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A commercial printer based in Delhi’s Naraina Industrial Area, Advantage Offset prints a range of magazines, journals, brochures, catalogs, posters as well as books for Delhi-NCR, J&K, and Hyderabad-based publishers.
Managing to stay steady in a rather shaky sector, Advantage Offset has acquired three new Komori machines after the second Covid-19 pandemic. A Komori Enthrone 429 20×30-inches sheetfed offset press was installed in April 2022, followed by another Komori Enthrone 429 press in December 2022. The latest addition, a Komori Lithrone G37, a 25×37-inch press was acquired in November 2023.
Advantage Offset’s owner Ashwani Gulati entered the printing line in 1984, and till 2000, he made a business out of outsourcing work for four major clients – Ballarpur Industries, American Express FRCE, Apollo Tyres and Rashtradoot in Jaipur. After 16 years in the business, he acquired an Adast Dominant single-color offset press in partnership and became a full-time commercial printer.
In 2008, he started Advantage Offset in the space adjoining his current 13,000-square-foot factory in the Naraina Industrial Area. He quickly moved on to a used Heidelberg Mov 4-color offset press in 2009, followed by another used Heidelberg Mov 4-color and a used Heidelberg single-color press.
In 2012, the commercial printer acquired another Heidelberg Mov 6-color press but quickly realized that these older machines had a short lifespan and needed to be upgraded with newer ones to increase production. This realization led to the acquisition of a new Komori LA37 in 2016, which he had booked at the PrintPack exhibition in the Delhi-NCR in 2015.
Soon, Gulati discarded two Heidelberg presses and bought another second-hand Heidelberg PM74 press which was not as productive as he had hoped. “Heidelberg produces good machines, but they are too expensive,” he says, adding that purchasing old machines that have already run for 10-15 years is not an economically viable option. These machines have a short lifespan and there is a constant shifting and changing issue as well, he explained.
Brand new machines, on the other hand, provide fast production along with faster make readies and no breakdowns, he says. “Switching to the brand new Komori LA37 25×37-inch press helped me navigate the Covid-19 crisis and survive the pandemic years,” he adds.
Advantage Offset has its own binding and finishing setup with a Heidelberg Polar cutting machine, two Heidelberg Stahl folding machines, a perfect binding machine from Bindwel, a locally made section sewing machine and an imported Aster sewing machine, along with a lamination machine. It added a Technova CtP in 2021 to replace its previous FFEI Fuji CtP. The printer keeps on updating its presses and equipment from time to time to keep its printing operations up-to-date.
Advantage Offset prints magazines, journals, brochures, catalogs, posters as well as books for a variety of publishers. Gulati prints the bi-monthly aviation and defense magazine Vayu Aerospace and Defence Review; Cross Section Media’s Destination India magazine; XBHP Motorcycling bimonthly magazine, China India Review and Pracheen Mantra, Hindi monthly, among others.
Gulati says that before the pandemic, 95% of his printing work was for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) but there was a steep decline following the global crisis. “There was a 90% decrease in government-related print work following the Coronavirus pandemic.” Apart from this, commercial printing jobs are constantly declining and reducing in run quantities, while there is huge competition in the market, leading to price wars among printers.
The fluctuations in the paper market due to the Russia-Ukraine war and later the Gaza crisis have only resulted in reduced margins and higher competition, he says. The paper situation is akin to the stock market with little to no control from the government side, and is a major additional challenge to navigating the commercial print segment today, he says.
Another challenge is applying for bank loans, which take a huge amount of paperwork. Gulati, instead, has taken loans from an industrial financier, which has helped him tremendously in acquiring credit for his investments.
Gulati says 60% of his commercial printing operations include Delhi-based jobs, 20% from outstation work and another 20% from exports to the UK. Advantage Offset primarily exports stationery items, writing pads and coloring books, he said, adding, though margins are less in exports, he receives fast and secured payments, which is not the case with domestic print jobs. He praises Komori India for its fast service and fast production accompanied by quality print output, which are the major reasons behind the recent success of his commercial printing operations.
About his future plans, Gulati says he wishes to build a school for specially-abled children in the mountains or the outskirts of Delhi after witnessing the struggle of his autistic niece Ruhi, who studies in the Tamanna School for Specially Abled Children in Vasant Vihar. Though diagnosed as autistic, Ruhi is full of spirit and participates in singing competitions and functions in the school. “I want to do something special for these highly talented children before retirement,” he concludes.
Re-edited on 10 April 2024
