We especially invested in the Bobst Experfold with the Accubraille kit because our company caters to the pharma industry. Many of our existing clients were demanding the Braille on their packaging,” said Parthiv Shah, managing director of Shree Harihar. “More than 50% of Braille-based jobs are being done by packagers based outside Ahmedabad. The brands are working on a new standard operating procedure (SOP), which demands packaging service providers have inline Braille printing facility with the folder-gluer.”

The Expertfold was installed in September 2022, however, as the new plant was at the finishing stages of construction when the machine arrived, both the construction and installation of Expertfold were done simultaneously. Thereafter, training and trials took about a month or so before the company started producing cartons.

The company also moved its printing and other packaging converting machines from its earlier location in the Kokhra area of Ahmedabad to the new plant.

Shah is the fourth generation in the business of the 101-year-old Shree Harihar. During the course of the 101 years, has been involved in printing stationery and promotional material to computer and insurance forms to packaging. “Through the years, we moved from treadle to single-colour to multi-colour printing. After I joined the business in 1992, we moved from single- and two-colour printing to four-and six-colour printing,” explained Shah, who and his father, Niranjan, manage the print packaging business. “Today, we specialise in packaging, serving the pharma industry for mono cartons, leaflets and labels.”

Shree Harihar’s Vatva plant, built on a 40,000 sqft site, houses two six-colour presses and a four-colour press, all Heidelberg; two varnish machines, two Maxima automatic punching machines from Excel Machinery, one blanking, one inspection and two BoxTech folder-gluer and an Indian-make flexo press.

Before bringing in the Expertfold with Accubraille, Shree Harihar produced Braille using manual punching machines. The company also used two BoxTech folder-gluers to produce cartons. “The new Expertfold has expanded our folding capacity from 1.5-lakh cartons to six-lakh. We have also started producing Braille-based jobs and have begun with one customer, and as we go ahead, we will add more customers and gain more experience using the Accubraille kit,” said Shah.