At the recently concluded WanIfra conference in Kolkata, Trelleborg announced its increased focus on the Indian newspaper market. “The last financial year was good for us although we could have done better. This is primarily because the focus was not entirely on India. Now we are turning our focus on India considering the growth in the Asian print market,” says Maniraju Bora, Trelleborg’s sales and technical director for the SouthWest Asia region.
According to Bora, India needs robust and enduring products. “We tried to find out how customers use our product in India and how the same product is being used by customers in Europe. What we found out is that there is a 360-degree change in how both use the products. For example, when we talk about blanket cleaning, European users have auto-cleaning systems unlike their counterparts in India, where more than 90% users clean their blankets manually due to which the blankets wear out sooner. Today, we are poised at making products focused on Indian customers. We still manufacture the products outside India but the products now are manufactured according to the Indian conditions and requirements,” says Bora. The company has manufacturing plants in Lodi Vecchio, Italy; Shanghai, China; São Paulo, Brazil; France; US; and Sakado, Japan.
Trelleborg is a major supplier of offset blankets to the Indian newspaper segment, with an established dealer network across the country and with leading brands such as Vulcan, Rollin and Printec. Some products, like the neutral-feed Vulcan 202 and the positive-feed Vulcan Royal Web and Rollin Graffity Plus, are household names amongst newspaper printers.
“The research and development facilities at the Lodi Vecchio factory in Italy are extensive and the highly innovative experts are constantly pushing forward the boundaries of blanket technology. Their flexible and original approach to situations, and that of other technical teams at the manufacturing facility, means that we can work closely with newspaper printers in India to design or adapt blanket solutions to meet their specific requirements,” opines Bora.
In addition, Trelleborg has introduced several easy-to-download software tools. These include a ‘configuration’ product that allows users to select the correct blanket by entering the application sector, such as web coldest, web heatset, singlewidth, double-width, combi or UV. The software is quick and easy to use, and has been designed with the help of offset printing blanket experts in Trelleborg.
“Trelleborg is a pioneer in offset printing blankets. We deal extensively with both end users and press manufacturers,” informs Bora. “With feedback from around the world, the management is able to see new trends coming over the horizon; for example, the move towards printing stocks with lower gsm, the use of high-density pigment inks, plus the increasing popularity of FM screening and UV technologies.”
