“The business was down to a trickle in the first two months after the lockdown commenced on 25 March 2020. But things started looking up after the unlocking began in June 2020 and we are now seeing signs of recovery,” said Ashwin Chandavarkar, the owner of Madhuri Prints.

The 24-year old firm produces business cards, flyers, postcards, leaflets, brochures, menus and posters for walk-in customers including a few B2B customers. It is equipped with two Konica Minolta colour presses – AccurioPress C6085 and C3080, both recent investments; and a monochrome press 1052 (invested in 2018) besides the newly installed finishing kit. 

According to Chandavarkar, the decision to invest in the digital finishing devices early this year when digital print and cutting were becoming mundane. “We were looking to diversify into something more niche – and coupled with digital printing, embellishing became our new theme,” he said.

Duplo features a watertight registration mechanism, which Ekta Mhatre, product marketing manager for DIS at TechNova, said, ensures first sheet saleable print, a Kyocera 600dpi printhead, which Mhatre said, is capable of printing fine details and large solid efficiently. The Jwei on the other hand is a die-less, any shape digital cutting device aimed at producing customised and personalised print products. “The machine can cut, kiss-cut and crease, all in one go with an auto-feeder attachment. The QR code function enables automatic job changeover,” said Mhatre.

For Madhuri Prints, that theme had to wait, but it certainly gave the firm a direction it needed to go in. “Commercial printing is already in doldrums, and in today’s business, particularly posts Covid-19, it’s essential to operate in niche areas.  If you don’t you will be chasing the same set of business fellow printers are pursuing. There’s a chance you may end going out of business,” said Chandavarkar.

The new investment has added another dimension to Madhuri Prints. Chandavarkar said, “I am glad I made the investment just prior to the lockdown. Today, it has made us a ‘one-stop solution’ player with the ability to deliver finished products as fast as the customer wants."

As a result, since the opening of the city, the firm's numbers of finishing products are growing, as are the customers. “With DDC-810 From  10,000 sheets/month during the first two months, we are now doing 25,000 sheets/month  Not just that, we have 30 % new customers since we installed the machine also it helped us to thrive with consistent print volume,” said Chandavarkar

Mhatre of TechNova added, "Ultra-sharp quality, fastest switchover, zero start-up waste and highest uptime even in the most demanding press environments. These compelling factors are making high volume customers prefer Duplo DDC over other complex alternatives. Duplo brand has a legendary reputation due to its stability and ruggedness."