20 print CEOs; and their ink preference - The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column
My colleague Tanvi Parekh did a survey with print CEOs to find out ink partners and ink product of their choice; ink products they use to for highly innovative solutions to turn standard products into pieces of art through visual and tactile effect; and their preferred brand of UV inks.
27 Mar 2015 | 7386 Views | By Noel D'Cunha
Magesh Kartik of ST Reddiar says, we don't partner with one brand of inks as such, but the majority (say 70%) goes to Sakata Inx. The rest is split between Micro Huber, Seigwerk and Toyo Inks. (15%, 5%, 5% respectively), while Snehangshu Ganguly of Lebako, says, we mainly use Values G ink from DIC for majority of our commercial print work.
For "prestigious work", though Ganguly turns to Flint’s Novavit F and Novaspot wax-free. “Novaspot has slight edge due to availability of Pantone series ink and also output quantity is much superior. However, if gold or silver as special colour is required we use Eckart from Atlanta.”
Kartik, however, says, he prefers to use Toyo’s Kaleido series of ink. “The challenge is the press has to be first calibrated for this ink, the process involves understanding dot gain on the press and then reducing the gain on the plate so that while printing we increase the ink film without increasing the dot gain on paper. The increased ink feed gives a very vibrant colour scheme. The ink is designed in such a way that a thinner ink film means more vibrant colours. So this will reproduce most of your special colours like orange red, purple etc, just by using the CMYK,” says Kartik.
Kartik used this ink for a calendar job in 2010 for a customer from France.
Manu Choudhury of CDC Printers, Kolkata uses Seigwerk’s Tempo brand for most of his work. But at times he has also used fluorescent colours. “The only supplier we could find for the job was United Inks. They have performed wonders and the prints were yelling to be held closely.”
Below is a snapshot of print firms and their ink preference.
| Printing company | Ink Partners and Ink product of choice | For highly specialised jobs which ink do you use | Your preferred brand for UV inks |
| Snehangshu Ganguly, NKGossain/Lebako | Valuu G from DIC for commercial print work | Novavit F / Novaspot Wax Free | H UV ink (H LF series) from Toyo. Also Huber and sometimesMegami Ink – gold and silver |
| Gautham Pai, Manipal Technologies | Dic, Micro Inks, Seigwerk | Intercolor, Zeller, Luminescence | Micro Inks and Seigwerk |
| Mahesh Kartik, ST Reddiar | Sakata Inx (70%). The rest is split between Micro/Huber,Seigwerk and Toyo Inks. (15%,5%,5% respectively). | Toyo Inks | Inx corporation US which in India is dealt by Sakata India. Toyo's inks from Japan are also quite good. |
| Hemant Parchuri, Pragati Pack | In Flexo, we work with Flint and United Inks | We use very little “special” ink. | Uses UV ink (no brand mentioned) |
| Varun Tholasi, Tholasi Prints | Huber and Toyo | Implementing specific standards to enable us to achieve outstanding print results by using top of the line series of inks likeKaleido and Aniva. | Does not use UV inks. |
| Vasant Goel, Gopsons Paper | Siegwerk Tempo Max Star plus for all applications | Siegwerk Tempo Max Star plus for all applications | We don’t use UV inks for offset. For flexo we use Siegwerk |
| Manu Choudhary, CDC Printers | Seigwerk, Brand: Tempo Smart | At times we have used flouroscentfrom United Inks | We do not have a UV printing press |
| Prithvi Desai, Mail Order Solutions | Toyo Inks JPN for Coated paper and Chitra for Uncoated Paper | Toyo Inks JPN for Coated paper and GP1for Uncoated Paper | Does not use UV inks |
| Vijay Parekh, National Art Press | Offset – Seigwerk; Flexo - Micro inks; Gravure - DIC / Micro | | UV – DIC |
| Roopesh Sawant, Superlekha | Tokyo Inks across all papers | -- | -- |
| Narendra P, Pragati Offset | Toyo and Micro inks | Toyo and Micro inks. | Microinks |
| Sandeep Zaveri, Total Print Solutions | Seigwerk | Seigwerk Arets and Fujifilm Sericol | Seigwerk |
| Anuj Bhargava, Kumar Laberls | Siegwerk | Any inks recommended by JNArora | Siegwerk / United Inks |
| Antony, Hi Tech, Coimbatore | Toyo - Tk Jpn ink | Micro Inks - Perfexion ink | Not in UV Printing |
| Faheem Agboatwala, | Toyo and Siegwerk. |