Welbound cheers book printers and post-press companies

In yet another edition of the PrintWeek India Awards, Welbound extends its association. The post-press equipment manufacturer has come on board to sponsor three of the 26 categories; Book Printer of the Year (Specialty), Book Printer of the Year (Academic &Trade) and Post-Press Company of the Year.

03 Jun 2015 | By PrintWeek India

The Performance category of Post-Press Company is sponsored by Welbound Technical Services.
Commenting on the seven-year long association, P Sajith, marketing director, Welbound Worldwide said, “We have had the big daddy print houses and the tiny small-scale print shops participating and winning the PrintWeek India awards alike. This is a celebration of print and the spirit of small scale entrepreneurship.”
 
In the book printing industry, which according to Sajith is challenged not by the digital counterpart but the lack of growth in book readers, print is still relevant. “The past few years have thrown up a lot of challenges for all the stakeholders in the printed book publishing value chain. While education is still on a growth path, publishers are finding the space highly competitive.”
 
The only way to move forward, according to Sajith, is by working together: the publishers, printers and suppliers coming together to enhance the value of the product.
 
Over the years, Welbound has actively associated itself with industry initiatives like the publishing roundtable, training workshops, BMPA’s Seekho aur Samjho, NBPC and so on. “The efforts are to organise the trade through confabulation and discussions to improve quality, turnaround times, and at the same time reducing costs. 
 
On the technology front, in the past year, Welbound has launched perfect binders with in-line gathering for the high volume market and also for books on demand solutions. “We have strengthened our technical services and currently have the largest team in this industry. This is across auditing, imparting training, installation, commissioning, and trouble shooting operations. With our association with Henkel, we have made India the third largest producer of PUR bound books in the world; after Germany and Brazil.”
 
The company has also upped its solutions in the consumables segment. This, said Sajith, is built on Welbound’s core strength of service support. “We have worked closely with the solution providers to seek clarity on common goals and achieve them.”
 
“In India, the relevance of print in today’s digital era is apparent from the growth in the requirement of printed books year-on-year. The trade needs to meet the requirement of the consumer -  be it a voracious reader or a student. This would mean that we need to deliver the book which the reader wants, in the form he or she needs, and at the time when he needs. Today, if print does not deliver these requirements, the consumer will not wait, like in the past.” 
 
The entries for the seventh edition of awards have started coming in. Prove your mettle and  claim your Prism  this year.