PrintExpo-Chennai 2017, the ninth edition of an exhibition-cum-conference dedicated to the design and print industry, came to a close on 20 August 2017. We at Indian Printer & Publisher caught up with some of the leading exhibitors at the show to see their product offering and to understand their business dynamics following the implementation of GST.
This year’s edition had over 250 exhibitors from India and overseas and saw a footfall of over 12,000 trade visitors across the three days of the event. As promised, PrintExpo 2017 was definitely bigger and better than its previous edition, with many exhibitors showcasing the latest in print media technology. Here’s a round-up.
Epson
Epson’s stand was beaming with curious visitors looking to get more details on their SureColor S Series printer on display – the S40670. Designed to deliver exceptional quality at low cost for all types of indoor and outdoor commercial printing applications, the S40670 prints up to 58.4 square meters an hour on media up to 64 inches wide and 1.0 millimeter thick. Best suited for high-quality indoor and outdoor signage, vehicle and wall graphics, the printer comes with a 2-year warranty and features the new and improved Epson UltraChrome GS3 eco-solvent ink formulation that reduces ink consumption.
Graphica Flextronica
Graphica Flextronica, manufacturers of screen printing, UV curing and textile screen printing machines, had a very busy stand with Shripada Bhat, editor, Graphica News India, addressing queries of eager visitors. The company presented live demos of screen printing for various UV special effects on DMI’s offset printed table calendar job. The majority of the visitors were from the offset and packaging fraternity who spent time in understanding the advanced technique. Grafica Flextronica achieved resounding success with several order bookings for its CamShell, Nano-Print Plus screenprinting machines, Nano-UV and complete screen making set-up. This was in addition to several serious enquiries for Grafica’s wide range of screenprinting machines, including its fully automatic cylinder press.
Grafica’s focus at the exhibition was on educating the printers about the creative application of screen printing technology to enhance the face value of commercial and packaging printing by using various new age UV special effects.
Monotech Systems
Monotech Systems, a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-end, high performance, reliable products and solutions for the printing and packaging industry, had a spacious stand with a number of products on display. Akash Kumar, senior manager – marketing and communications at Monotech, was a busy man attending to numerous visitors who came to the company’s stand that showcased its own Pixeljet Eco 1800TS, the Mimaki JV 400 Series, Canon’s Oce Plotwave multi-function system, Canon MFS and Canon iPF671E printers for large format and technical data printing, along with imagePROGRAF iPF671E.
Kumar said, “Being a one-stop solution provider for the printing and packaging industry, we have displayed a wide range of products here. Digicut paper cutter from postpress, Mimaki Latex and Pixeljet Eco Solvent printer from wide format printing, the Dumor, Sysform and GMP range of digital finishing equipment, GMP and Derprosa range of BOPP specialized lamination films and ValuePRO NTR media from digital finishing systems, as well as Scodix Ultra Pro and Highcon Digital Cutting and Creasing samples from digital print enhancement for commercial and packaging.”
According to Kumar, it was a highly successful show for Monotech, with the company closing a good number of deals and receiving many queries.
Konica Minolta
With one of the biggest stands at the event, Konica Minolta had a range of machinery displayed at its stand, which included its Accurio Press series (C2060/C2070), bizhub Press series (C71hc, C1100/C1085) and its KIP 7170, the company’s newly launched powerful, modular solution for wide-format printing.
SR Vasudevan, regional sales manager – production printers sales division, Konica Minolta spoke at length about the company’s flagship model bizhub Press C1085 and C1100, which offer speeds of 100/85 ppm on 55 to 350 GSM papers. The printers meet the latest global standards, supporting various industry standards as well as high-level color management. Other interesting features include JDF support, APPE, Pantone, industry-standard Fiery and Creo controllers.
According to Vasudevan, Konica Minolta holds 60% market share in the South. Talking about the company’s presence in the region and the impact of GST on KM sales, he said, “South India has always been an early adopter of technology. Whatever new comes in, South India is the first market that shows the willingness to adopt and implement that technology. As far as GST is concerned, Konica Minolta has sold more number of machines post the new tax regime.”
Redlands Machinery
Redlands Machinery, a major print finishing equipment trading company with more than a decade of experience in selling and servicing of automated postpress equipment in India, had a successful show at PrintExpo 2017. The company had on display the Ritz-Jet 3D UV printing machine, Champion CWF-160 Pocket Envelope machine, Mohr Program Cutting machine, and Uchida Aerocut Prime business card cutter.
According to Babu P, marketing manager, Redlands, “We had a good show and managed to bag four orders for our Ritzjet 3D-F UV flatbed printer with foiling unit and three orders for our ‘made in India’ Champion CWF-160 Pocket Envelope machine.”
Xerox
Xerox, which was also the platinum sponsor of the event, showcased its all-new digital press line-up—the Xerox Versant 3100 (for the mid- to high-end market), Xerox Versant 180 (for mid market users), and Xerox C70 (targeted at the entry-level market). Balaji Rajagopalan, executive director – technology, channels and international relations, Xerox said, “The all-new Versant series promises to be more robust and comes with over 500 unique modifications to ensure greater reliability and better print quality. The machines feature in-line calibration, consume less power and feature full HD display with 1024 shades of color.”
While the Versant 3100 offers a speed of 100 ppm on stocks and specialty media from 52–350 gsm, Versant 180 is a powerful production press printing at 80 ppm. The third variant, Versant C70, prints at speeds up to 70 ppm color and 75 ppm black-and-white.
The three variants in the series are powered by the all-new touch-display EFI Fiery RIP that offers a phenomenal advantage from the point of workflow automation and makes the workflow simpler, faster and smoother. For Xerox, PrintExpo 2017 it was a huge success as they managed to book orders for all the three machines on display.
Ricoh
Ricoh had a remarkably spacious stand with five machines on display—the Pro 8200S, Pro C9100, Pro 7100X, wide format W6700SP and Pro C5200S. According to Sambit Misra, chief operating officer – PP at Ricoh India, the company received an overwhelming response and closed many good deals, which included orders for its Pro C9100, during the three-day event. With many queries for its product line-up, Ricoh is hopeful of securing more deals post the event. The Ricoh Pro C9100 is the company’s high speed, heavy segment production color laser printer. It prints at speeds up to 110 ppm based upon A4. The press has a maximum sheet size of 13×192, a maximum monthly volume of one million based on A4, with a duty cycle of 1.75 m.
The Pro C5200S, launched at the event for the southern market, prints up to 65 pages per minute with breathtaking colors, advanced finishing and a familiar interface to produce more jobs.
Pavithra Machinery
Pavithra Machinery, a well-known manufacturer and seller of offset printing machines, used offset printing machines and commercial offset printing machines, had proprietor Manoj Kumar representing the company for trade queries during the event. Kumar agreed with the adverse impact that the new GST regime has had on Pavithra Machinery. However, he sounded hopeful in things getting even in the months to come.
