Multi Hitech’s SGA installation number reaches 51

Delhi-based Multi Hitech, a manufacturer and supplier of offset printing equipment, has an innovative product in its kitty – the Straight Gripping Attachment (SGA).

21 Oct 2015 | By PrintWeek India

This ancillary press equipment promises to resolve the problems faced by the users of Heidelberg Perfection Grippers. The company claims the SGA can turn a Heidelberg perfection machine into a straight machine.

So far, Multi Hitech has done 51 SGA installations for Heidelberg models like GTO–46, GTO–52, MOV, SM–72, SM–74, and SM–187. The recent installations of SGA include companies like Delhi’s Haploos Printing House and BB Graphic Printer, Nepal’s Trigun Printing Press, and Mumbai’s Harris Printers.
 
According to DK Garg, chief executive officer, Multi Hitech, he first designed and manufactured the SGA for the Heidelberg machine in 2004 at the behest of Ravi Shroff of Delhi-based Nutech Photo Litheo Graphers, who had the requirement. Garg, who started his career in 1985 at J Mahabeer and who later worked in Amit International as a service engineer, first designed the SGA for Adast machines in 1990.
 
Coming back to SGA, Heidelberg multi-colour sheetfed offset machines can be classified into two categories. First is the straight machines that do printing on one side of paper in one go and the second is the perfection machine that can give dual printing; it can print one side in one go as well as with slight adjustment in the perfection unit it can also do both side printing in one go.
 
Garg said, “Most printers in Asia buy secondhand multi-colour sheetfed Heidelberg machines but get fed up with the re-occurring ‘pincer gripper assembly’ repair or maintenance, which is expensive and is a big burden to small-scale units. This led him to develop SGA.”
 
Usually people who buy secondhand equipment do straight printing and the compulsion of doing it on perfection machine creates lot of printing problems because of wear and tear in pincer gripper. The SGA converts these perfection machines into straight machines, Garg explained. 
 
Talking about the ease of SGA installations, Garg said it is easy and can be installed in a few hours time. To convert the Heidelberg perfecting machine into a straight machine, the pincer gripper is replaced with SGA without any drilling, tapping or modification in the original machine. The installation does not even interfere with the drive side and the cylinder.
 
“The best part of the deal is that one has complete freedom to go back to the original machine only by replacing the SGA with the original pincer gripper,” he concluded.