalists who put journalism and its freedoms first when leading their newsrooms through challenging times.