The resumption of digital press installations on a weekly if not daily basis indicates the return of commercial printing and the need to build up capacities. Although the per-page cost of digital print remains higher than offset print, it continues to grow for short runs and increasingly encroaches into slightly higher quantities especially for book printing as the economy opens up.
Zoom Print by Print Mart has installed its third digital machine from Konica Minolta India, an MGI JetVarnish 3DS in March 2022. In our recent visit to its Pitam Pura branch in New Delhi, the Konica Minolta and Print Mart teams gave us a tour of the plant and briefed us about their recently purchased machines.
Print Mart has a total of 27 outlets across Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad in the Delhi NCR and in other cities further away such as Moradabad and Jalandhar. Its monthly print production capacity is approximately 44 lakh (4.4 million) A4 pages. Most of this print capacity is in full color, and with capabilities in several plants to add special accent colors such as pink, white, gold, and silver. Its monochrome capacity of 20 lakh (or 2 million) A4 pages has been added in the past year.
The MGI JetVarnish 3DS has augmented the digital print and embellishment or enhancement capacity of Print Mart. It can spot coat prints, highlight defined areas and add 3D effects. The digital varnish technology is suited for a wide range of applications, from books to business cards, high-end invitation cards, packaging, point of sale (POS) material and other print products. The machine also includes a full-page scanner.
Vikas Bhatt, director and partner of Print Mart, remarks, “We at Print Mart print on all media, for example, wedding cards, business cards, books, catalogs, and monocartons for cosmetics, food, spices, and health brands. Everything can be printed at Print Mart. Our machines can print on paper and paperboard from 57 to 400 gsm. We have experience with 70 gsm paper and have not yet tried 57 gsm.
Bhatt says, the primary purpose of buying a new machine is to boost the production capacity and maintain or enhance the product mix. He added that since his company’s clicks on its machines are high, it adds new machines both to maintain quality and to offer print quality that is better than others. The added value of print enhancements and special effects using the MGI helps it to differentiate its imaging services further from other print service providers.
