Bhabani Offset is a leading commercial printer in Northeast India, offering a range of products such as brochures, catalogs, books, flyers, magazines, event souvenirs, and high-end photo and wedding albums. The Guwahati-based printer provides offset and digital solutions for commercial printing and monocarton packaging aimed at the FMCG and pharma sectors.
Bhabani Offset, which has three other sister concerns, recently installed a new Heidelberg Speedmaster CX 92 4-color press in an effort to enhance productivity and print consistency—thereby meeting customer demands, handling higher volumes, and maintaining faster turnaround times.
A Heidelberg customer, besides the new CX 92, Bhabani Offset has a Speedmaster CD 102 5-color plus coater, a Speedmaster CD 74 6-color plus coater, and two Speedmaster 74 presses. The pressroom also contains a Manroland Sheetfed 700 HiPrint as well as digital production presses from Fujifilm and Konica Minolta for its recently launched digital operations. Apart from these, the company has a Mitsubishi 4D sheetfed perfecting press for book printing and two 4-high web offset presses. The third 4-high web offset press is likely to be installed this year.
The pre-press department has three Suprasetter CtP systems, complemented by Prinect workflow solutions. The committed Heidelberg printer relies on Saphira consumables, including inks and plates. Ancillary equipment includes a Polar cutting system, comprehensive folding and finishing equipment, a Horizon inline perfect binder, and a Muller Martini stitcher.
In a recent conversation with Indian Printer and Publisher at its Guwahati office, Bidhan Dev, managing director of Bhabani Offset, discussed the offset printing landscape in the Northeast, the challenges of doing business in a comparatively far-off location, the rise of digital, and the cost of war. Dev briefly explained the company’s focus on diversified and hybrid operations, rather than putting all its eggs in one basket in a competitive and dynamic print landscape.
Dev, who has a journalism background, used to edit and run an Assamese journal before trying his luck in the printing business by securing orders for printers. In the mid-90s, he started his own venture with a letter press and then graduated to offset in 2001 — setting up an office-cum-printing unit in Guwahati’s Rajgarh and later on another production facility on the city’s outskirts in Panikhaiti. The overall business currently has a combined strength of around 300 full-time workers.
Bhabani Offset provides B2B printing: its customers include small and big printers, the Assam State Textbook Production and Publication Corporation, and the NCERT, among others. “The focus of Bhabani Offset, which also offers UV printing, is on value addition and embellishments in a typically CMYK printing environment,” Dev says.
On the new Speedmaster CX 92, Dev said, “The addition of the Speedmaster CX 92 has enhanced our production efficiency and consistency. Its speed, automation, and precision enable us to deliver superior quality with faster turnaround times.” Engineered for DIN-format commercial printing, the Speedmaster CX 92 operates at speeds of up to 15,000 sheets per hour and supports sheet sizes up to 650 × 940 mm, making it well-suited for high-volume applications.
Digital diversification
The company recently launched its digital printing operations with Fujifilm Revoria and Konica Minolta presses for short-run print orders. “Digital is smart printing technology, which we have adopted for short-run print orders. We are focusing on high-end digital products such as photo and wedding albums, which are much in demand.”
The packaging division, named Bhabani Packaging Solutions, develops monocarton products for a host of pharma and FMCG companies. Its packaging converting equipment includes die-cutters and folder gluers from DGM, Bobst, and Acme Machinery.
According to Dev, the monocarton business in Guwahati and Assam was sluggish for some time after the expiry of the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2007 and the subsequent shifting of Dabur and Unilever from the region. “The entry of multi-location packaging converters such as TCPL and Parksons, however, has given a fresh hope to the market, which he feels will pick up pace.”
Diversification and hybrid operations are important to remain in the race, he said, adding Bhabani Offset plans to expand into flexible packaging as well as labels.
Challenges and the cost of war
According to Dev, the Northeast is in a much better position than the rest of India in commercial printing as it is yet to reach a saturation point. Orders keep pouring in, though increasing competition has forced printers to reduce margins and, as such, volumes are of the essence. Challenges include the greater time spent on getting raw material compared to the printing hubs in the north and west.
Guwahati, Assam’s capital city, he said, remains the offset printing hub of the Northeast, although the remaining six states of Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh are digitally self-sufficient for small orders.
On the current war in the Middle East, Dev said the input costs of items such as binding equipment and consumables, such as plates and chemicals, have risen, affecting profit margins. “However, we cannot immediately raise prices for end-customers.”
