In October 2014 Mumbai-based Nirman Impresses augmented its digital printing capabilities by adding Ricoh Pro C651ex to complement the Xerox press it already had. With the volume of shortrun jobs increasing, it had become a necessity to add another digital press. Dhiren Thakkar, director of the firm is of the view that a print house needs to have both digital as well as offset capabilities to successfully grow in the current market situation. In offset, Nirman has multiple Heidelberg presses. It has a Kodak CtP in its prepress department while the postpress department has finishing equipment such as lamination machines, punching machine, and pinning machine.
In June the print house replaced the Ricoh Pro C651ex with the 5-color Ricoh C7100x under a buyback offer by Ricoh. “The 5-color C7100x is a unique digital press and we wanted to explore the niche and value added segment of the market with the help of the fifth color. It has been just a few weeks since we got the press but the feedback from our customers has been very positive. This is a new segment for us and we are excited about exploring it,” says Thakkar.
He says some aggressive marketing and an educational campaign would be required to increase awareness about the press among its current customers. All potential customers would also be informed about the new technology that Nirman has acquired and the kind of jobs the new press can do. “We are looking at print on plastic sheets and other types of similar substrates. Also, white, which is C7100x’s fifth color, gives a silver effect when printed on a black paper,” Thakkar says.
The C7100x has new applications that support textured media, envelopes, cling film and transparent media. The machine has a print resolution of up to 1200 x 4800 dpi with print speed of 90 ppm and paper size of 13 x 27.5 inches. Another segment that Nirman is interested in is security or anti-counterfeiting-related jobs. “Jobs such as printing certificates is something we would aggressively look at. The technology offered by C7100x is suitable for that kind of printing,” he says.
