Working in two different verticals – commercial printing and packaging, Print Vision director Faliith Pandyaa believes the commercial printing industry, although down in the market, gives higher returns in terms of profit than packaging.
In the packaging segment, the Ahmedabad company works in monocartons and rigid boxes, whereas in commercial printing, it goes for book printing, coffee table books, calendars, point-of-sale products, and many more.
Asked to choose between commercial printing and packaging, Pandyaa opted for the former as he believed it to be more profitable. Although he believes the market has shrunk after the advent of digital, work is still left in commercial printing.
“Commercial printing is down for sure but not out. There are other works in commercial printing except for the traditional printing jobs that ran for ages.”
Calendars, he feels, are the most viable method of advertising. “You can get your calendar placed at someone’s table for at least eight hours a day for 365 days for a year. That’s the best thing a company can have. Long-time exposure for a minimum cost,” Pandyaa said.
In the commercial printing sector, Print Vision is growing at the rate of 5% each year but admits a company can’t sustain by solely depending on this segment. “With a dip in the exports of books, brochure printing, and poster printing, one needs to make oneself flexible enough to venture into other sectors of commercial printing. If you are restricting yourself with what you are producing. that is where a problem arises,” Pandyaa said.
Profit margins low in packaging
Pointing out the issues in the packaging industry, Pandyaa said that there is a consistent demand for packaging services but the profit margins are low due to increased competition in the sector. He underscores the importance of the economic balance in the packaging industry and warns against over-investment that could create an issue for the company’s sustainability. “One needs to be highly calculative while investing in the packaging sector, both in machinery and plant infrastructure,” said Pandyaa. According to him, strategic foresight is critical as the packaging industry is evolving and witnessing an influx of many new players.
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He identifies monocartons as a significant and expanding market within the packaging industry. Despite the competitive nature, he believes there is a stable growth in demand for monocartons. In contrast, he has his concerns about the rigid box packaging sector. Acknowledging the initial surge due to the influx of startups, he believes the impracticality of high SKU numbers of these companies will be an issue in the long run.
Citing instances of the elimination of pharma company gifting and electronic goods rigid box packaging becoming stagnant, he predicts a potential downfall in this segment. “Rigid boxes are going to see a massive dip in the upcoming years.”
For printing jobs, Print Vision relies on two Mitsubishi presses along with one RMGT press with 6-color plus coater with UV. The other two machines in the plant for monocartons are Maxima for die punching and a folder gluer from Boxtech.
Note: A slight correction was made in two sentences of this article on 14 January 2024 – editor.
