Widely knows as TPH, The Printers House will display a stand-alone 45,000 copies an hour Orient X-Press 4-Hi Tower press, at its stand at the Print Pack 2017 exhibition in Greater Noida. The highly configured 2 x 1 web offset press is equipped with shaftless drives, spray dampening, Megtec auto reel changers with web tension booster, Plc remote controls for ink and water balance, a QI auto registration system for color and the QI auto cut-off control on the folder capable of handling 7 webs.
Each unit driven by Siemens motors has an individual clutch, a vertical drive shaft and shear pin. Other features of the press to be shown include variable speed motorized RTFs (roller at top of the former) on the lower and upper formers on the folder. The press shown at PrintPack has already been sold to the leading Hindi daily Amar Ujala.
TPH will have nine of its branch managers at the stand to handle inquiries at the show and to arrange guided tours for interested customers to its modern plant in Ballabgarh. The plant is just over 50 kilometers from the exhibition site in Greater Noida but will take anywhere from 90 to 120 minutes to reach, depending on the traffic.
TPH continues to be optimistic about the opportunities in the Indian market where it has been successfully operating since 1946. Speaking to Indian Printer and Publisher, Kuldeep Singh, director, sales of TPH, said that the company, which is the oldest manufacturer of printing machines in India, also has the most number of installations in the country, “Our flagship brand, Orient is synonymous with printing presses in India to over 7,000 Orient press installations in till date.”
Growing faster than ever before
Singh says that 2016 has been the best year in terms of sales for TPH with a 30% increase in sales during the year in comparison to its best ever annual performance. He says that Orient presses from TPH are exported to around 50 countries across all the continents over the year and specifically pointed out that the largest number of its overseas installations are in China — around 800 machines that include 4-Hi print towers. He adds that it is a matter of pride for an Indian manufacturer to have so many installations in China, a country that is well-known for its own competitive manufacturing and export. Positive about markets in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe, Singh acknowledges the drastic fall in demand in Western Europe and North America.
TPH’s exports in 2016 were of the order of Rs. 20 crores (US$ 3 million). In the still growing domestic market, the company wants to tap the growing demand for 2 x 1 web offset newspaper and book presses in the smaller cities and towns where the vernacular language press dominates with multiple editions that are expected to grow continuous at a steady pace. According to Singh the market for 4 x 1 presses is extremely limited in India and perhaps already well served by the too many manufacturers in that segment.
Domestic competition
As the conversation moved towards domestic market competition, Singh explained that there is no competition for the Orient 36,000 cph presses in India, the hottest variant in the TPH stable right now. Loaded with shaftless drives, spray dampening system, auto reel changers and other features and automation options TPH has become very strong at the quality and volume end of the domestic newspaper market where there is an increase in color pagination, speed and automation. TPH sold several 50,000 and 45,000 cph presses in 2016 and is confident of making a stronger impact in the higher speed segment in the years ahead.
