Begun a couple of years ago, Spectrum Scan’s ‘Bazaar’ is hugely popular among brand owners in Mumbai. The unique bazaar concept in Vasai near Mumbai, showcases point-of-purchase (POP) and point-of-sale (POS) designs and prototype in varying shapes and sizes that can help brand owners pick and choose ideas for their products. Amit Shah, managing director at Spectrum Scan, says, “This experience lounge gives a total experience of a bazaar which includes kirana shops, paan kiosks, ice-cream parlours and a supermarket at one go, and so, brands can have a real look and feel of their POP items.
Shah adds, “The product managers or brand owners visit the plant and also spend time in the bazaar. I don’t think its an overstatement to say that most people who say they will spend an hour at the bazaar end up investing a day to understand the POS items kept there.” Spectrum Scan has invested in an interdeck – 6-color plus coater Roland 40-inch offset press and a new custommade 5 x 10 inch thermo-forming machine. Apart from these machines, the company also has an HP Scitex digital wide-format roll-to-roll and flatbed printer. Shah says, “This will allow us to print on PET G acrylic and poly-carbonate on the reverse side which can then be thermoformed. This technology has opened up new markets and opportunities and we are now looking at the next exciting investment.”
Spectrum Scan has prepress to postpress, everything under one roof whether it is printing or fabrication of the POP or POS. Shah says, “This product is highly technical from prepress to mould-making, we have every process under one roof. It took us two years, to develop this from an ideation stage to the final product stage which includes the time taken to manufacture our customized thermoforming machine.
Shah firmly believes that brand managers are beginning to seize the opportunities presented by this technology in a big way. The emphasis on new technologies has been truly revolutionary with many high-street brands adding POS products in their marketing. Spectrum has also begun working with electroluminescent (EL) printing technology.
“The product managers or brand owners visit the plant and also spend time in the bazaar. I don’t think its an overstatement to say that most people who say they will spend an hour at the bazaar end up investing a day to understand the POS items kept there.”
The EL technology was invented in 1936 but was popularised only in the 1980s. “With a few calibrations, our traditional screen printing machine is equipped to produce EL panels. It is methodical, with little setup investment,” says Shah. According to him, EL printing is an eight-step process through traditional screen Amit Shah, managing director of Spectrum Scan explaining about the different types of POP and POS. Photo IPP printing. ITO-coated films are used for transparency and conductivity. Phosphorus-based inks are used on the coated side of the ITO film to print the desired artwork. This is followed by printing of the silver conducting ink and silver conductive tracks, followed by the process of soldering and crimping. The process has provision to illuminate specific areas of the artwork in a specific desired sequence. The essentials of the production are a climatically controlled shop floor and a dust-free environment.
The characteristics of the EL panels highlighted by Shah include low power consumption (up to 75 to 90% less compared to other technology), its flexibility, its light weight, its execution on any surface – flat or curved; the visibility from a distance and in fog; even-light production from its surface; its sturdiness; and being water-proof. Commenting on the life of an EL panel, Shah says, “The EL lights last for 8,000 hours and the digital print lasts for two to three years. Creativity has no price. It’s no rocket science that the customer is willing to pay a price for innovation. It is merely thinking out-of-the-box,” Shah concludes.
