Established in 1995, Tiruchirappalli-based Suve Graphics has three decades of experience, delivering complete printing solutions. The book and commercial printer acquired a brand-new RMGT 920ST 4-color press in the first week of August this year.
Suve Graphics’ market is mainly in the ten districts in a 150-200 km radius surrounding Trichy – Mayiladuthurai, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Dindigul, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai, Namakkal, Thiruvarur, and Karur – along with Karaikal district in Puducherry. The printer gets an inflow of print orders from the tier-III cities of Kumbakonam, Aranthangi, and Velankanni as well.
Speaking about the RMGT press acquisition, Suve’s Kumar Srinivasan said that after evaluating offset printing machines from German and Japanese manufacturers, he found that the space, build quality of RMGT and service backup as well as the pricing of spare parts by the distributor Provin Technos best met his requirements.
Kumar said that being an experienced user of refurbished machines, he compared the price, print quality and production capacity of brand new and refurbished RMGT machines, and opted for the new 920ST despite its price being about twice as much as a used machine. Provin’s director Pradeep Nandgopal explanation of features and benefits were most convincing, he added.
He went to see the machine in production at Padmashree Graphics in Vellore as well as at a cluster unit in Madurai. In these visits, he discovered that the new RMGT machines have a minimum lifespan of two decades and the 920 model can accommodate both double crown and double demy paper sizes.
Kumar said the biggest advantage of getting the new press is peace of mind, as no troubleshooting is required as of now. He commended its print quality, as he does not have to go and check every individual job. Suve Graphics prints on map litho, art paper and art board from 80 to 400 gsm. “The pneumatic side lay on the press is a utilitarian feature on the RMGT press, which will be useful for printing edge-to-edge, instead of having a lay bearing where you can’t have edge-to-edge printing. It helps with faster make-readies, especially when using coated paper and boards. Feeder air preset is used for precise air presetting on the feeder for varying paper types. The settings can be stored and recalled at the touch of a button,” Kumar said while explaining its advanced features.
The new RMGT press is equipped with anti-ghosting rollers, oscillating ink form rollers designed to prevent ghosting, Kumar said, adding this additional feature helps in fixing ghosting images. (Ghosting refers to faint, unintended repeat images that can appear on a printed sheet). He said he saved around 2 million Japanese yen per annum (approximately Rs 11.5 to 12 lakh per annum) on plate cost through the RMGT 920ST.
“The RMGT 9 is known for its versatility and superior cost performance, making it a perfect fit for Suve Graphics’ job profile. As Suve Graphics serves the commercial and book printing market, the RMGT 9 offers unmatched operational savings in terms of plate size, energy efficiency and super-fast job changeovers. Suve Graphics and Provin have been associated for a long time and this new installation is set to bring about a big boost in their overall productivity,” Akshay Kaushal, executive director – sales at Provin Technos, says.
Under the guidance of his experienced cousins Suryanarayan and Natarajan, Kumar joined their printing unit Colour Tone in 1987. They taught him how to handle printing presses, and ancillary equipment. Gradually, he developed a keen interest in printing and educated himself on the art and science of printing. He attended meetings of print institutions such as AIFMP, as well as major Indian exhibitions for printing, such as PrintPack and Pamex and international exhibitions like drupa.
More than a decade after starting the company, Kumar met Pragati Offset’s Narendra Paruchuri and his father Hanumantha Rao Paruchuri at a general committee (GC) meeting of the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) in Hyderabad. They advised him to always print the best quality at the most economical price in the business, and to search for customers wherever they are located. “The growth will be there. These words have been carrying me down the line till now,” Kumar said about the guidance and mentorship of the Paruchuris, adding that he has visited their facility in Hyderabad.
Printing equipment
Suve Graphics has a Fuji CtP as well as a Kodak thermal CtP, along with a Taiwan-made vision punch machine. Another camera-based plate punching and bending equipment recently purchased from RMGT, achieves accurate plate punching, for precise color registration from the first sheet.
