Rajkot’s Vinayak Offset has been on a strong growth path since it installed India’s first fully loaded Komori LSX 629, a 6-color UV press with coater in 2016. Managed by first generation entrepreneur, Hemang Shah, Vinayak Offset is now among the leading print houses in Rajkot city. At present Vinayak’s main area of specialization is commercial printing but it has major plans for diversification into packaging printing. The company prints catalogs and brochures for customers in the real estate and tiles industry. Vinayak also prints leaflets, posters, folders and visual aids. These commercial printing works are done at Vinayak’s 10,000 square foot Lohanagar unit. Lohanagar is Rajkot’s printing hub along with Bhaktinagar Station Plot.
Talking about the Komori press, Shah says, “We were at that time the first print house to buy the fully loaded Komori LSX 629. We were using a 4-color Heidelberg and needed to add another press to handle additional volumes. So, we went for the Komori,” Shah says.
Although Rajkot’s offset commercial printing market remains slack overall, Shah says Vinyak has managed to keep its plant running 24×7. “We cater to the high end of the market and have not seen any drop in volumes, but yes overall the market is slow with huge pressure on margins,” he says.
In addition to the two offset presses, Vinayak has a full-fledged postpress department with all the necessary machinery including punching machines, lamination machines and folding machines.
Massive Rs 60 crore investment plans
Like any young ambitious entrepreneur, Shah too is looking to take on new challenges to propel his company’s growth. He has planned a massive investment drive for Vinayak where the company will be setting up a big carton packaging unit about 20 km from the city of Rajkot. In fact, the unit is already in operation and was inaugurated in early September, with further work going on in the plant.
“This bigger plant on the outskirts of Rajkot is double the size of our Lohanagar unit. We have invested in this unit because we wanted to have both our commercial and packaging printing and converting sections under one roof. Our total investment including land, building and machinery will come to about Rs 60 crore once the plant is fully ready in one year,” Shah shares.
New machinery for packaging
Shah says that to boost his packaging division another press will be added to the shop floor along with all the required converting equipment. The two presses at the Lohanagar unit will be gradually shifted to the new location.
“We have not yet decided on our next investment, but the new press will be a 7-color press. We are talking to Heidelberg, Komori and KBA,” he informs. In the converting department, Shah is looking to add a folder gluer and a die cutter from Bobst. Shah attended the Bobst open house earlier this year when Speedwave technology was shown on the Ambition folder gluer. “I was impressed with what I saw,” he says. Shah will also be travelling to China to visit All in Print China later this month to explore other machinery and equipment needed for the packaging division.
“I am sure we will finalize all the required machinery and place orders within the next six months,” he concludes.
