Picture Gallery: How promising is the future of Faridabad?

The Ahujas of Multitec: taking brand India to the world with Ecoflex. Amit Ahuja (r): "Everything you do, must be aimed at elevating your brand."

Multitech's flagship narrow web label press, Ecoflex. The press, has four salient features: durable construction, superior print quality, versatile design and ease of operation.

Aditya (l) and Sanjay Gupta (r) are at the helm of KK Printing, one of the top six Indian web offset manufacturers. In 2011, the company entered into a tie-up with Seiken Graphics, the third largest web offset firm in Japan after Mitsubishi and TKS. This enables KK Printing to have access to web offset presses with the super panorama system, a device that enables presses to print a four-colour centre-spread.

KK Printing Press is on an installation spree: The Ronald brand of web offset presses, has multiple orders in Japan (16-page, broadsheet) and Turkey (64-page, with 50% colour)

Over the years, MM Kohli hsa earned a reputation for the brand TPH. Kohli provides an interesting insight when he says, "The downturn in the past (2008 to 2010) was the best time to invest."

TPH commissioned the Okuma MCR 5-axis CNC heavy duty equipment and has phased out the older CNC machines. It ensured cycle times are reduced from 70 to 30 hours. The key reason is: 120 tools can be loaded at one time.

A major newspaper from Punjab has placed a repeat order for TPH's Orient X-Cel (36,000cph) press consisting five 4Hi towers and five auto reel changers. The line is fully automated and equipped with automatic colour register system from QI Press Controls.

Prakash Webtech's Speedster with built-in reel stand saves up to 40% of space. This machine is installed at Nai Dunia’s Raipur plant.

A step towards sustainability: Jagjit Singh Kalsi (l), managing partner of Kalbro Pumps has launched Kalbro Green eco-friendly vacuum pumps

These pumps do not have any moving parts subject to wear and vibrations and hence deliver noise-free operation. They are driven by compressed air, which passes through a series of chambers to create vacuum and deliver cool air blow.

Picture Gallery: How promising is the future of Faridabad?

B S Verma of Akash Pack Tech, manufacturers of packaging lines, is quite optimistic about the brand India. He said, "More than 60% of Akash Pack Tech's sales comes through exports to countries like Philipines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka among others."

Akash Pack Tech's prestigious clintele includes big daddies like Unilever, P&G,Dabur, Cadbury,Castrol and many others.

Webtech Engineering launched Flexomaster narrow web printing press at Labelexpo 2012.The machine is designed to accommodate different printing technologies such as offset, gravure, inkjet, rotary screen etc inline.

Satish Bajwa of Pressline is a strong believer that Indian newspapers have bright future and so is true for Indian web offset manufacturers. He says,"There are two primary reasons for this:urban population of 40% which comprises over 40 year-olds will not bend over a laptop; plus the growing literacy rate."

YP Taneja of Precision Graphic Engineers: "We have supplied 27 machines in Baroda. Till date we have exported 39 machines to countries such as Tehran, Sudan, Myanmar, etc. In Nigeria alone we have sold 16 four-colour presses.”

Precision manufactures offset presses under the brand name Eagle that suited the needs of the market and at the same time are economical. “Our first Eagle machine was sold to SJ Malhotra Printers in 1993 who mostly handled pharma jobs,” Taneja said

Started in 1981 as manufacturers of tractor parts, Faridabad-based Falcon Vacuum Pumps and Systems made a switch to the printing industry in 1990.

Amarjeet Singh informs Ramu Ramanathan that it produces vacuum pumps that suit all the leading brands sheetfed presses. This includes: Planeta, Heidelberg, Sahil Graphics, Excel Machinery, Electro Mec, Komori, Daya, etc.

“The 24x37in size is our specialty,” says Shafiq Ahmed, the managing director of Sahil Graphics says. But it is the demand for non-woven bag printing machines that has widened the scope for this Indian manufacturer. In the last two years, Sahil has installed over 275 non-woven bag printing machines of various configurations.

CP Paul of APL has been focusing on UV technology. The company has recently launched Atom Flat Screen printing machine. Vegra APL, an associate company of APL Machinery has introduced Growth Unlimited as the executive business partner for western India, and Pankaj Trading as channel business partner for Ahmedabad.

Fair Deal Engineers launched a range of products in 2013 from mini offset presses to envelope making machines. Dharmesh Arora feels that majority of printers are now ploughing back profits to expand facilities and production.

Youngest among all is Alliance Printech. Established in 2007, the manufacturer of narrow web flexo presses. Jitender Singh Julka is a proud man. The company's flagship product, Novaflex, has seen seven installations since its launch in November 2012.

Joy D-Zign's NS Manku, the master of bookbinding, explains that the first and most critical step in bookbinding is to tightly hold the signature.

Joy's bundling press is ideally suited for pressing and bundling of folded sheets (Signatures), brochures, book-blocks etc, for perfect and hard-case binding process. Manku believes that every hard case bound book must be rounded and backed.

Manku has spent 23 years at Monotype catering to customer service. He believes superior service to customers is the key to business.

As the technology upgrades, older products become obsolete. As memory introduces newer products it has narrowed down its portfolio from 32 to 18 products.

Bal Krishan Khindria, managing director, Memory Repro Systems plans to increase sales by 50%. "We are currently trying to catch-up with the changing dynamics of the market. We realise the importance of aggressive marketing, and thus would invest our time and energy in marketing our new products."

In last three years,Memory has installed a CNC press brake, four VMCs, one turret punch and a turning centre in a bid to improve its production quality. It has also invested in high-end software for electrical wiring and has introduced manuals for the machines it sells.

WIP for semi-automatic thermal lamination machine at Memory's shopfloor.

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