Ashwani Thapar of Pearl Printers said, “I realised that commercial printing will not give us the desired growth. So, we decided to foray into packaging. I purchased the land in early 2020 but due to the pandemic, the project got delayed. Now, we are setting up our packaging unit with five-colour with coater pre-owned Heidelberg 25x37-inches press and a DGM folder-gluer. More equipment will be installed soon as per the need.”

Thapar said as post-press is an important aspect of packaging, the company decided to opt for DGM as it offers quality in an affordable price with local commitment by having factory, demo centre and local sales/ service support. “The quick delivery of the equipment was the best part as DGM keep machine in their ready stock. The installation took place within 15 days from the order,” he said. “Even we have gone through the complete evaluation cycle of choosing a brand and had visited their already installed machine base within Okhla Industrial area and found everyone is extremely happy with the machine performance and after sales support. In addition to that we have visited DGM factory in Noida, the professional setup and explanation of machine by its technical team was helpful to finalise the machine.”

The packaging business will operation under a dedicated sister concern called Varun Print Line. The new packaging plant also has a tiny corrugation unit. Meanwhile, Varun Thapar, the second generation of the family-owned business has joined the company.

According to Thapar, the pandemic has hit the commercial printing segment hard. “We are working with around 25% of our capacity. The situation is so bad that we had to deduct salaries of our employees. Everyone is in trouble and so we are. I am hopeful that the situation will improve but it will take time, not before the next financial year,” he added.

Pearl used to do packaging jobs in its existing setup as well, but number of jobs was less. “Now we have a dedicated factory. We are planning to cater to pharma packaging and rigid box manufacturing, and will gradually add more segments,” he said, adding, “According to my observations, packaging must be growing at 30% and commercial must be down by 70%. Book publishing work is down by 90%. Diaries and calendars business just stopped because of the government decision and it impacted our business a lot. Annual reports are also not being printed.”