Lalit Goyal of Graphics Impex Services and Leon Lagrand of Mekes
Lalit Goyal and Leon Lagrand express that the brand as well as the inspection report is important prior to a pre-owned machinery purchase. Rahul Kumar and Dibyajyoti Sarma examine how do printers decide which machines to buy and how vendors help printers select the right configuration.
19 Jan 2015 | 6916 Views | By Dibyajyoti Sarma & Rahul Kumar
2014 was an important year for Graphics Impex Services. “This year, I did a few prestigious projects and some big and effective machines were supplied and installed,” says Goyal. The company installed five printing machines, including two high-end Goss webs. In the post-press segment, the company installed 50 folding machines, 20 cutting machines, eight saddle stitchers, and allied post-press machines.
In the pre-owned market for pre-press machines, Goyal says 95% of machines he sold are Stahl folders from Heidelberg. “Yes, the brand matters. A 10 year-old machine of some other brands will not fetch the same value as a Heidelberg machine,” he says.
Goyal offers trial runs only if needed. “Since I am in the market for a long time, I have enough reference and customer base to generate trust. I guarantee all our machines to be complete. We have a team of good mechanics who install the machines to customer’s satisfaction,” he says.
On customer services, Goyal says, “In case of big binding lines, we escort our customers overseas to see the machines in a running condition. With smaller machines, we guarantee full running.”
Mekes has been supplying top quality machinery since 1979, and currently works out of two locations, its head office in Roosendaal, The Netherlands, and Spain. The company delivered 400 machines worldwide last year. Approximately, two-thirds of the company’s turnover comes from sheetfed offset printing presses and one-third is bookbinding machines. All machines are bought in West-Europe and 80% is sold outside West-Europe.
“We are also strong in bookbinding machinery like saddle stitchers, sewing machines, perfect binding lines and hard cover machinery from Muller Martini, Kolbus, Meccanotecnica Aster and Wohlenberg. All A-brands sell well,” says Lagrand.
Lagrand says in the last few years, printers are going more and more towards 70x100 size presses. “In bookbinding, we have noticed that manual production is being replaced by industrial big production lines to secure a cost-effective and good quality output,” he adds.
Lagrand says the price margin between old and new machines vary according to the age, equipment and popularity of the model. “A five-year-old machine will cost you approximately 60% of the new price and a 10 year-old will cost 30%,” he says.
Mekes inspects all its machines before buying. “This inspection report is of course also available for potential buyers. Mostly, we make a print test before buying and before dismantling the machine, to make sure nothing has happened to the machine,” Lagrand adds.