Canon participated in the 15th PrintPack India exhibition and showed the Canon imagePRESS C110010VP color production digital press, the Canon imagePRESS C9010VP color production digital press, and the Canon imagePRESS C910 color digital press amongst its extensive array of digital output devices.
Indian debut for Canon’s inkjet wide format printers
Two new inkjet wide format products made their debut at the Canon stall at PrintPack – the Canon imagePROGRAF TZ Series and the Canon GP series including Canon imagePROGRAF GP-540, Canon imagePROGRAF GP-520, Canon imagePROGRAF GP-5300, and Canon imagePROGRAF. Both the newly introduced printers received a splendid response at the show.
Puneet Datta, senior director marketing and sales, Canon India shared his excitement with Indian Printer & Publisher, “TZ is, from our perspective of inkjet wide format, the fastest product that we have in the category. It’s a product that’s very well accepted by customers because this can do with accuracy line drawing reproduction as well as graphic arts whereas the GP series printers are the first printers in the world that are aqueous-based and have pink fluorescent ink, so it’s very unique and we have received a very good response from our customers for this product as well.”
When asked about Canon’s business performance at the show Datta admitted to having closed deals. “Canon’s business is almost close to what the company achieved in 2019 through PrintPack. The good part is that we have a good prospect funnel. There are a lot of customers who’ve shown interest but have not signed deals yet so we’ll be going back to them for closing the business over the next couple of weeks,” he added.
Kiosk philosophy for sustainability
Sustainable solutions have been gaining momentum in the last couple of years in the print industry. “Sustainability is no longer a buzzword today. It’s the ethos and it’s the basics of how one should be doing business. Canon has always imbibed sustainability from a couple of decades.
“The philosophy that we follow is kiosk which means living and working together for the common good and sustainability is an integral part of it. In our products we always look at things like packaging and how we can reduce the carbon footprint there. Canon has been at the forefront of taking sustainability as an agenda and driving it forward in the ecosystem,” Datta exclaimed.
Indian labels and packaging market witnesses growth
Labels and packaging have seen tremendous growth in the last few years. The Covid-19 pandemic lead to an exponential growth of home chefs as with eateries and restaurants closed and the work-from-home model in place, many youngsters got a chance to experiment in the kitchen with the extra time on their hands. This, in turn, led to a substantial increase in startups and home office owners who are manufacturing food ingredients and accompaniments including pickles, spice mixes, jams, chutneys, sauces, and more.
Datta said, “From a print fraternity perspective the last two years were not too great but packaging, on the other hand, has seen a tremendous rise even during the Covid-19 pandemic. This growth is not only stemming from products that are out there in the market and have a shorter run today but also from entrepreneurs. A lot of labels and packaging design elements need to be done in a very creative and innovative way for food startups and home business owners. This trend involves short-run label printing and packaging design jobs.
“I feel that going forward packaging and the Indian printing industry only have an upward growth path. The last two years have shown the Indian print industry that they need to be ready to adapt to change and I think the printers who take this learning from the Covid-19 pandemic and go forward have a very bright future ahead.”
