L–R: Fred Poonawala of Comart, Tushar Dhote of Dhote Offset and Umang Singhal of Ricoh with
the new Ricoh Pro C5200s. Photo IPP
Ricoh India launched a brand new product for the Indian market during a well-attended event at Courtyard by Marriot hotel in Mumbai on 9 August 2017. The company unveiled the new Ricoh Pro C5200 series color production printers. The Pro C5200 series includes the Ricoh Pro C5200s and Ricoh Pro C5210s.
“We chose to launch the new series in Mumbai primarily because it is the commercial capital of India and also because the print volume is not just consolidated in a few areas but is spread across the city. So, the new series is ideal for printers who do not have very large volumes,” says Umang Singhal, national business and marketing manager, Ricoh India.
The Pro C5200s has a speed of 65 ppm while the ProC5210s has a speed of 80 ppm. The printers support media up to 360 gsm (simplex) and 300 gsm (duplex), and media sizes up to at 13 inch x 19.2 inch standard, with optional over-size media support of 13 inch x 27.5 inch. Both the printers offer a maximum resolution of 1,200 x 4,800 dpi and use an EFI Fiery digital front-end.
Talking about the profit of printers who the company plans to target, Singhal says that they would include printers with a budget of Rs. 20 lakh and who have print volumes of 10,000 to 20,000 impressions per month. Another segment that Ricoh aims at are the high-volume digital printers who already have large production printers but want a smaller production printer as back-up. The company will also target offset printers who get variable data printing jobs and short-runs jobs.
“Traditional printers can complement their offset printing operation with digital technology at a lower investment,” says Singhal.
Talking about the expectation with the new launch, Singhal states that there are no specific targets. “Right now, we do not have a target as to the number of machines we intend to sell. Our main objective is to create value for our customers. Through this product we have done many advancements and it has many USPs such as 360 gsm paper in this segment, which is a first. Also, the power consumption is significantly lower than similar products offered by our competitors.”
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.
