ColorJet shows eco-friendly LED printers at Media Expo New Delhi 2022

UV LED curing reduces the energy consumption of inkjet printers

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Smarth Bansal, general manager, ColorJet Group, with the Vulcan printer at the company's stand at Media Expo. Photo: IPP
Smarth Bansal, general manager, ColorJet Group, with the Vulcan printer at the company's stand at Media Expo. Photo: IPP

ColorJet said to be India’s largest manufacturer of digital inkjet printers, was present at the recent Media Expo 2022 in New Delhi. At its stand, we learned about the company’s environment-friendly printers, such as the SoniQi, SoniQ HQ Plus, Verve LED (K2513), Vulcan Prime, and Vulcan 3201 showcased at the expo.

The SoniQi is a 3.2 meter-wide roll-to-roll inkjet printer delivering quality output at an ultra-fast speed of 1232 square feet an hour. Claimed to require a minimum investment, it is used to print Backlit Boards, Vehicle Wraps, Hoardings, and Outdoor Banners.

The SoniQ HQ Plus is an output solution for both indoor and outdoor printing needs. Configurations support CMYK options with speeds up to 915 square feet an hour. It is suitable for many eco-solvent applications such as Fabric, Canvas, SAV, PAV Banner, and Window Films.

The Verve LED UV flatbed printer enables high-quality direct printing on almost any rigid surface, including wood, glass, leather, and ceramic tiles. This UV digital inkjet outputs at speeds up to 38 square meters in an hour. It is used for tiles printing, printing on wood, printing on metal doors, PVC door printing, acrylic, and many kinds of glass printing.

The Vulcan Prime is a 1.6 meter-wide UV roll-to-roll inkjet printer for both the signage and the interior décor industry. It is embedded with a UV LED curing system, which makes it faster to dry with less energy consumption.

The Vulcan 3201 is a high-speed 3.2 meter-wide roll-to-roll UV LED inkjet printer for applications such as banners, signage, billboards, trade show graphics, window displays, flags, wall graphics, and building wraps. The LED lamps and UV inks requiring less energy make this machine’s output more sustainable.

Smarth Bansal, general manager of the Noida-based ColorJet Group, said, “At Media Expo, we have the alliance team, which is the largest retail branding network. Till now, we have received good responses at the expo and met printers, buyers, dealers, and media partners. Our team is here to promote sustainability. In printing technology, using UV curing for an eco-friendly output. Our overall ideology is to move toward a sustainable environment. We are also wanting to make our machine’s output a part of the PVC-free economy as PVC is slowly getting banned. Our inks are now odor free, as we aim to move towards more sustainable print solutions.”

Roland DG inkjets at Media Expo

At ColorJet’s stand, there were also printers from Roland DG, a global manufacturing leader in signage, graphic arts, commercial print, packaging, labeling, promotional gift, textile, engraving, milling, and 3D modeling segments. Roland DG’s RF 640, VG, BN 20A, and LEF 300 were on display. The 64-inch wide Roland RF 640 at the show is a 4-color eco-solvent printer for signs, posters, banners, backlit displays, and vehicle wraps.

Paramjeet Singh Gill (Left) and Shantanu Das, deputy general manager for Domestic Sales of the ColorJet Group (Right), with Roland LEF machine at the Stand. Photo: IPP
Paramjeet Singh Gill (Left) and Shantanu Das, deputy general manager for Domestic Sales of the ColorJet Group (Right), with Roland LEF machine at the Stand.
Photo: IPP

The Roland VG is a 4-color large format print and cut output (VG is a wide format printer that supports upto 8 colors) device used for making multicolor stickers. It can also be used as just a printer like the RF 640. Among other applications, it can be used for T-shirt transfers, labels, and decals. 

The Roland BN 20A is a tabletop print and cut printer that comes in a 20-inch width. It is used in t-shirt transfer printing, labels, and decals and can also be used as a plotter to produce name and number plates. The Roland LEF is a 6-color tabletop UV flatbed model capable of 14 x 31-inch output and is generally used for producing customized gift products.

Shantanu Das, deputy general manager for Domestic Sales of the ColorJet Group, said, “For Roland, some schemes are going on for its printheads. During the Media expo, we ran a special promotional program for Roland SG & VG series wherein we offered a 3-year Conditional warranty including print heads for all bookings at the show, we also launched a new ink series from Roland with Inku brand name for SG & VG series, also ColorJet launched its new UV ink series Verjet V5H at the show.”

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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