“Fabric as a medium will gain popularity”

Mumbai-based Avenue Graphics is western India’s leading player offering complete solutions for brand communication, merchandising displays such as POP and POS, indoor and outdoor printing, signage, product development, business gifting and various other solutions. This year the company plans to further add to its technological capabilities after its last round of investment a couple of years ago.

“This year we will be adding at least two to three more high technology printers. We are focusing on UV and Latex technologies and by May this year, our management will deliberate on the brands and models to opt for. We need to figure out what technology will fit us and the team with which our team would be most comfortable,” says Ashwin Maheshwari of Avenue Graphics. A couple of years ago, Avenue made a heavy investment in EFI VUTEk GS 3250 Pro, a printer designed to deliver high-quality graphics for specialty applications. The 3.2 m EFI VUTEk GS 3250 is a flatbed and rollto-roll UV printer with 8-color, white, Fast-5, roll-to-roll, rigid substrate and dual roll capabilities. It also offers advanced three-layer capabilities for high impact POS graphics.

Currently, in addition to the EFI VUTEk GS 3250 Pro, Avenue Graphics has two HP Latex printers as well Epson eco-solvent printers.

Challenges in the signage industry 

Avenue Graphics may be a technologically savvy company which keeps up with the developments in the industry but, according to Maheshwari, the Indian signage industry is facing many challenges. The top most one is that a large chunk of service providers indulges in mindless imitation when it comes to technology. “Ideally, printers should carve out their own niche and space. Unfortunately, in our industry that is not the case. If one successful printer adopts a technology, others mindlessly follow thinking they too will be successful. This only messes up the market in terms of price and services,” he argues. Other pressing issues that the industry is facing are that of widespread usage of thirdparty inks, low quality printers and poor quality of substrates.

Maheshwari prescribes that these challenges can be tackled by greater cooperation in the industry, of both printers and manufacturers. “These problems need to be gradually phased out for the greater health of the industry.”