R Jayaraman pushes the button to start up Multivista Global’s second RMGT 920PF 8-color perfector
at its Chennai plant on 21 December 2022
One of the leading Indian book printing exporters, Multivista Global Technology based in Chennai, installed its second 8-color perfector RMGT press with a smart fully automatic plate changer in the first week of December 2022. The inauguration of the press took place at a grand event organized on 21 December 2022 at the company’s premises.
Multivista is a book printer and exporter specializing in school textbooks that it exports primarily to Europe, the Middle East, and the African market. Its first RMGT 920PF 8-color perfecting press was installed in 2019 and it replaced two Ryobi 924 4-color sheetfed offset presses with fully automatic plate changing systems that were installed in 2018. The first RMGT 9 series, 8-color convertible perfector press at Multivista Global was equipped with performance-enhancing features such as program inking with AI function, automatic nip checking, maintenance mode, automatic blanket cleaning device, and other features and options.
The automation features, efficiency, and power savings of the first RMGT 920 8-color press impressed Multivista sufficiently so that it ordered its second RMGT 8- color 920 perfector in February 2020 to replace another pair of B1 4-color presses. With the various pandemic delays, this order eventually materialized with the new 8-color perfector press being installed at the end of 2022.
Multivista is quite open in speaking about the high productivity of the perfectors with automatic plate changing because of the quick makereadies and other automation and AI functions that are based on continuous data logs of all the press operations and downtimes being recorded in real-time. The benefits in terms of print quality, and an overall reduction in production cost with much less electricity consumption have made a compelling argument for replacing the remaining multicolor presses in the plant with 920 format 8-color perfectors. They are also undoubtedly impressed by RMGT Indian distributor Provin’s after-service and maintenance.
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.
