The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to some unusual, perhaps essential, innovations from the print and packaging industry. The aim of these products majorly lies on containing the spread of contagions and start getting used to the "new normal".

Operating out of a 6,000-sqft facility at Okhla, New Delhi, Unidos Insta Print houses high-end printing, digital CNC cutting, and finishing machinery. The company's product line includes retail countertops and floor standing displays, wall parasites, corporate merchandise, and printed collaterals.

The company has launched a variety of products in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown and containment measures. However, the notable ones worth mentioning are its foot-operated hands-free sanitiser dispenser named Yesdoc and an easy-to-install safety shield, which can be used at receptions and counters.

Soham Gujral, innovator at Unidos Insta Print, and his team are the brains behind the aforementioned products. Speaking about his company's experience, Gujral says, "Our team brings over 20 years of industry experience, working with leading brands and material suppliers."

Gujral's forte lies in testing new ideas, innovating products, streamlining and optimising internal operations, online B2B marketing, and building workflows to transform a conventional print business into an "efficient e-enabled organisation".

​The foldable foot-operated sanitiser dispenser, Yesdoc

Design and execution

"As soon as the Covid-19 lockdown began, our team proactively sprung into action and started brainstorming the possibilities for our post lockdown plan. The outcome was a foldable foot-operated sanitiser dispenser and a foldable counter safety shield," explains Gujral. "Orders quickly followed from corporates and end users and we were lucky to achieve full production capacity in a matter of two weeks."

He says the company managed to maintain the quality and durability of the products at an economical price to reach a large user base.

According to Gujral, each of the product ideas took three to five days to fructify from a design on paper to a finished masterpiece. "Our unit has two Zund digital cutting beds that work with a great degree of automation on multiple materials, thus, allowing us to optimise resources, keep costs at a minimum, and speed up our turnaround times," he added.

The Yesdoc sanitiser dispenser and the counter and reception safety shield (CROSS) are made using 100% recyclable rigid polypropylene boards. "For CROSS, we also use a high transparency 100% recyclable PET sheet. These materials are then processed on our Zund cutting beds, which allow us to give a superior finish to our products."

Installation, a breeze

"The beauty of our Yesdoc sanitiser dispenser is that it is ready to use straight out of the box. It needs no assembly or installation," says Gujral.

The dispenser has a small footprint and four bays that can hold a top shelf for sanitiser bottle, a shelf for tissue dispenser, another shelf for face mask dispenser, and a docking slot for thermal scanning gun.

"Unlike most of the other metal foot-operated dispensers, Yesdoc has no sharp edges and is rust-free. It also fits most sizes of sanitiser bottles, " says Gujral.

Custom-branded Yesdoc sanitiser dispensers produced for Aryan International School

However, he says the CROSS counter shield can be erected in under two minutes, as it is a mere peel-and-paste operation of a transparent PET sheet on a polypropylene body.

The products, however, have been well-received among Gujral's client base. "As soon as we posted our products on social media, we started receiving orders from pan-India."

"Given the current situation and circumstances, we feel that our sanitiser dispenser perfectly meets the need of the hour. It is multi-functional and also has the potential to be custom printed and branded," he concludes.