Small but fast growing Andheri print shops opt for Canon imagePRESS C650

Rising digital print volumes in Andheri

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Kapil Gada, proprietor of Mangalam Xerox
Kapil Gada, proprietor of Mangalam Xerox

In recent months Canon India has achieved success with its entry-level press from the imagePRESS series in the Mumbai suburb of Andheri and the adjoining district of Jogeshwari. Two fast-growing digital print shops, one in Andheri East and the other in Jogeshwari East, have opted for the imagePRESS C650 production printers in order to deal with the growing digital print volumes.

Canon imagePRESS series consists of ImagePRESS C650, ImagePRESS C750 and ImagePRESS C850 production printers. In terms of speeds, the C650, C750 and C850 can print 65,75 and 85 pages per minute respectively with resolutions of 2400 x 2400 dpi.

Mahavir Digital, based in the Chakala area of Andheri East, a few months ago bought the imagePRESS C650 to add to the multiple digital presses it already has. The print shop deals with mostly corporate clients and prints items such as booklets, brochures, visiting cards, stickers, catalogs and flyers, among others. “We have used solutions from Konica Minolta, Xerox as well as Canon. We found the experience of working with Canon very satisfying. As for the technical aspects of the imagePRESS C650, the best part is that the press can run long prints in duplex mode which saves a lot of time when dealing with large volumes. Also, we are doing a lot of jobs on 300 gsm paper,” says Chirag Gada, one of the proprietors of Mahavir Digital. The print shop prints around 30,000 impressions every month on the new Canon press.

Chirag Gada of Mahavir Digital
Chirag Gada of Mahavir Digital

Need for better printers to cater the rising demand

Talking about plans for further expansion, Gada says that Mahavir Digital is looking to add a new monochrome printer in the coming few months but space is turning about to be a big constraint. “Our print volumes are rising, and we need to add more black and white printers. But in a place like Mumbai it is very hard to find space. We currently have three small monochrome printers and we feel we will have to get rid of some of these smaller printers to make way for the new one,” he says.

About twenty minutes auto ride northwards from Mahavir Digital is Mangalam Xerox, located in Jogeswhari East. Apart from running a digital print shop, Mangalam Xerox also stocks stationery items. The Canon imagePRESS C650 is the first production printer that the print shop has bought.

“We were witnessing a gradual increase in our print volumes and the smaller digital printers that we had were not enough to cater to the rising demand. That is when I decided that we need a production level printer. I had heard good feedback about Canon and so I opted for the imagePRESS C650,” says Kapil Gada, proprietor of Mangalam Xerox.

Since the commissioning of the press a few months ago, Mangalam Xerox is printing approximately 25,000 impressions every month on the new printer. “At the moment I am happy with this press and expect volumes to increase further going forward,” Kapil Gada says.

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.

– Naresh Khanna

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