Vapi-based digital print service provider Real Graphics recently installed a brand-new Konica Minolta AccurioPress 6120 monochrome production press to cater to the rising demand for black and white printing. The press was installed in the second half of September.
“We expect to see a sharp rise in demand for black and white print jobs as we have tied up with a few customers who will provide us with large volumes to print. In anticipation of these volumes, we decided on buying an AccurioPress 6120 monochrome production press. We expect to print about 15 lakh (1.5 million) impressions within the next twelve months,” says Sohil Daredia, owner of Real Graphics.
Real Graphics is a Konica Minolta digital press customer for a number of years. It currently has two Konica Minolta color digital production presses. The company prints leaflets, posters, stickers, flyers, visiting cards and business cards and other commercial work. Most of its volumes come through canvassers and designers while direct customers represent a small part of the overall production. Real Graphics services areas in and around Vapi which is an industrialized city just across the state border in Gujarat and yet near the Mumbai megalopolis.
Talking about his relationship with Konica Minolta, Daredia says that he once used a refurbished Konica Minolta digital press and since the last four years he has been using only brand new KM presses. He is all praise and he terms his experience in using these as excellent.
“Our association with the company is very old and we have enjoyed the relationship. The quality of the output of the machines is excellent and the after sales service is also very good. In fact, it was our customers who asked us to buy the AccurioPress 6120,” he says.
The AccurioPress 6120 monochrome press has an output of 120 pages a minute and has an output resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi. It also contains a high-speed, dual-color scanner with a maximum scanning speed of 240 opm.
Slow recovery post lockdown
During the lockdown Real Graphics was relatively less impacted as it serviced the pharmaceutical companies categorized as essential services. The print service provider was also printing stickers for a sanitizer manufacturing company.
“We were somewhat less affected by the lockdown because we were servicing a customer in the essential services segment. However, the overall business is still down from what it was in January and February this year,” Daredia says.
He is uncertain about how long it will take for the company to fully recover, but there is some uptick in business in recent weeks thanks to the festival seasonal demand. “We expect an increase in business in the next three months. However, the real picture will emerge by January once the festival season is over,” Daredia concludes.