Exhibitor's speak: Business better than what people think

T P Jain, Monotech

There has been a slowdown in the early part of 2011 in India. How do you rate your performance?
We have achieved a growth of 30% in the first half of the current financial year, thanks to our presence in digital printing equipment business.

Do you see Pamex as being able to provide a boost to your fourth quarter numbers?
Yes, being the last major event in the country before Drupa, we expect good response.

One exciting space is digital print. Do you agree / disagree? Which other segments are exciting?
Digital printing is showing strong growth.  In pre-press, UV CTP technology seems to be gaining ground and number of installation of UV CTPs during the year may surprise the market.

Most firms have become pan-Indian and have an out-reach across the length and breadth of India. What have you gained from your customers during your travels?
That expanding is the only way to sustain growth and meet the challenges of competition.

We are seeing a lot of action in the b-tier and c-tier cities in India. What are your long term goals for these cities?
We have started establishing offices or having resident representatives in b-tier and c-tier cities.

Your plans for Pamex? What are you showcasing?
We shall unveil Scodix digital embossing system, a unique post-press equipment which can help printers multiply value of print with exquisite special effects.  We shall also exhibit Konica Minolta C8000 digital press, C70hc printer, C1200 monochrome printer, basysPrint UV CTP, Amsky Ausetter UV CTP, Screen Thermal CTP, Pixeljet Polaris printer and Canon inkjet printer. We will offer special price offers on CTPs and digital printers booked at the show.

What have you identified as areas of potential growth for the company. Which project / customer has been the most satisfying one for you?
Digital printing and pre-press both have good momentum in the market and would remain key focus area for Monotech.
 
One final question. Clearly it’s difficult to predict the future, but based on your knowledge, do you think print will be around for another 100 years?
Yes, in my opinion print can never die.  




Puneet Chadha, HP India

There has been a slowdown in the early part of 2011 in India. How do you rate your performance?
HP had a phenomenal year, in fact best ever till date. Our Indigo impressions, which is an indicator of our customer’s success and a very critical measure for us, over the past two years have grown by approx 140% in India.
 
Most firms have become pan-Indian and have an out-reach across the length and breadth of India. What have you gained from your customers during your travels?
HP also tries to reach its customers located globally. It encompasses a number of print service providers to reach its customers across India. We have our PSP’s located across India to deliver its customers high-end printing needs.

We are seeing a lot of action in the b-tier and c-tier cities in India. What are your long term goals for these cities?
Geo-expansion or upcountry growth has been an integral part of the imaging and printing group investment strategy. A significant proportion of our business is contributed by b- and c-class cities. It’s amazing to see the potential and how effective customers are leveraging the power of digital.

Your plans for Pamex? What are you showcasing?
Indigo team is participating in Pamex 2011 and be showcasing HP’s flagship products. We will demonstrate the benefits of print-on-demand (POD), such as higher speed of response, reduced inventories, variable date printing and personalized printing, and web-to-print – making it the preferred digital press for print service providers. We shall be running multiple demos of the HP Indigo press each day during the expo for the target audience.

What have you identified as areas of potential growth for the company. Which project / customer has been the most satisfying one for you?
A clear area of focus is to help making our customers profitable by working closely with them and assisting them increase profitable page volumes. Our customers are contented with our printers and they strive to install more of our offerings.  They are also very keen in upgrading their machines. To name a few some of our customers are : Siva Rama Digital Press, Silverpoint Press, Photo Perfect Press, Big Prints etc.
 
One final question. Clearly it’s difficult to predict the future, but based on your knowledge, do you think print will be around for another 100 years?
Printing business is an ever evolving business and will continue to be so.   





Divesh Nath, Pramod Engineering Works

There has been a slowdown in the early part of 2011 in India. How do you rate your performance?
Over all in the manufacturing industry a little slow-down in the later part of 2010 and early 2011 did not make any visible dent in the post-press machinery manufacturing. It has gained the pace now.

Do you see Pamex as being able to provide a boost to your fourth quarter numbers?
Well!  We have hopes that Pamex 2011 will prove worth its name.

Most firms have become pan-Indian and have an out-reach across the length and breadth of India. What have you gained from your customers during your travels?
We have realised that printers across the country are craving to adopt new technologies, which can cut-down on the production time and man-power, but paucity of funds is holding them for sometime. The will is there.  

We are seeing a lot of action in the b-tier and c-tier cities in India. What are your long term goals for these cities?
We are reaching to small, medium and big printers even in remote corners of the country and offering our cost-effective and definitive binding solutions.

Your plans for Pamex? What are you showcasing?
We will provide comprehensive information to all our prospective customers through audio-cum-visual shows about all our manufactured binding solutions. We will launch our upgraded version of three-knife trimmer by the brand name of TrimStar besides 670mm Stitch Star Flowline.

What have you identified as areas of potential growth for the company. Which project / customer has been the most satisfying one for you?
We are looking at various options in the post-press machine manufacturing besides what we are already producing. Our most recent installations at Sakshi Newspapers and Anand Bazar Patrika have been most satisfying.
 
One final question. Clearly it’s difficult to predict the future, but based on your knowledge, do you think print will be around for another 100 years?
Undoubtedly print will be for ever – so long as  human race can read and write – but in what form it will reach to the reader or end-user, no one can predict.