About a decade ago in 2006, Bhootwala, was keen to become an aeronautic engineer. But his ambition was grounded when news was flashed on the TV about a bogus institute in Rajkot which offered a course in aeronautic engineering. Bhootwala said, “I was shocked to read the news because it was the same institute where I was studying for 18 months.” He abandoned the study since the report had also mentioned that the certificates issued by the said institute were not valid. So he returned to Surat and planned his next move.

Piyush Bhootwala began his journey in screen printing with a manual table at his residence. He said, “this was against the wishes of my parents.” Later, he set up a full-fledged screen printing unit with Grafica’s Mini Camshell and an exposing unit. The plan: to offer value addition with saree boxes.

As his business grew in volume and revenue, he invested in Grafica’s cylinder press, a fully automatic screen printing machine (20-inch x 30-inch), with inline UV. Later, when he tasted success, he ventured into graphics and industrial screen printing by investing in a CamShell, a 30-inch x 40-inch semi automatic screen printing machine.

The journey has been a tough one; and one which has made this self-made entrepreneur, tougher and smarter.

When he returned to Surat in 2006, he completed a course in multimedia and graphic designing as well as a MBA. He recounted for the benefit of PrintWeek India, “During the initial stages of my job hunt I was turned back by many printers saying that I had no work experience. I joined a press where I was first told to do vinyl pasting on boards for hoardings, rather than graphic designing work. Yes, I did it. After a few months they assigned me graphic designing work. Later, I joined another press where I was told to work in the binding department as well as a single colour offset machine. Here too, after few months only I was assigned graphic design work.”

By then, Piyush Bhootwala felt “enough was enough” and decided to start his own screen printing business in 2009. There was a catch. His screen print knowledge was pretty rudimentary. So he started with tiny jobs such as letterheads and visiting cards. In this process, he said, “I lost few rupees due to job rejections. At the time I was not aware much about screen printing technology. I made an exposing box. After getting hurt in almost all my fingers while hitting the nails to tighten the mesh, I also made a fabric stretching table.”

The turning point
Piyush Bhootwala visited PrintPack in New Delhi in 2009. And as he said, “I had to borrow money for my travel, boarding and lodging as I was determined to see the expo for the first time. And I never expected this very first print expo of my life would change my life’s trajectory forever.”

He visited the Grafica stall. He reminisces, “Till then I was the under the impression that screen printing was all about wooden tables and frames. At the Grafica stall I also saw live demo of value addition by screen printing over offset printed job. I was stunned and inspired to buy a machine. I got quotation from Grafica but my loan application never got a sanction for 18 months years.

And finally in 2010, Bhootwala purchased a Mini CamShell and exposing machine as my loan got sanctioned. Creative doubled the shopfloor requirement from 2400 sq/ft to 4800 sq/ft to accommodate its post press facilities and a Grafica Cylinder Press with inline UV.

Today, Creative offers a wide range of print finishing with UV which covers saree boxes, garment tags, folders, corporate jobs, clothing boxes, sweet, jewellery boxes and other types of packaging jobs with 90 gsm to 400 gsm paper upto 20-inch x 30-inch format, as well as 30-inch x 40-inch. The firm also offers post-press service such as lamination (thermal and cold), UV coating and a hot foil stamping machine. The print requirement is outsourced to an offset player.

The focus is: high end graphics and industrial screen printing which can produce dome labels, bicycle stickers, stickers for home appliances; as well as automobile decals and advertising display boards on rigid substrates such as sunpack/sunboard. The forte is: screen printing on glass, acrylic, MDF, metal boards for indoor/outdoor placements, requiring precision halftone printing.

Piyush Bhootwala signs off, “We have 40-45% growth year on year (volume wise) and 30-35%, turnover growth. However, I seek excellence by acquiring knowledge and technology, and not money as it has been highlighted Rajkumar Hirani’s film, 3 Idiots. And I firmly believe that to excel in industrial screen printing you require knowledge, not just high-end technology. For this kind of knowledge sharing, I am grateful to Grafica’s Bhargav Mistry and his team at Dhirubhai Mistry Institute in Vasai.”