Mumbai-based commercial printer Le Concepta recently equipped its prepress unit with Cron’s CtCP system and a second-hand Komori press. Speaking to Indian Printer and Publisher, Vipin Maira, partner at Le Concepta says, “We started our production unit 35 years ago. We mostly undertake commercial jobs and a short quantity of mono cartons. Earlier, we used lamp-based CtP technology to meet our prepress requirements. However, with the emerging trends, we felt the need to upgrade our prepress unit with the latest equipment and hence we went ahead with the CRON UVP 46 Series platesetter. The CRON offers image resolution of 2400 dpi, thus giving us a competitive edge in the space of quality printing. Earlier, the number of people deployed on the machine was close to three and now it has reduced to one operator. With the new system, the number of impressions of the plate has increased as well and we now have zero wastage of plates.”
The CRON UVP 4632GI consists of inline advanced ancillaries which take the 46 series from a standalone manually fed device to a fully automated plate line with online punching, transport and processing unit. Apart from the functional requirements, UPV46 sports a compact size and consumes less electricity due to its single phase power supply input. “Today, we use technova plates of sizes up to 800 x 1030 mm; the minimum plate size that the machine can take is around 510 x 645 mm,” Maira informs.
The lamp used in the previous plate-making press sustained for four to five months and changing the lamp would incur heavy costs every time. The new machine, on the other hand, utilizes the 32 laser channel that guarantees five year lifespan. The plates manufactured earlier had a shelf life of not more than 50,000 impressions and repeatedly the plates used to be produced for a job. The new machine is easy to maintain and operates UV plates of 0.15 to 0.30 mm gauge. The maximum output of the newly installed platesetter is around 17 plates an hour.
Located in Champaklal Industrial Estate of Sion, a neighborhood of Mumbai, the state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the 4-color Komori press, a Konica Minolta 6501 C digital press and finishing equipment spread across four galas. According to Maira, Le Concepta is all about quality and customer service, staying in tune with the market and delivering what it needs, but also anticipating, innovating and then proactively offering what it lacks. Recently, the company also installed a used Komori 28 x 40 inch press— the LS 440—that has enabled the company to churn out 40 to 45 jobs with a short quantity of nearly 10,000 sheets. The press is also equipped with an inline coating unit. Since none of the neighboring printers have a 28 x 40 inch press, Maira expects most of the print jobs to land at Le Concepta. Talking about the future, Maira hopes to expand Le Concepta’s services in packaging and shift four units to a bigger space at a single unit.
