The Andheri East-based Bombay Enterprise recently installed a brand new MGI Accurioshine 3600 digital embellishment press to meet the rising demand for post-print value-addition work in suburban Mumbai. This is the first MGI press – which comes with an offline foiling unit – to be commissioned in Mumbai’s suburbs. There are two other MGI users in Mumbai, but both are based in the south central Mumbai business district of Lower Parel.
“Before setting up our printing infrastructure in Andheri East, we were intermediaries between the offset printers and print buyers, sort of print brokers. It was a credit-heavy business. Earlier this year, we decided to get into the digital print and print enhancement business ourselves. We installed the MGI press in October and since then it has been a great run. The demand for post-print enhancement work is strong and growing. We do enhancement jobs for our own in-house prints as well as for third-party printers, both offset and digital,” says Dipu who manages the operations with his father.
Bombay Enterprise offers print enhancement services such as digital spot UV coating, digital hot foil, both gold and silver, embossing, among others. In the press department, it has a Ricoh digital press. The company has customers in cosmetics, banking, pharma, food, jewelry, photography, and other sectors.
First MGI press in Mumbai suburbs
Before Bombay Enterprise, only two companies in Mumbai had MGI presses and both were located in Lower Parel. Dipu says there is a huge demand for print enhancement work in the suburbs and this is why his firm decided to buy the MGI press.
Vijay Kamat of Konica Minolta says that lot of print buyers from the northern suburbs of Mumbai demand print enhancement services. “Konica Minolta used to get inquires about when an MGI press will be installed in the western Mumbai suburbs. There was a big need for an MGI press in this area. We are glad that the machine has been finally commissioned at Bombay Enterprise in Andheri,” Kamat says.
Dipu says working with Konica Minolta India was a great experience. “The best part is the after-sales service. Their team has done a lot of hand-holding and helped us in getting to know the technology better,” he adds.
Eyeing new segments
Having got an overwhelming response to its print enhancement work, Bombay Enterprise is now looking to acquire customers in new areas.
“We are eyeing bigger business in the wedding cards and calendar printing segments. We have tied up with a couple of big wedding card printers. We hope to expand in these areas aggressively as the clients are ready to pay for these services,” Dipu says.
Print enhancement market matures
Konica Minolta’s Kamat says the post-print enhancement market has matured in the last three to four years with installations happening in tier-II cities.
“We have about 35 MGI installations in India. More customers in tier-II and tier-III cities are buying the MGI press. Recently, we sold an MGI press to a customer in Jaipur. We have installations in cities such as Nagpur, Nashik and Lucknow. MGI has become a market leader in this segment,” Kamat says.
