Established in 2004, Krishna Creations had a humble beginning producing barcode labels. Expanding its gamut, slowly and steadily, it started catering to the textile industry with garment labels, printed inlays, leaflets, catalogues, foiled tags etc. Even though the company saw year-on-year growth, it outsourced printing to offset printers in Ahmedabad until 2013, when the company purchased a pre-owned Heidelberg four-colour press.

Speaking to ​​PrintWeek India, Sanket Todi, director at the company, said, “More than 50% of our print jobs have Pantone colours, which need to be produced in two passes on our pre-owned Heidelberg four-colour press installed in 2013. So we were looking for a five-colour press. Secondly, we wanted a machine that could handle sheet size of 23x30-inch.”

Todi’s specific size requirement was aimed to allow a differentiation from the competition and also make the cost structure healthy. “Everyone in the market has a 20x29-inch machine. The extra three inches that I get will support me to add to my bottom line,” added Todi.

Explaining his proposition to buy a brand new machine instead of a pre-owned one, Todi said, “A brand new machine allows you to dream with open eyes. All the machine parts, rollers are new. There’s all the necessary automation. So you have a hassle-free machine to rely on for the next 15-20 years.”

After more than 12 months of research, Todi, finally, found a solution at Drupa 2016. He visited Heidelberg's Wiesloch facility to seal the deal. Even at the last moment, he was contemplating to book Heidelberg CS92 press, which is a 25x36-inch size machine but settled for XL 75.

When ​​PrintWeek India visited Krishna Creations unit in Ahmedabad in the third week of March 2017, it had been 10 days after the installations. The company is in the process of shifting its existing jobs on the new machine. Todi is impressed with the performance of the new machine. “The quality has obviously improved. There are no variations in the print run. Plus we are able to deliver faster thanks to Heidelberg,” said Todi.

Besides the new Heidelberg, the company has also invested in Maxima Exb35 automatic die-cutting machine, two HPM cutting machines, a Yawa foil stamping machine and lamination machine from Hi-Tech.

“With the new investments, the company’s turnover is expected to surge by 40%,” said Todi. In FY17-18, Krishna Creations is expected to clock Rs 25-crore turnover.