Surat-based SS Graphics has been involved in commercial jobs of printing leaflets, books and catalogues for over two decades now. Mahaveer Manakchand Jain, director at SS Graphics, believes in latest technology equipped with automation. He states, “Ankan Offset, with its 12,000 sq. ft. unit, meets the demands of Surat and Vapi regions with its range of commercial products. Apart from Ryobi, our unit is equipped with Heidelberg and Lithrone 426 and 428 presses. Initially, we chose Enthrone press. However, taking into account the requirement of 25 x 36” input paper size, we switched to Ryobi press.” The recently installed Ryobi is the first press in Gujarat that is manufactured by RMGT. Its in-feed and output delivery feeders are manufactured by Mitsubishi.
“Ryobi empowers us to carry out at least 50 jobs consisting of 300 to 400 sheets. Equipped with CIP4, it assists the printers to get the matched quality prints at less than 10 wasted sheets. Though the speed of the machine is 16,000 pages an hour, due to low volumes, we operate the work horse at a speed of 8,000 sheets per hour for paper substrates varying from 80 to 300 gsm. So far, we haven’t turned our focus to digital and believe offset will never fail. In Surat, the market demands fair quantity for six months. For the remaining months, we depend on the festive seasons. Beyond high-print quality, clients today demand for finishing effects including embossing and spot UV. Going with the flow, we installed a hot foil stamping and varnish press. To increase the volumes, we have begun production of toothpaste cartons and rigid boxes,” he says. SS Graphics further plans to outfit the unit with prepress equipment.
Second installation of Ryobi
Surat-based notebooks exporter Nemlaxmi Books opted for RMGT 920 six-colour coater UV printing press. Having a rich experience of more than 10 decades, Nemlaxmi provides its paper stationery products consisting of 16 to 200 sheets in a book to office- and college-goers under the brand name of Genius, Target, Gravity and Classic. Different brands have different grades of paper with the standard sizes. Speaking to IPP, Vineet Sekhani, director, Nemlaxmi Books says, “Nemlaxmi Books produces its own branded stationery products as well as other brands and supplies to roughly 70 countries. In India, Gujarat and a few places in Maharashtra are our market. Earlier, majority of the jobs were outsourced, but with the growth in business and quantity, we thought it to be wise to have a press. With the installation of Ryobi, we can further diversify the job to print package. Apart from Ryobi, we consider Heidelberg but due to space constraint, we switched to Ryobi press.”
“Nemlaxmi Books produces its own branded stationery products as well as other brands and supplies to roughly 70 countries. In India, Gujarat and a few places in Maharashtra are our market. Earlier, majority of the jobs were outsourced, but with the growth in business and quantity, we thought it to be wise to have a press. With the installation of Ryobi, we can further diversify the job to print package. Apart from Ryobi, we consider Heidelberg but due to space constraint, we switched to Ryobi press.”
The new Ryobi press is spread across 100,000 sq. ft. and delivers around 600 containers in a year. Sekhani states, “In India, there is a high volume of business for paper stationery products and over a period stationery books have developed by using different grades of paper and finishes on book covers. Other leading products in the market are Classmate stationery books by ITC and a few others by Navneet, Nightingale and others.”
Going forward, Nemlaxmi plans to purchase post-press machinery and expand its services in packaging products. They intend to expand their market base through the online medium.