Automation in screen printing is still in its nascent stage since a large numbers of players still have manual screen printing operations at their units. However, over the period a shift in trend has been observed and automation has been adopted.

In this column I will share some of these glory stories of automation.

Decorpac India (Gurgaon)

20 years in the printing and packaging industry, Decorpac India, with Meet Atul Talwar at  its helm, has etched a great screen print success story. Talwar, according to me, is an entrepreneur with a passion for 'creativity' knows the tricks of producing 'decorative' print and packaging for the fashion industry!

The company has a full-fledged advanced screen printing set up that includes: Grafica's 30x40inch CamShell, 30inch UV curing machine, Mini Camshell (18x 24inch), and a screen making set up.

To quote Talwar, “Screen printing is the most difficult printing process yet indispensable due to its versatility. Some of our jobs can only be printed by screen printing process. For instance, screen printing enabled us to print solid background on uncoated paper which was not possible on offset.”

Decorpac undertakes only premium and specialised jobs involving print finishing. “Every piece of our print and packaging roll out with that fine touch of one or more UV special effects,” says Talwar.

Started with just two people in 1994 as a trading firm in printing and packaging, today Decorpac has more than 200 people at its 35,000 sq/ft built up factory located at IMT Manesar  in Gurgaon, Haryana.

The product portfolio of the firm includes tags and stickers, PVC bags, PIVA bags, and a variety of boxes, among other. The in-house set up for this range of product offering includes a six – four- and two – colour offset machine, a label printing machine, PVC bag making machine, a box-making machine, and a complete post-press set up. All this is backed by an in-house design and R&D center.

Among other certifications, the company has secured BSCI and SEDEX compliances and is a member of FSC.
 

Sunflow India Enterprise (Nashik)

Sunflow India Enterprise's success in visiting card business may bring some surprise to many small and medium sized commercial screen printers who might think that their days are numbered against the backdrop of competition from offset and digital revolution.

Amol Choudhary of Sunflow replaced three manual screen-printing tables at their unit to embrace entry level automation for its visiting cards segment. Choudhary says, “With the value addition that we are able to offer for the visiting cards, we are witnessing 25% growth in our business.”

Sunflow houses Grafica's Nano- Print screen printing machine and Nano-UV for offering a wide range of special effects. In addition to the visiting cards, Sunflow offers value additions like spot UV and other special effects across commercial printing, packaging, and wedding card segment.

They also undertake banners, t-shirts, nonwoven bag printing and cater to design studios, offset printers and direct customers in the pharmaceutical, agro, food and beverages, and real estate sectors for their packaging needs.
 

Kirit B Vadecha (Mumbai)

Founded by Hitesh Vadecha, the firms Kirit B Vadecha and Vadecha Enterprises specialises in executing print projects related to Jain religion events and discourses. These include customised invitations (in card and booklet form with varied sizes), books, stickers, posters, labels, banners, badges, leaflets, flyers, and gifts items.
 

The turnaround time for one job, according to Vadecha, is anywhere between 24hours to 10 days. Screen printing is just one of the many processes that they offer. The production setup at the firms includes offset printing, BoPP lamination, matt finish effect, foil stamping, and embossing.

Vadecha says, “The challenge is how to make every job unique because there is limited number of UV special effects. We have already used following UV special effects: such as spot UV, glitter, sand, abrasive, crystal, 3D reflective, and many more.

Hindustan Prints (New Delhi)

Hindustan Prints, a sister concern of Hindustan Inhouse Collection, undertakes garment decoration on job-work basis besides catering to

its parent company which manufactures men's, kids, and women wear. Their garment decoration activity involves – only embroidery, only screen printing, or a combination of the two.

Prior to investing for a DTG setup, the company used to outsource its garment printing jobs. Here, according to Mohd Suhail, a partner at the firm, they faced the hindrances of untimely delivery and poor quality. Thus came their decision to shift towards automation with nano-Printex (six colour/10 pallet).

Hindustan Prints stands in a 1000 sq/ft print unit and also houses Nano-Screen Maker 5-in-1, nano-Texdryer (compact electric dryer) and nanoflashTex (intelligent flashing system).