Andheri East based Imaginarium, a leader in 3D printing and advanced manufacturing technology, recently showcased India’s first commercial HP 3D Printer—the HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 printing solution—at its the art additive manufacturing facility.
Imaginarium showcased HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200’s disruptive prototyping and manufacturing capabilities as well as outlining their go-to-market strategy as one of the first reselling partners of the product in India. Imaginarium is the first customer of the system in India.
The Jet Fusion 3D printer was commercially launched in the country on 17 January 2018.
Atit Kothari, business development – leadership team at Imaginarium talked about the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, and highlighted some of the benefits of 3D printing and how it can change the overall manufacturing industry worldwide and in India.
He said that with this technology the lead time can be greatly reduced, transportation costs can be saved as manufacturing can happen close to the customer, smaller inventory will be needed, among other benefits.
“Imaginarium has always prided itself in being on the forefront of the 3D printing technology revolution and our partnership with HP for its first commercial launch is a logical step in that direction. We believe this will disrupt the Indian manufacturing sector in particular and open up new avenues for the creative Indian mind,” Kothari said.
According to Kothari, Imaginarium would be targeting the entire manufacturing spectrum including auto, appliances, electronics and healthcare.
During the media demonstration, a functional lock-key and a carabiner, two of the most common applications relevant in various industries, were successfully printed out at the rate of 11 seconds per layer of 80 microns. The entire process, from uploading the designs on HP build platform to final output took no more than 3 hours for 40 pieces each of lock-key and the carabiner. Presently, the material being used to print is plastic and there are plans to incorporate metals and alloys in the near future
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.
