In the first week of March 2016, the installation of a new 4-color Komori Lithrone G37 was proceeding apace at Narain Printers in Noida. According to IN Mittal of Narain Printers, its main business is the printing of textbooks, reference books and children’s books — about 50,000 books every day.
“The new Komori will help us print more books in less time. The old presses that we have print about 8,000 sheets an hour while the G37 can print 15,000 sheets an hour. Also, now we will be able to provide better quality to our clients,” says Mittal. The G37 is a compact press that with its 640 x 940 mm maximum sheet size can produce A1-size prints and with its 37-inch width addresses the full span of requirements in the publishing and commercial printing segments. Color management can be implemented by with space to include a CMS color bar even with 8-up A4 or American letter size impositions, making the press suitable for producing high page count products with high print quality.
Established in 1993 in Delhi and run by Prashant Mittal, Narain Printers used to bind books for other printers on a contractual basis. It was only in 2001, after Prashant’s father IN Mittal retired from his bank job, that the plant in Noida was set up. Today the company operates two plants in Noida while the Delhi plant has been closed.
Speaking of the book printing market, Mittal says, “In the future, small book printers are going to fade and only mid-level printers are going to survive while top-level printers too will have to struggle for their healthy survival. Since the profit margin is shrinking, small printers are shutting shop as well as big printers are selling off machines with export volumes coming down drastically along with the margins. Big printers will not be able to work on the volumes that mid-level printers like us are used to handling profitably. Our liabilities to banks and employees are less and hence we will be the last one in the receiving line when things go wrong.”
Mittal says that digital print is also eroding the offset book printing market to some extent as, “Many times we see volumes going to digital printers which we too could have printed profitably.” However, Mittal says while this kind of volume poaching between technologies will remain, it is likely that both segments and technologies will continue to coexist.
Narain Printers also installed an Ausetter T848 thermal CtP from Amsky in November 2015. The company mainly uses plates from Technova, imaging and processing about 150 plates daily. Before installing the CtP, Narain Printers outsourced its plates from a prepress bureau. “With the prepress, press and postpress departments under a single roof, we are able to safeguard and control our margin in a better and planned manner. Not only that, we are sometimes able to delight our customers by advancing the delivery schedule of their books,” concludes Mittal.
