Parksons notches a ton with Rapida

The first Rapida sheetfed offset presses started arriving at the company in 2005. At the time, Parksons was looking for presses to handle UV production. The Rapida 105, with its facility to switch dryer modules between multiple installation points was the industry yardstick in those days, not only at Parksons, but indeed for UV production throughout India.

Later, Rapida 106 models joined the line-up – seven-colour and eight-colour presses and others in double-coating configurations. At the beginning of 2020, the company purchased its first Rapida 76 — in a six-colour version with coater and extended delivery.

Faced with changing market demands, Parksons Packaging decided that it needed to install a half-format press alongside its medium-format Rapida presses. The combination of high production speeds and a small footprint tipped the scales in favour of the Rapida 76. No less important were the short job changeover times – especially when using DriveTronic SPC – and an enlarged sheet format.

The capacity to disengage individual inking units, a feature unique to Rapida presses, also caught Kejriwal’s attention. “We can already prepare the unused printing units for the next job while the press is still running the current production job. And as an extra bonus, that also reduces wear on the rollers,” he said.

Kejriwal is equally impressed by the high productivity of the other Rapida presses. “DriveTronic SPC allows job changeover times to be shortened by 30- 40%. And the number of jobs, which we handle on the new presses has increased by 30-35%,” he added.

Aditya Surana of Indo Polygraph Machinery, said, “Over 100 Koenig & Bauer brand new units at Parksons Packaging is a huge milestone for us and the same would not have been possible without the continued support and trust from all at Parksons. It is an absolute honour and privilege to be associated with a company like Parksons Packaging.”

All Parksons Packaging plants place their focus on folding carton production. The corresponding jobs can be assigned to a total of 22 offset production lines, 13 of them from Koenig & Bauer, and one digital line. Nevertheless, there are differences between the individual plants and their specialisations.

Digital and screen printing are based in Daman, together with the production of pharmaceuticals packaging. Pantnagar is specialised in packaging with high-quality cold foil finishing. And Chakan produces beverage cartons. Additional production plants are located in Sricity and Guwahati.

In 2019, Parksons Packaging recorded a turnover of around USD 167-mn (approx Rs 1,200-cr). Almost 18,000 different articles are produced, and around 1,00,000 tonnes of paper and board are processed every year. More than 1,700 employees work in plants with a production floor space totalling almost 10,75,000-sqft.