Arrow Digital displayed the Vutek GS3250LX Pro printer at the recently concluded Pamex 2017. The printer was sold to Prince Digi Graphics of Mumbai. Arrow Digital is the India representative of EFI.
“Prince Digi Graphics is an old customer of ours. They are not new to Arrow nor are they new to Vutek. So, with the Vutek GS3250LX Pro printer they have upgraded to the next level,” said Sam Patel, managing director, Arrow Digital.
The Efi-Vutek GS3250LX Pro is a 3.2-meter wide flatbed and roll-to-roll UV printer with image quality of up to 1000 dpi, production speeds up to 2400 square feet per hour and excellent color gamut. It has a 10-color configuration – eight colors and two whites.
Patel also shed light on the Vutek 5r, which was launched at EFI Connect 2017, and said that by February 2018, there will be four installations of Vutek 5r in India.
Talking about some trends in the signage industry, he said that soft signage applications are gaining currency fast and that the whole retail industry will switch to soft signage in the next couple of years.
In 2018, Arrow will focus on green media applications, 3D and thermoforming.
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.
