Krish Chhatwal of Kwality Offset said, “Heidelberg is one of the best when it comes to after-sales services. With growing turnover, we needed enhancement in our capacity. We were looking for a press which is fast and steady. As we have had a good business relationship with Heidelberg for the last many decades, we decided to opt for Gallus ECS 340.”

Kwality uses conventional offset printing, narrow-web flexo and digital press. Chhatwal said that all the three verticals run parallel in its premise. “We have different printing technologies to cater to different sets of customers and their demands. We have trained our staff in a manner so that they can efficiently manage the workflow and provide good service to the clients. We have also invested in a tailor-made ERP which helps in further automation,” he added.

As the quality control has become more stringent among brand owners, Chhatwal said, the company has invested in advanced equipment right from pre-press to finishing. “This helps in colour reproduction of existing jobs as well as maintaining high quality. We continuously provide training to our QC team to meet demands of the brands, and keep them in loop regarding the meetings held. We have also started producing security features via our digital setup with superior quality. We can produce labels with QR codes, variable data, hidden images, barcodes, special patterns, etc.”

Kwality inked the Gallus deal during the last Labelexpo Europe. “We are keeping our fingers crossed that next financial year will be better compared to this quarter. We hope to keep our machine busy as demand still tends to grow at 10%,” Chhatwal said. “We encountered a decrease in demand for labels in a few segments such as alcohol and nutraceuticals, but pharma and food labels did well even during lockdown.”

He said major challenges right now are the availability of positive cash flow, lost markets, greater sanitisation and skilled manpower crisis. He suggested that the solution is to look for new opportunities in relation to what’s in demand during Covid. “Greater automation is the need of the hour. Companies can also go for discounting of payments to be received in order to meet the cash flow requirements,” he added.

He said with the new Gallus, the company’s production capacity will be increased by 10%. “We can deliver to our customers with a faster turnaround period. Premium matrix removal is used to cut difficult shapes and sizes. It has superior auto registration which saves time and RM. We don’t expect growth in this financial year but we hope to grow by 10-15% in next financial year,” he said.

An ISO: 9001-certified company converts around six-lakh-sqm labelstock and 60-metric tonne of paper in its combine operation with three flexo, three offset, one combination printing press, and one digital production engine in 70,000-sqft constructed area with a team of 150 people.