Naitik Sheth of Naitik Enterprise said that the company was looking to diversify its business — supplying printing consumables like plates, chemicals, inks and blankets — in line with the digital transition across industries. “While evaluating the printing market, we realised that there is ample scope for providing embellishment effects like spot UV and 3D digital emboss foil through the digital process. Although many post-press finishers were already providing this service, there was nobody who was doing it digitally. That’s what inspired us to move ahead with the decision to buy digital embellishment equipment from MGI,” Sheth said.

He added that considering the company’s target customers — large commercial and packaging printers — required an equipment size that could cater to an extended B2 size market. “And while looking out for solutions, we found that only a few companies manufacture such specialised products. This led us to MGI, which maintains a strong competitive advantage over its peers. Also, no one in the market offered 3D foiling, a hot foil stamping process that enabled us to produce high-quality gloss levels compared to competitors. Moreover, this machine doesn’t require registration markings and works well for commercial purposes too,” he explained.

The company wants to establish itself as a leading digital trade finisher in the space of UV coating and foiling effects. Thus, the MGI Jetvarnish 3D is the top equipment in its existing portfolio. The installed devises to support post-press facilities include lamination and allied post-press cutting equipment. “Also, we have our first commercial fully-automatic lamination machine installed in Ahmedabad that can laminate up to 8,000-sheets/hr.

Sheth’s father Mukesh R Sheth established Naitik Enterprise 20 years back. He has been managing the business since its inception. Initially, the firm was focused on selling offset chemicals and inks. However, after five years of operations, it switched to selling offset plates across the Indian market. When Naitik Sheth joined in 2016, the Senior Sheth planned to give the firm a futuristic makeover, which could help it progress in the modern printing era. Following this approach, Naitik finally decided to install the MGI machine in Surat in 2019.

The company’s main business with this new start-up is digital trade finisher. Its target customers are large commercial and packaging printers. It also supports the quick requirements of digital printers. “Lately, we have started catering to a few high-end brands by aligning packaging printers as a joint project. Apart from this, we are also targeting sweet boxes, wine boxes, digital printers, commercial catalogues printers, etc,” he added.

Sheth said as lockdown restrictions are gradually easing, the company have seen month-on-month growth in our existing print volumes. Its average monthly volume is about 40 to 50 thousand B2 sheets. Although lockdown has impacted our growth, we are fortunate enough to keep the pace and scale as steady as possible.

On how the Konica Minolta machine will help increase business, Sheth said, “Konica Minolta has a team of committed engineers for tech support and a separate group that oversees various business development activities, which helps us secure good leads from the market. We are lucky to have such supportive teams who are always ready to help while adding great value to our business.”

For the future, the company plans to invest more in digital printing line, which includes more MGI machines to be installed in the upcoming years. “Doing so will help us expand our existing portfolio and serve customers more seamlessly,” he concludes.