28 members attended two day meeting evaluating the progress of association and planning the future activities.
The annual Churning Meeting of Offset Printers’ Association (OPA) was held at Gaj Retreat located 72 kms from Ludhiana. This annual meeting is organized at a remote place, to evaluate the progress of association and to plan the future activities. 28 members attended this two day subsidized meeting, fifty percent cost per person was borne by the OPA. After collecting opinion of all the present, the possibilities of implementation and necessity are discussed on second day, so that OPA can serve better for the growth and development of the association in particular and printing community in general.
Welcoming members, Prof. Kamal Chopra appreciated the gesture of the members for participating in the Churning Meeting. He appreciated the dedication of office bearers, especially executive members for attending the core committee meeting every Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. for the service of printers in general and members of OPA in particulars. Prof. Chopra said, printing is changing and today we have already started feeling the change. But not only the printing all industry or infrastructure is going to change. Printing and Packaging is an intermediate industry dependent on other industries.
He said, “These are the tough days when, on the one part, work is slow, and on the other, the cost of raw material is increasing day by day, without any proper notice. It is high time to take notice of these facts, not only the cost of raw material but cost of transport is touching new high thus it is becoming impossible to compete the local players of different locations of the country. We have to plan for providing solutions to the industry located near to us to be competitive and avoid the avoidable transport costs. At the one end we are noticing greater competition and on the other there is slump in the market. The packaging market size of the area is not much, and above that, bigger players of the country are also trying to capture even this small market. Definitely the production is increasing, but it is essential to know if the demand is also increasing. It is necessary to look at the present and ongoing requirements of the market, because due to transport cost it may not be possible for us to remain economic while sending the goods beyond 30 to 35 kilometres, in future. It is therefore that at the association level, we are going to conduct a survey about the requirements of the printing and packaging goods in the approachable market. We are going to engage a good company for the purpose to let us know the present requirements and the growth of the market within next 10/15 years.”
GS further said that another topic of concern noticed by the association is financial and family management. Both these are hot topics and serious issues, almost every one of us require the proper guidance on these subjects. It is decided to engage some experts of the subject and organize one to one meeting for the available solutions for family management and financial management.
Mr. Mandeep Singh who was attending the meeting as an observer, appreciated the ideas and concepts of OPA and said, “I am a hosiery manufacturer. Though I am a member of many trade organizations, but such vision is missing in almost all the associations.” He expressed his interest to become a member of OPA.
Concluding the two day marathon meeting, GS said, “The points raised during this meeting are well taken and we will plan the action(s) accordingly. He also highlighted that OPA is restructuring the official website of Offset Printers Association, the members will have many facilities available at the new website. While promoting the networking there will be a tab to declare your spare capacity – available or required – so that members can use the available spare capacities of another member. There will be link for the available machinery engineers, mechanics and spare part dealers. Besides, a member can post the vacancy available with him. All these services will be allowed to members without any cost.”
He termed the problem of increase in prices as a challenge urging all in the industry to take on the challenge. “We must apply our mind to produce at most economical rates and get maximum price for our production,” he concluded.
