A digital printer for more than two decades, Lucknow-based Amar Fax produces books, business cards, pamphlets, menus, high-end invitation cards, point of sale (POS) material, and other print products in the administrative headquarters of the district and division. “We have two facilities, one at Hazratganj, the main branch, and another in Aliganj, which started two years ago,” said Prabhjot Singh, the owner of Amar Fax.
Singh discussed the company’s new installation and the improvements in efficiency that it has enabled. While discussing the latest equipment and the overall success of its various Konica Minolta digital presses, he noted, “We have installed the new MGI Jv3D One machine. It has UV inkjet technology combined with Konica Minolta’s drop-on-demand piezoelectric print heads for high quality and speed. It has a software suite that allows you to follow jobs, manage job queues, create job tickets, recall reprints and adjust your AIS scanner.”
On a monthly basis, the company can print 1,80,000 color pages in the Aliganj branch, and at Hazratganj, it can produce up to 1,10,000 color pages. And for the B&W prints, it can print around 1,00,000 pages from both facilities each month.
Other Konica Minolta digital color production presses acquired by Amar Fax include the Accuriopress 101, C1100, C6100, C1060, two pro-1100 black and white presses, and KIP and HP wide format output devices and a Xerox Map machine.
On the expansion, Singh said, “The company is interested in the high-end digital presses launched by Konica Minolta recently. We are planning to buy it soon to give better and to add more embellishment to the prints.”
General overview of the printing industry
The Covid-19 period has been a prolonged setback to the commercial print industry, and many printers are still suffering. Many of the smaller printers are at a standstill, although the recently concluded PrintPack exhibition has injected a bit of in-person networking and new product enthusiasm into the printing industry.
The weekly, if not daily, digital press installations signify that commercial printing is back and that more capacity is required. Digital print is still more expensive per page than offset print but there is some change in the mindset that points to more short runs and an increase in volumes. Although digital is predominantly used for business cards, pamphlets, menus, paper bags, albums, and photo books, many customers are no longer interested in the economies of longer runs of offset.
