Manufactured in 1999, the Heidelberg SM 74 LX (UV+IR) is equipped with four-colour with tower coater and extended delivery; autoplate and preset; CPC 1-04 with CP-Tronic offpress controls; Alcolor dampening; easy fill ink gun supply system, technotrans refrigeration and recirculation unit, and Grafix Alphatronic 200 Powder Spray Device and others. 
 

An animated Sukesh Sharma, owner, Macro Prints, says, “If you have to grab opportunities available in the market, one will have to upgrade its printing facility on regular basis. This installation is our step towards that. Pre-owned equipment, which is not too old, makes more sense in this tough economical scenario.
 

"It is not easy to invest in a printing press like this for companies of our level. So we have to create a market for us. As we have invested more so we will require return on investment faster as compared to others.”  
 

In 1990, a group of four friends engaged Sukesh in their business because of his computer expertise. They were planning to establish a DTP centre then and computer was a new thing for them. As time plodded on, all four partners left the company and since 1997 Sukesh has been managing the show alone. 
 

“We had started with a Dominant printing press and gradually have shifted our production on Heidelberg printing presses. We opted for the press because it was within our budget. I believe that pre-owned equipment is good choice as long as they are not too old. Always opt for latest and loaded equipment,” shares Sharma.  
 

Macro Prints caters to a mix list of clients from publishing, pharma, cosmetics, sweet boxes and paper and board packaging. “Most of the big players in the region come to us for met-pet (metallised polyethylene terephthalate) jobs. We offer our services to trade shops in Delhi. Around 80% of our production is on met-pet,” says Sharma.
 

“We have specialised in balance-sheet printing and cater to the demands of entire Ludhiana." Sharma says, "I believe in gradual growth so I always keep an eye on the latest developments and technologies in the industry. Being a company with limited funds, we have to plan many things in advance,” he further states. 
 

Macro Prints has bought five machines from Neeldhara Transfers in the last eight years, including Adast Dominant 715, Adast Dominant 725C, Heidelberg GTO52 Z, Heidelberg SM 72Z. The newly installed Heidelberg SM 74 is the sixth. 
 

Sharma who also owns Kuvam Print O Pack, the second printing company, will find ways to to become profitable, first on the recently installed machine and later with its plan of installing a Heidelberg CD printing press. “With the SM 74, we plan to work for commercial and packaging printing, but we will require a printing press to print on higher gsm paperboard. That is when we will need the CD. But the biggest challenge will be looking for customers who will buy our older presses. We will need funds to pay to the bank,” tells Sukesh.
 

Sukesh shares his concerns with the local market and says, “Ludhiana is known for hosiery, cycles, tools and sweet boxes manufacturing. Two segments: hosiery and sweet boxes are totally dependent on marriages and marriages are an unpredictable business; so as the number of marriages will fluctuate, our industry will fluctuate too. My concern is: no new industry is coming in to the area. There's competition coming from nearby area, so we have our work cut-out.”
 

Around 45 people work for Macro and Kuvam, both the companies are owned by Sukesh Sharma.