Peter Rego of Heidelberg looking to extend the good run

Heidelberg concluded the third of its Print, Pack, Fold series of seminar in Bengaluru on 24 July, 2015. The first was in Delhi on 20 July and in Mumbai two days later.

03 Aug 2015 | By Noel D'Cunha

In Mumbai, Peter Rego, general manager for Heidelberg India, during his presentation made an important announcement. He said, “Parksons Packaging has ordered two Heidelberg CX 102 LX, a six-colour plus coater.” Both Ramesh Kejriwal and Sidharth Kejriwal of Parksons Packaging were part of the 40+ audience.
 
Peter Rego, general manager for Heidelberg India, spoke to PrintWeek India on the sidelines of the Mumbai seminar.
 
PrintWeek India (PWI): What exactly is the Heidelberg-MK tie-up and how will it work in India?
Peter Rego: Heidelberg has transferred its post-press technology to MK under which, MK will manufacture machines for us in future. MK will be selling only in China and Japan, while in the rest of world it will be a global tie-up. Heidelberg will be responsible for sales and service for all MK products.
 
Packaging is a growing market in India and we want to be a one-stop solution for all the packaging needs of a customer. With this tie-up, it’s only apt that we leverage the synergy and scope in India.
 
PWI: You showcased the Promatrix 106 and Diana Smart series of folding carton gluing machines from MK. Isn’t it the same as your Dymatrix 106 and Diana folder-gluing machine?
PR: We have improvised on what MK had, which is now the Promatrix. It has got GS and CE standard certified, so it’s a European standards and safety standards machine.The Dymatrix, Heidelberg manufactured was a high-end premium machine. Unfortunately, it was so premium that only few could afford it.
 
Going ahead, we are looking to grow our portfolio and in the next one year we could see Dymatrix coming out of the MK factory, which will be much more economical and much faster.
 
PWI: There is tough competition in the market. MK has been around in India but without much success. What’s your strategy going to be?
PR: Yes, we understand that. But now we talk to the customers as MK being our product. In any case, MK is not new to the print world. I have been told by my colleague Michael Gao of MK, who is here with us, that last year MK sold 120 die-cutters in China alone, while its European competitor could sell around 20+ die-cutters.
 
PWI: But MK is China-based, and it has to be its strong-hold?
PR: Yes, I agree, but its still a popular one. However, we too have also sold a few Verimatrix machines last year.
 
That said, we find this new venture to be very exciting. They were looking for a right partner for aftersales services. Their machines are strong and proven, while we are equipped with engineers besides we have already trained our people in MK.
 
For your information, post the tie-up, we have already sold five Promatrix 106 and six Easymatrix worldwide. We expect the first to come to India sometime between October-November this year.
 
PWI: And the announcement of the two machines ordered by Parksons Packaging, that augurs well for you?
PR: Looks excellent; as you known Parksons is the leading player in carton packaging, and he had been to Heidelberg in Germany. He saw the new technology that is being offered from Heidelberg in the form of quality control namely Prinect Inpress Control 2 which is a patented product. Here I must I say that no one can come even close to what we are offering on the Inpress.
 
Inpress is a quality control system, which automatically measures and controls colour and register on the fly and at any speed, inline. That means the operator no longer needs to pull a sheet and check it outside.
 
With the Parksons order will come the Prinect Inpress Control 2 which was launched this year, which is an improvement over the previous version. The wastage that was around 400-500 sheets was brought down to 60-80 with Inpress 1, and the latest one has brought it down to 40-60 sheets.
 
We expect the top bracket customers will go in for the latest Inpress. Though I would not like to name them, we have already secured orders, and these should be coming in October onwards.
 
PWI: And the last seven months, how’s it been for Heidelberg in India?
PR: The last seven months have been good. Satisfying, I must say. We know that the market is challenging. Last year our Japanese competitors claimed to have sold more machines but when you look at the turnover, we did much better because of the six- and seven-colour plus coaters we sold.
 
PWI: What’s the number been like this year?
PR: We are almost touching around 85-90 units, and we are expecting to cross 100 units mark soon.