Speaking to PrintWeek India, Nippon’s Jayant Pardiwala, said, “The CTP market in India has matured and Indian pre-press service bureaus and commercial printers are either opting for UV CTCP systems or thermal platesetters.”

Pardiwala is of the view that violet technology for platemaking is no longer popular and is rarely chosen. “This is because of high plate cost, quality issues and plate handling criticalities. Plus there are only two manufacturers of violet plates,” added Pardiwala.

Among the 11 Cron installations, four are repeat orders. These include: Shree Bala Jee Graphics in Hissar, Alpha Scan in New Delhi, Marlin Plate Systems in Tirupur and Jayant Printery in Palghar.

“In pre-press service bureaus CTCP is the only technology which is being bought purely because of the low plate cost. Even today PS plates are around 30% cheaper when compared to thermal and violet plates,” added Pardiwala.

Besides these, Mumbai-based Benzni Graphics, Impact, Neo Image CTP, Top Process and Sowmiya Graphics; Palghar-based Hari Om Graphics; and Nadar Press in Kumbakonam are the first time orders for Nippon Color for Cron kit.

Pardiwala said, “The printers who are using more than 2500 plates per month and printing maximum 250lpi has also opted for UV CTCP technology so that they can save money on plates and in many cases we have seen that these printers have achieved the ROI in less than one year.”

Nippon Color has also installed Kodak thermal CTP systems at Mumbai-based System Graphics and Bajaj Processing Industries; Pune-based Kadam Digital Transprints; Navi Mumbai-based Rmoss Prints; Cuttack-based Mass Media; Mohali-based Daily Ajit (two sets); Lodha Offset in Jodhpur and Param Packaging in Silvassa.

“In packaging segment, customers are opting for thermal technology because of high run length and quality. We have installed many Kodak thermal CTP devices in many packaging units and all are using Kodak Achieve plates and Sword Ultra for longer runs,” concluded Pardiwala.

Nippon has installed 92 Cron and 42 Kodak thermal devices in India in last two years.