Sharp Digital installs KM’s MGI Jetvarnish 3D & Accurioshine 101

Konica Minolta’s 26th MGI Jetvarnish installation in India

By
Priyanka Tanwar
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776
Sharp Digital
(From L to R) Sharp Digital's directors Ekjot Singh and Gurvinder Singh along with Konica Minolta's vice president sales Kuldeep Malhotra at the installation of MGI Jetvarnish 3D One at Sharp Digital. Photo IPP

Sharp Digital with seven outlets is synonymous with ‘print on demand’ in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Gurvinder Singh, director Sharp Digital, began the printing unit at Rajendra Place in 1980. The print shop moved to Naraina in 2011 while the newest Sharp Digital site in the by-lanes of the Naraina Industrial Area, one of the busiest industrial area of the capital, came into being in February 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the country.

The company has seven outlets scattered across the Delhi NCR with print shops in Chawri Bazar, Naraina (two offices), Rajendra Place (two offices), Karol Bagh and Gurgaon. Sharp Digital provides print on demand solutions for educational materials and commercial books, brochures, visiting cards, and catalogs, together with party invites as well as wedding cards. 

The most alluring characteristic that draws clients to the Sharp Digital’s new Naraina industrial area space to be known as Jolly Reprographics is that everything from printing, cutting, creasing, folding, foiling, varnishing, binding, and finishing transpires under one roof.

MGI Jetvarnish strengthens Sharp Digital’s business model

Sharp Digital installed an MGI Jetvarnish 3D One and Accurioshine 101 on 28 October 2021 at the new Naraina plant. According to Kuldeep Malholtra, vice president sales and OP marketing for Konica Minolta India, this is the 26th installation for the Jetvarnish in India and the 8th one in the Delhi NCR region.

MGI Jetvarnish 3D One, a digital spot UV finishing device, empowers users to transform standard print jobs into appealing products that are more vibrant while adding tactile effects. The Jetvarnish 3D One model, which made its debut last year, has been designed as a compact, cost-effective entry-level remedy catering to all kinds of printers. The small operational footprint of the JetVarnish 3D One allows printers, finishers, and converters to have a full inhouse production and prototyping print embellishment system devoid of screens, dies, or plates. In addition, Sharp Digital has a battery of equipment including ten Canon digital presses along with a high precision IECHO digital die cutting machine.

Along with the new MGI 3D One, Konica Minolta has also supplied an AccurioShine 101 for offline foiling. The Accurioshine is an offline equipment supplied in combination with the Jetvarnish for applying foil on prints for stand out embellishment. Gurvinder Singh’s son Ekjot who now handles business operations along with him said, “This is an outstanding machine in the hot foil category with high speed and accuracy.”

KM’s Malhotra stated, “This is a crucial site and location for Konica Minolta looking at the surroundings – there are a lot of commercial printers in this area. Jolly Reprographics is a well-known name in the market which is providing end-to-end solutions for all customers. The installation of Konica Minolta MGI Jetvarnish 3D One will further strengthen their business model.”

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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