Maji Offset Printers is a wellknown firm on Surya Sen Street, known as the printing street of Kolkata. A first generation printer, Bikash Maji is a self-taught technician and print enthusiast who enjoys going into the details of his customers work in order to deliver the best quality of reproduction.
Apart from the usual commercial printing work of brochures, calendars, leaflets and book covers, Maji Offset has a substantial business of printing bidi wrappers in Bengal and some of the neighbouring states. Most of the color printing before the recent installation of a new Ryobi was done on a used Akiyama press. “Before I installed the Ryobi, I was doing all my jobs on a 4-color Akiyama Bestec offset press which is a workhorse and still performing ably,” says Bikash Maji.
Maji is also a trade supplier of offset plates to presses in the printing hub of the city but also to several larger printers. He uses two CtP devices in his plant – a BasysPrint CtCP that cost-effectively images conventional plates supplied by Monotech Systems and a violet CtP supplied by Technova. Maji says, “Although the market situation in Kolkata has improved compared to the times before, it still has a long way to go. Even some of the traditional and regular commercial printing jobs have gone down due to the slowdown of industries here. However, there is a small percentage of customers who understand good printing and I am optimistic that these types of customers will increase in the future.”
In the past year, Maji Offset Printers purchased and installed a brand new 4-color Ryobi 680 press in the 19 x 25-inch size. Maji says, “We are one of the first printers who have opted for a brand new press from Ryobi. The fact is, Kolkata, for the past few years, has seen little activity in terms of new presses. The market dynamics here actually demand little investment for a printer. Last year I decided to invest in a new press. This was obviously a hard decision for me to take, but keeping in mind the changing market dynamics, I decided to go for it.”
Before deciding on the Ryobi press, Maji factored in the other manufacturers. However, he decided to go with RMGT (Ryobi) because in his view, “The people at Ryobi are trustworthy and I feel comfortable dealing with them. Also, the product is a very able performer. This press came for installation around mid-August 2015 and by September, it was running. The color reproduction, speed and maintenance – all three aspects of this press have satisfied me as a customer. And, I can claim that the good reputation that Ryobi has earned at my place, has led to its installation by other printers in and around Kolkata.”
Maji says he expected that the installation of this new press would bring along lots of new jobs from his discerning customers. And although some new work has come after the installation of the new press, the volume has not been as high as he had hoped. “Buying and installing a new press for a printer like me is a big deal and it is certainly not cheap. Sadly, my existing customers and new customers have not felt the need to print new jobs with the new press by a margin which I expected them to do. The increase in work has been conspicuously low,” he says.
