Labelexpo 2024: Digiflex partners with JDC to drive expansion

With this collaboration, Digiflex aims to expand into key locations like Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Kolkata, supported by thorough R&D and market studies.

While JDC specialises in wide flexo and equipment sales, Digiplex excels in labels and corrugation.

Muralidhar Nalli, CEO at Digiflex, said, “We specialise in labels and the corrugation industry, which is a rapidly growing and has a highly promising market. Our focus on high-quality colour jobs has enabled us to serve clients across India and expand into export markets."

The partnership extends to training, resource sharing, and leveraging each other’s strengths in engineering and digital equipment.

Dinesh Mervyn, CEO of JDC, said, “With JDC’s skilled engineering team and Digiplex’s market presence, we plan to focus heavily on digital equipment sales and solutions in India, a significantly larger market compared to Sri Lanka.”

He said, “Many players are entering the market, making it the right time for us to target a global audience. We have a robust presence in flexible packaging and high-end flexo, aligning well with Digiflex's expertise. Hyderabad emerged as an ideal location for this partnership, given its central position, which allows us to target multiple regions across India.”

According to Nalli, JDC has strong expertise in pre-press designing, particularly in the wide flex zone, making it an ideal partner with its extensive knowledge of colour management. He highlighted the importance of having a flexible team rather than investing heavily in manpower at a single location, as workflow demands can vary.

This partnership also aims to offer high-definition flexo plates up to 350 LPI with hybrid screens.

JDC’s 30-member team, combined with Digiplex’s 20-member team to provide a strong workforce of over 50 experts. This setup allows the companies to handle jobs efficiently, exchanging resources and expertise between teams in India and Sri Lanka.

Nalli said, "Our goal is to establish multiple pre-press bureaus to support daily operations and grow our digital services. We are also in discussions with major manufacturers for agency partnerships, enabling us to jointly serve the expanding Indian digital market effectively."

Speaking on growing trends, Mervyn highlighted the growing preference for mid-web machines in Sri Lanka due to their ease of handling, particularly with inline processes. These machines are more efficient for certain operations as they require less setup time compared to wide-web machines.

"The seven-colour printing process is being actively promoted as it minimises job changes and ensures smoother workflows. Mid-web machines are well-suited for flexible packaging production, offering user-friendly operation and reduced downtime during job changeovers. While maintaining consistent quality can occasionally pose challenges, it remains manageable, making these machines ideal for a variety of printing requirements," he concluded.