Suve Graphics’ several refurbished machines include a Komori single color machine, a Ryobi 524, and a Komori Lithrone 426 4-color press. Another Ryobi 750, operational till a few months ago, was sold off to make space for the new RMGT.
Suve Graphics has filtration systems and chilling units on all its presses. The filtration systems, procured from Taiwan, for damping gives a consistent quality of pure water flow to the plate so that no paper pulp residues or other dirt goes into the printing unit. The chilling machines are from Technotrans and Baldwin. Kumar said most printing presses in Tamil Nadu are not equipped with filtration systems and chilling machines.
“We do about 80 sets of offset plates every day. The plates come from Kodak, Technova as well as Chinese manufacturers.”
In its postpress department, Suve has three ITOH paper cutting machines, two wet lamination and one thermal lamination machines from Macrobond Engineers in Coimbatore and a board knurling machine with three laser dies, and several scoring machines. There is an Itotec eRC RoboCut automatic paper cutting machine, and a Redlands cover making machine. Die cutting is outsourced to a folding and corrugated carton manufacturer in Trichy.
The wedding season from January to June
Suve Graphics produces visiting cards, letterheads, flyers, books, magazines, brochures, and catalogs, apart from specialties such as customized wedding cards and calendars. The printer recently started printing posters as well, made possible by the 25 x 36 inches plate size of the new RMGT. Kumar relies on art paper and art board from APP China, whereas map litho paper is from IK Indonesia, owing to their superior stiffness compared to Indian-made papers.
Even when the business had a single-color machine, it produces customized wedding card invitations and today he is able to use embellishment technologies such as spot UV, drip-off coatings, thermal lamination and wet lamination for the special effects that make these products stand out.
“If I print 40 sets, 30 sets will be wedding invitations and the quantity in the sets is 1000, 2000, and 3000. Sometimes it goes up to 10,000.” he said about the peak wedding season in Tamil Nadu, running from January to June. There is an in-house designing team comprising five employees, who work on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for the specialty segment. At present the calendar season is on, which runs for the last two months of the year.
Publishing setup
Traditionally, a commercial printer, Suve Graphics has a full set-up for book printing with perfect binding, pinning, folding and cutting machines. A Bindwel Blue Plus single-clamp perfect binder acquired in September 2022 produces softcover books, paperbacks, magazines, catalogs, and professional reports. Hardcovers and center-stitched books, though printed in-house, are sent out for binding. Bindwel’s after-sales service is available round the clock. Whenever we have an emergency, their service engineers always come down to Trichy in a matter of hours, Kumar said.
Trichy-based publishers such as Kanira Publishers, Maria Publishers and Bavani Publications are customers. NGOs such as Rotary Club, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), Lions Club, and the Sowdambikaa and Sri Vignesh group of schools are customers for stationery. Business also comes from ad adencies in the city such as White & Black, Bewell Ads, Dot3 Advertising, B&M Advet, Kickstart and Pixel Pluz.
Challenges in the Trichy printing market
According to Kumar, the Trichy printing market, largely reliant on the wedding card market, is different from the larger Tamil Nadu printing industry. “Competition is there in every field. We need to focus on what sort of clients we choose, what sort of growth we plan, and what sort of things we specialize in.”
Your only competition should be with yourself, focusing on how to get better and better, he said, while adding he regularly visits printing press facilities to find out areas where he can improve. Apart from competition, skilled labor is another problem. Kumar said it is hard to find skilled, qualified and experienced labor in the print industry these days. He believes in empowering his workforce through education and training in print, further building their loyalty and trust in the enterprise.
Diversification into packaging is the latest trend in the Tamil Nadu printing industry, Kumar says, adding he doesn’t plan to follow suit until the next generation gets into business.
Suve Graphics built its new unit in a 9,000 square-foot facility spanning across three floors each, in 2016 with 24-hour power backup. Another 7000 square-foot facility is to be built next year in an adjoining plot which will accommodate a full binding setup along with a new press in the next two years. In addition, Kumar is exploring the digital brands and technologies.
This article has been updated with new inputs by the author on 21 November 2025 at 1310 hrs IST
