Bharati Vidyapeeth, established in Pune in 1964, has a long tradition of private initiatives in higher education. Apart from Pune, today, Bharati Vidyapeeth has campuses in New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Solapur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Karad, Satara, Panchgani and elsewhere. Bharati Vidyapeeth conducts more than 156 educational units of various kinds right from pre-primary schools to postgraduate institutions. Being a large educational institution, Bharati Vidyapeeth has a printing press of its own at its Erandwane campus in Pune, which was commissioned way back in May 1970. All its own print needs and for its institutions and sister organizations is carried out by the press. These include books, brochures, notebooks, answer sheets, and stationery items.
The 3,000 square feet plant is managed by Suresh Kawade, a veteran of the printing industry associated with the Bharati Vidyapeeth press for 32 years. The Bharati press has four black and white offset printing presses from HMT, Maxprint, Mudrika and Swift along with prepress and finishing departments. The finishing department has cutting, lamination, stitching and binding machines. In a major investment, a Ricoh Pro C751 digital press was installed in October.
Bringing 4-color printing in-house
Traditionally, the 45-year-old Bharati press outsourced its 4-color work which became increasingly challenging considerable the large amount of print required. “The volume of work has been rising in recent years and we began facing logistic and delivery issues as we were dependent on a third-party for color printing. So about two years ago, we decided to bring color printing inhouse,” says Kawade.
Kawade began his research on various options available in the market and finally decided on the Ricoh after getting very good feedback from other Ricoh users in the Pune market. “I got excellent feedback from other users in Pune and I did attend road shows by Ricoh in the city. Also, the C751 was a good option from the point of view of our budget. Since we were going for an inhouse color digital press for the first time we did not have a Rs 2 crore or Rs 3 crore budget,” adds Kawade.
With a 4-color press in-house, Bharati press has reduced its outsourced components by almost 80% within two months solving many of its delivery issues. The Ricoh C751 now handles almost 75% of all the work that comes to the press. “We are extremely happy with the performance of C751 during the two months we have been using it. The quality is very good and Ricoh’s aftersales is also up to the mark,” he states.
Ricoh association to continue
Based on its satisfactory experience with a digital color press, Bharati press plans to add a black and white digital press next year. “The Ricoh C751 was our first experience of digital printing technology and it has been a good experience. We are likely to add a black and white digital machine next year, most probably it will also be a Ricoh,” Kawade concludes.
