Chennai Print Expo: A comprehensive coverage of the show

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PROTECK
Proteck's Horizon and Hohner eye digital slot


Chennai-based manufacturing and multi-product distribution major Proteck Machinery displayed a range of its Horizon post-press machines along with the Hohner stitching machines – for the first time.

"The show profile compelled us to exhibit this segment of our offerings, considering the predominantly digital theme," said Kartik Iyer, the director of Proteck Machinery.

The Horizon range of products included the vertical air suction collator VAC-60H, paper folder P330, a table-top perfect binder BQ-P6 and also the paper-cutter P43.

"The VAC-60H is unique for its vertical tower in contrast to the more traditional horizontal collators, making it compact and easy to operate," explained Iyer. "The machine is scalable, since five similar stations can be added depending on the customer’s need," he added.

"We believe there is a pattern of increasing importance to post-press and finishing – in particular cutting – across all segments of the industry. We are excited to be part of the wave," concluded Iyer.

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MONOTECH
Monotech showcases multi-brand products


The multi-brand distribution house Monotech India displayed one of their popular presses, Konica Minolta LD 6501 along with the Canon iPF-8000 large-format printer.

"It is a matter of pride that we have 110 units of the Konica Minolta LD 6500/01 model throughout India as on date," said S Venkatesh, general manager of operations at Monotech.

"We have recently concluded installations of LD 6501 at Lovely Cards in Sivakasi, adding another prestigious client to our list," he added.
Another popular product from Monotech is its BasysPrint UV CTP which has 120 installations all-over India.

"The basysPrint UV CTP has been doing quite well in the South Indian market with 22 installations including three installations at Safire Industries (Sivakasi) alone," stated Venkatesh.

"In fact the first quarter of this financial year has been quite remarkable with 14 basysPrint UV CTP and 15 LD 6501s being installed," he added.

"This exhibition has generated tremendous interest for the LD 6501 in the graphic arts segment as well as the offset printers looking for value for money in short run jobs," Venkatesh concluded.

The Konica Minolta LD 6501 is also installed at Pragati Art Printers in Hyderabad, Penguin Xerox and Adyar Student Xerox in Chennai.

Monotech also manages Xeikon and Oce digital production systems, Nipson black and white digital and a wide range of wide-format printers in India.

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CANON
Canon taps regional city centres by Alok Singh


Canon India introduced the Imagerunner C9075 at the show – targetting the colour light production market.

Also, Canon showcased C1+ from the Imagepress series of product along with the iPF 8100, a 12-colour large-format printer targeted for the graphic arts and photo segment.

Pooja Gogia, manager at Canon India, said: "We received a good footfall and the response was overwhelming. Canon did good business and generated leads. This will help us interact with people from regional city centres and assist in forming a sound strategy for these cities where we are planning to expand our operations as a part of our ongoing outreach and expansion plans."

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XEROX
Xerox taps potential of VDP and photo market in the small towns


Xerox India which had the biggest stall in Printexpo 2010 highlighted the optimism in the digital market.

"Personalisation has become the buzz word even with the common man," Kuldeep Malhotra of Xerox India explained. "Though wedding card personalisation might be a thing of the past – our clients have innovated to offer personalised brochures being printed for automobile dealers to be sent to their clients on a new luxury vehicle," he further added.

The stall boasted of a variety of Xerox’s digital presses and also had a unique attraction of a photo gallery.

"The photo gallery layed emphasis on Xerox’s capability in the niche photo printing market," said Malhotra.

"We have seen interesting trends in this market segment where interestingly prospects and clients from the two tier three tier towns and villages have grown steadily," stated Malhotra.
Deepam Colour Lab is a good example with branches in smaller towns like Karur, Pudukottai and Thanjavur. This has made digital print accessible to everyone.

"The Xerox 800/1000 presses  have been designed to cater to this target group with emphasis like back-to-back photo printing capabilities even at lower grammage substrates" Malhotra added.

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CREED ENGINEERS
Creed underscores its flexo range in south


New Delhi-based Creed Engineers displayed its range of value-added flexo machines including processing units, dryers, UV processor and washing unit under its own brand.

"This is the first time that we are displaying this specific set of products to the Tamil Nadu (TN) market and are confident that they would embrace these products and continually support us in all ventures," said N Abu, manager of marketing.

The Gurgaon-based company has a strong presence in the Southern market with its representation of Rotatek machines.

"These processors that we are introducing were launched in the Label Expo last year and are available in basic sizes of A4, A3, A1 and can also be custom-made to the size specified by the client," concluded Abu.

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HI-TECH SYSTEMS
Hi-Tech displays latest UV coater

Hi-Tech Systems, the post-press specialist, displayed their latest product Digi UV coating machine. The fully automated machine comes in multiple sizes and also with a bundle of unique features.

"The machine comes in sizes of 13, 17 and 20 inches and can work on a variety of substrates starting from 80 up to 400 gsm and can coat  from a laser print out," said Suresh Panicker.
The product announced during Ipex South Asia 2009 has 12 installations so far.

"The machine can do five different textures. What’s innovative is, it can do each one consecutively without any manual intervention like UV change and carries out curing as well in the same run," he explained. "Yet I can claim it to be the most economically priced," Panicker added.

The Digi UV can coat size from 6-microns to 14-microns. The machine which has one of the smallest footprint in its category comes with an optional auto feeder feature.

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FORTEC BINDING SYSTEM


Fortec Binding System displayed their latest casemaker, Fortec  4 Fold. The single-operator machine can handle case size of up to 480x800mm.

"We expect this first time innovation of casemaking with auto-folding facility to cater to the increasing demands of the book printing industry. Add to that the ease of usage, production speed (550 cases/hr) and of course the pricing - we believe in its winnability in the market", briefed Rohin Kumar, the director of marketing at Fortec.

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ARROW DIGITAL


Arrow Digital unveiled the latest TexJet 3350 direct-to-garment printer. Speaking on the occasion,  Somasekar, manager of Arrow’s Bengaluru office, said: "We see a niche demand for the garment printing machines especially in industrial towns like Tirupur apart from the cities."

The 13x20 inch machine can print at a speed of 45 seconds per shirt (white) and is suitable for short-run jobs. "Looking at the positive response, we have set ourselves a realistic target of 10 machines in this quarter," he added. The company also displayed an Epson GS 6000 printer.

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JAY ENGINEERING


Jay Engineering, the Vadodara-based firm displayed their latest window pasting machine-Excel 10. Ajay Gohil said: "We believe that this is one-of-the-kind machine in this segment especially for envelopes.

"The machine can handle substrates of 55-350 gsm and paste film from 15-150 microns. "The machine is fully automated and produces at a speed of 120 blanks per minute," explained Gohil.

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KMI BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES
KMI Business Technologies showcased its Amur bizhub C360 digital printer. The company which recently tasted success with its bizhub PRO C6501 is keen to capitalise on its growing reputation in the southern market.

"Our USP of low cost, reliable machines has been well received and the encouragement from our customers has urged us to offer variety and choice in our product line," said Babu Ram, regional manager, south India for KMI.

The bizhub C6501 has 35 installations so far in South India. Ram added: "With this new product, we are confident of penetrating newer markets and take quality digital printing beyond the traditional business centres."

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