Gandhi Nagar, Vijayawada based Sri Jayaram Offset was set up in 2009. G Venkateswara Reddy, the owner of the press, was with the Indian Army and served during the Kargil War. After the war ended, Reddy left the army and decided to start his own business. This is when, inspired by a relative who was a printer, Sri Jayaram Offset was established. Reddy recently bought an RMGT 4-color LED UV ready press that was installed in August and is fully operational now. Indian Printer and Publisher met G Venkateswara Reddy, owner of Sri Jayaram Offset, to talk about the latest installation and about the commercial printing market in Vijayawada, which thrives on the printing of book titles, wedding cards, and calendars.
“Vijayawada is known as the printing hub in Andhra Pradesh. It is what Sivakasi is to Tamil Nadu. Printing of wedding cards is our mainstay though we undertake all kinds of commercial printing work. Around 40% of our work consists of wedding card printing; other commercial jobs like pamphlets, brochures, posters, book titles and calendars make up the remainder of our work. With Amravathi recently designated the new capital of Andhra, the printing industry has benefited a lot as we have also started receiving many printing jobs from the government. Basically, we cater to the whole of Andhra and Tamil Nadu,” says Reddy.
Increasing demand for quality
With the growing demand for print, Reddy also saw a surge in demand for quality work. “This is primarily why we felt the need to invest in a brand new machine. There is good demand in the market but there is excessive competition. However, I feel one who provides good quality can never suffer losses. Customers are now demanding quality work; they don’t want to settle for anything less than the best. So we felt bringing in a brand new machine will not only help us deliver exceptional quality but also help cut down on production time owing to the high-speed capacity of the new machine,” adds Reddy.
While on a visit to the PrintPack show earlier this year in Delhi, Reddy saw the RMGT 790ST-XL and decided to invest in it. Reddy was particularly impressed by the services being provided by Provin Technos (the authorized dealers of RMGT Ryobi machines in India), the machine cost and print quality. The 790ST-XL is a 4-color press that can be configured according to customer needs, providing the optimum printing environment for increasing productivity and profitability. Running at a top speed of 16,000 per hour, the press comes with a digital-controlled printing control system, which ensures high-speed and high-quality printing. It can handle 8-up printing of B5 size and has a double-diameter transfer cylinder for stable sheet transport. It is a fully automatic convertible perfecting device capable of one-pass perfecting and can handle sheet thicknesses up to 0.8 mm (optional). As far as inks are concerned, Reddy uses Toyo, Heidelberg and Turbo micro inks on the press.
Reddy’s printing press also has a used Mitsubishi E Series, which he has been running for the past 10 years. Although the machine calls for minor repair works at times, there have been no major issues with its working in all these years – the reason why Reddy was clear about investing in another Ryobi press. To ensure smooth running of the press, Reddy himself goes for periodic checks and stops work whenever he feels there is some problem with a machine part. “I make sure I get the part replaced immediately, even if I have to stop the work for a while. We are a small printing unit but we never compromise on quality. I have put in a lot of work into establishing this setup and I have plans to expand this unit further,” Reddy shares.
Going ahead, Reddy wants to have a prepress and finishing division in his unit for which he has already invested in a new space. He also has plans to diversify into packaging by the end of 2020.
