Manoj Kumar Garg, business head, Monotech Systems at the company's stand at MediaExpo Mumbai 2023. Photo IPP
Monotech Systems exhibited its UV mini UV flatbed printer and the miniRTR entry-level 6-feet UV LED roll-to-roll printer at the recently concluded MediaExpo, held from 2 to 4 March at the Bombay Exhibition Center in Mumbai.
“Our experience at the 50th MediaExpo was good – the football was much more than expected in the signage industry,” said Manoj Kumar Garg, business head, Monotech Systems.
The mini UV has CMYK white varnish while the miniRTR has ecogen5 CMYK. Both printers are equipped with Ricoh Gen5 1280 nozzles. The miniRTR has had 200+ installations while the UV mini has had 100+ installations all over India.
“In the miniRTR, you can print CMYK white varnish in one go. Fabric can be used in the same machine. In the UV mini, you can use white and varnish and emboss in the machine,” Garg added.
As the market is moving towards UV technology, people are adopting green guard certified inks, and going from conventional printing to digital printing with UV inks, he said, adding that UV is much in demand. Talking about upcoming trends in the signage industry, he said, “Companies are asking for the day-and-night effect with UV printing. Especially in the southern parts of India, flex is being replaced by fabric printing done by UV.”
“We are very futuristic about UV technology. We have been working for almost 7-8 years in this sphere in India and now is the time to catch that market,” he concludes.
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.
