Arya Sons installs Komori Enthrone 429 in Bawana

Plans a Scodix Ultra digital press in September

409
Arya Sons installs Komori Enthrone 429 in Bawana
Jitender Kumar with the newly installed Komori Enthrone 429 press. Photo IPP

Bawana-based Arya Sons recently installed a 4-color Komori Enthrone 29 press, making it the company’s first capital investment in a brand new press. The Enthrone 29 is a 20 x 29 inch press with speeds up to 13,000 sheets per hour. In addition to the above, the company has two used 5-color Heidelberg presses —SM 72 and SM102—which were installed in 2013 and 2015, respectively, and two double-color Heidelberg presses. “I wanted to engage my 5-color presses more on metallized printing. So this is one of the reasons why I invested in the 4-color brand new Komori,” says Jitender Kumar of Arya Sons.

Kumar is a veteran in the print industry who joined his father to set up a small plant in 1987 with a used varnish machine to cater to clients in the segments of spare parts, liquor, playing cards, etc. “The varnish machine was the first equipment we had ever bought,” reminisces Kumar nostalgically. Interestingly, although he started his career by catering to liquor companies, today he refrains from catering to any product that are considered a health hazard.

Kumar started the Bawana plant in 2011 with a business partner. However, in 2013, his partner parted ways and Kumar bought his first printing press—a 5-color Heidelberg SM72—followed by another two years later. “The demand increased over time and the company started adding more clients owing to its capability of producing better quality and making timely delivery. Eventually, we have become a well-known printer in this area. With the new Komori running, our productivity has doubled,” shares Kumar. According to Kumar, Arya Sons prints about 40,000 sheets every day. Today, the company prints all kinds of commercial jobs such as banners, posters, books, magazines, wedding cards, etc. as well as prints for packaging and pharma companies.

In addition to the Enthrone 29, the company has also invested in a plate punching machine from Noida-based Rado Packaging Machines. “By September 2017, we plan to install a Scodix Ultra digital press for embellishment and value-added printing,” says Kumar. The company has a host of semi-automatic and fully automatic screen printing machines and varnish machines to cater to its discerning clientele.

In 2016, Arya Sons set up its own prepress unit powered by a Kodak Trendsetter CtP and an Epson SureColor P7000 proofer. The company consumes around 80 Kodak plates daily.

“We have been witnessing healthy growth over the years. The biggest challenge in the printing industry today is not job orders; it’s is in fact the scarcity of skilled labor and supervisors. If you look at our industry, the supervisors are basically skilled labor who have spent a longer time with the owner. He is neither highly qualified nor has any leadership skills. The owners have no choice but to rely on them because hardly ever a educated employee wants to join a printing press,” concludes Kumar.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

Subscribe Now

1 COMMENT

  1. I want to print metalized printing on 300gsm with us hybrid on it.
    Sizes are 25 x 30; and 20 x 30 inches.
    I am a reseller. Contact with me this no: 7500880661

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here