Delhi-based signage and display firm Colour Mate Digital installed the Esko Kongsberg C60 3.2-meter digital cutting table in April 2017. They are the first customer in India to purchase this wide Kongsberg multifunctional digital finishing table for signage, display graphics and packaging applications.
Colour Mate needed more speed and support for their diversification strategy into packaging applications, and the Kongsberg table was an ideal solution. Colour Mate Digital partner Mr. Sandeep Bhutani states, “Our first Kongsberg table—an XN44 installed more than four years ago—has been a wonderful experience for us. As our market grew in volume and we achieved sophistication in design, we needed a faster and more versatile solution for finishing the output generated on our eight wide format inkjet printers. We evaluated our options, and without hesitation chose the Esko Kongsberg C60 digital cutting table. A huge benefit is its ability to cut vinyl sign boards, ECP, Sunpack foam board sheets, soft textiles, flex, PVC and several other substrates of varying thickness and density.”
Mr. Bhutani adds, “The signage and display market in India is growing at a healthy rate of 22 to 25% annually. Multinational corporations are investing heavily in India for brand-building activities, and this is quite encouraging for digital printing operations like us.” Colour Mate Digital has kept pace with the industry growth; the company has a 10,000-square-foot plant and 40 employees. It produces POP displays, signage, banners and billboards for a broad range of clients including advertising agencies, stand builders and architects. Mr. Bhutani is very optimistic about the company’s future potential for growth since POP signage and displays are an extremely efficient way for consumer product and service companies to target specific audiences.
The new Kongsberg C60 at Colour Mate Digital with automation features, including a roll feeder and conveyor, has increased the company’s daily finishing and converting capacity from 100 to 500 sheets. With the C60’s special knives, router tools and automation, 95% of the materials used for wide format signage and POP displays can be converted with high accuracy quickly.
Future ready
Colour Mate Digital has plans to further enhance its operation by adding Esko’s ArtiosCAD structural design software for corrugated, folding carton, POP, POS, and free standing displays. “The addition of ArtiosCAD will make us futureready as well as help us design more complicated designs with greater ease and precision,” Mr. Bhutani adds. “It also helps that Esko’s experienced team in India is always ready to help us with its domain expertise and handholding when needed.”
Always pleased by the success of his customers, Mr. Karan Talwar, Esko India sales leader for North and East India and Bangladesh, takes special joy in helping early adopters. Mr. Talwar says, “Colour Mate Digital has always been a pioneer in adopting the latest and best technology available for the sign and display graphics industry. As an early adopter of digital finishing technology with a Kongsberg XN44 cutting table in 2012, Colour Mate was able to innovate, diversify and grow its business. As one of the earliest wide format and digital inkjet print bureaus to foresee the advantages that high-end digital finishing solutions brought to digital printing, it’s a pleasure to see the company notch up another first for the Indian sign and display graphics industry.”
