The Printers House diversifies – flexo presses & NexGen consumables

TPH begins manufacture and distribution of NexGen print consumables

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The NexGen range of pressroom chemistry from The Printers House (TPH) Image TPH
The NexGen range of pressroom chemistry from The Printers House (TPH) Image TPH

The Printers House (TPH) with 75 years of history in the printing equipment business has recently diversified its manufacturing from web offset presses to mid-web inline flexo presses. A model of this machine was shown at the recent Printpack 2022 exhibition in Greater Noida.

The company which has its head office in Connaught Place in New Delhi and its manufacturing plant in Faridabad in the Delhi NCR, with a large installation base of newspaper and book printers in the subcontinent as well as overseas, has also started making and distributing consumables including offset plates, blankets, chemicals, coatings, and adhesives. Sold and serviced under the TPH NexGen branding, the company claims that the response thus far is extremely encouraging.

The Printers House factory
The TPH manufacturing plants on the main road in Ballabgarh in the Delhi NCR
Photo TPH

The consumables on offer from TPH are already quite extensive. Offset blankets are offered for both web offset and sheetfed presses with extensive technical specifications which include information that the blankets are optimized for direct driven presses and have neutral rolling characteristics.

Both thermal CtP offset plates and UV CtCP plates are offered with good run lengths. The Nexgen-T is claimed to be a robust thermal digital plate for high-end print with a run-length of 250,000 impressions without baking, and 100,000 plus impressions using UV inks. A complement of plate cleaner, fountain solution, and press washes are also offered.

The NexGen-CT is claimed to be a robust positive working high-end UV exposure CtCP plate for long runs and can also perform with the use of UV inks. NexGen branded developers, replenishers, finishing gum, plate cleaner, fountain solution, and press wash are also offered.

The extensive sets of NexGen pressroom chemistry include fountain solutions for all sizes and speeds of web offset presses and for sheetfed offset presses. While there are two levels of fountain solutions (or concentrates for dilution) for web offset presses, four types are offered for sheetfed presses including one for reducing IPA to 3-6% and another for alcohol-free printing given the right press conditions.

The TPH NexGen offering of natural, protein-based hotmelt adhesive is called NG Jelly Glue AU(M4310010) and is aimed primarily at the case-making, hardcover book binding, and luxury hard box market. It is claimed to be designed specifically for fast-setting case makers such as Perondi, Kolbus, and Horauf machines. Notably, its spec sheet says it is moisture resistant with negligible odor.

In addition, TPH is also offering water-based dry lamination adhesives for film-to-film application in the flexible packaging industry. Overall, the TPH diversification to a full range of quality consumables seems a serious beginning. It could provide competitive pricing from an organized and significantly reliable manufacturer and distributor with ten sales and service offices of its own in major print centers across the country.

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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