Chennai, India · Precision engineering & print manufacturing · In the trade since 1988
Alan Barretto has spent nearly four decades in precision engineering and print manufacturing. As Managing Director of Nilpeter India since 2009, he has grown a small Chennai assembly unit into the Danish press‑maker’s exclusive global manufacturing hub for the FB‑Line — building presses that print labels on five continents.
Alan Barretto trained at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and took an MBA at the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, before making Chennai his base. In 1988 he joined the city’s Proteck group as a Director of Proteck Circuits & Systems — the beginning of three decades at one of South India’s respected precision‑engineering houses.
When Nilpeter — the Danish label‑press manufacturer founded in 1919 — chose Proteck Machinery as its Indian sales and service partner in 2007, Alan was the bridge. Nilpeter India was incorporated in Chennai the following year, and in January 2009 he was appointed its Managing Director.
What began as a small unit assembling presses for India and its neighbours became something far larger. In 2017, Chennai was named the sole worldwide production site for Nilpeter’s FB‑Line. A purpose‑built manufacturing facility and Technology Center opened at Mahindra World City in 2018; it has since grown to 7,000 square metres, with capacity doubled to nearly fifty presses a year and machines shipping to customers on five continents.
Along the way he has become one of the industry’s steady voices — quoted regularly in Labels & Labeling, PrintWeek and Packaging South Asia on flexo technology, automation, and the growth of the Indian label market.
Enters the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; follows it with an MBA at the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi (1982–84).
Joins the Proteck group as Director of Proteck Circuits & Systems — a tenure in precision engineering that will run three decades.
Nilpeter A/S appoints Proteck Machinery as its Indian sales and service partner — the foundation of the joint venture to come.
Appointed MD of the newly incorporated Nilpeter India. The first Chennai‑built FB‑3300 Servo press is shown at Labelexpo India.
A new Chennai facility and local Training Center; capacity of roughly ten presses a year, with a plan to double it.
FB‑Line production in the USA is wound down. Chennai becomes the platform’s only manufacturing site anywhere.
Tenth anniversary — marked by opening a 3,500 m² manufacturing and development facility and Technology Center.
Launch of the Chennai‑engineered dual‑servo presses, slotted between the classic FB workhorse and the premium FA‑Line.
The facility grows to 7,000 m², capacity nears fifty presses annually and exports reach the Americas. At Labelexpo Europe in Barcelona, Alan helps present Nilpeter’s automation vision.
Three themes Alan has argued for in print, on panels and on the show floor.
Presses that need less and less human intervention are not a slogan — they answer a real, persistent shortage of skilled operators. The endgame is the “dark room”: production that runs with the lights off.
“Automation and digitalisation are at the forefront of this initiative.”
Brands want shorter runs and sharper customisation. The answer is not digital or flexo — it is integrated presses that give converters both in one pass.
“perfect for short‑run” label production.
A complete factory in India — engineering, supply chain, training — can serve the world, not just the home market. Chennai’s FB‑Line hub is the proof.
“The investment made in 2010 in a complete factory setup in India is paying back.”
“This expansion has allowed us to double our press manufacturing capacity, almost to 48 to 50 machines a year.”Nilpeter plans India expansion with new technology center ↗ Labels & Labeling
“The obvious advantage for the Indian printers is shorter delivery times of the press itself.”Nilpeter in India ↗ Printweek
“We have more than 150 presses in India.”Top tips for the conquest of labels ↗ PrintWeek India
“We have been manufacturing label presses in Chennai since the last four years.”Exhibitor speak — Labelexpo India 2012 ↗ Nilpeter
“No other competitors have a hot foiling system as integrate‑able as we have.”Chennai is the global hub for the FB‑Line ↗ DPS Magazine
“Labelexpo India is of strategic importance for us – as India is our home market.”Labelexpo India 2016 celebrates biggest‑ever edition ↗
Alan speaks regularly at Labelexpo and Indian industry forums on flexo technology, automation and manufacturing strategy. For speaking invitations, industry conversations or advisory enquiries — from press OEMs looking at India to converters planning their next decade — the simplest way to reach him is LinkedIn.
Chennai, India