Top digital printing firms

As the Indian print industry goes digital with new firms mushrooming in both the main cities; as well as tier-2 and tier-3 cities, a showcase of some of the popular ones.

29 Sep 2012 | By PrintWeek India

 

A Little world


 

It is the developer of Zero, India’s first domestic payment system. With a specific focus on reaching out to rural areas it serves as a technology provider to more than 20 banks across 19 states in India. Has printed one crore identification smart cards for its customers in banking; 30% of which are RFID cards. It has achieved this feat in a span of last two years. The enrollments and transactions are authenticated by using a finger print scanner. At present, the company has 8,200 outlets in the country with 24,000 trained women operators running them. The owner, Anurag Gupta is an architect from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.

Avantika Printers



Winner of the PrintWeek India Digital Printer of the Year 2011. Digital printed coffee table books (with hard bound covers), printing on plastic paper and fabrication of micro-text on acrylic sheets and scroll, plus virtuoso bits of fabrications. Has done digital printing on the maximum size sheet 12.5in x 46in. Believes in four things to create a great job – men, machines, implementation of the latest technologies. M N Pandey, the owner is a teacher of mathematics in Ayodhya.
 

Baba digital



State-of-the-art designing and repro facilities with ten Apple Macintosh high-end computers, the latest generation digital scanners, high-res proofing – all calibrated with its printing unit. Three Vuteks are capable of printing 25,000 sq/ft per day.

5,000 sq/ft of finishing area enables it to run additional seaming units and ensures that output is individually checked before shipping. Himanshu Nanda and Rahul Nanda, graphic artists and publicity designers, pioneered digital graphics designing in India. They are the sons of Gulshan Nanda, the novelist. Some of his novels have been made into films.

Canvera Digital Technologies



The Bengaluru-based firm is revolutionising the photo album market with Dhiraj Kacker at its helm. An all HP equipment list includes two HP Indigo Press 3500s; three HP Designjet 3500s; three HP Designjet Z6100 printers; a large number of HP ProLiant servers (including DL380 G6 and G5, DL180 G5, ML110 and ML150) that run the company’s website and business infrastructure; and HP desktops PCs and notebook PCs for use by Canvera’s 500-plus employees. Provides a variety of print and online products that not only allow professional photographers to provide excellent services to their end-clients, but also allows them to market themselves better. Kacker holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering with specialisation in Image and Signal Processing.

Inndus




Established Inndus in 1999 with retail outlets for greeting cards printed under its own brand name. Inndus specialises in providing customised solutions for gifting and also offers offset and screen print applications through its nine channel partners. Under Shailesh Sharma, founder, Inndus has evolved from merely a print firm to a company driven with corporate and MBA standards. Sharma holds a degree in mechanical engineering.
 

Kadam Digital Transprints

A digital production house in Pune which is on the rise with a focus on digital photo albums. Has created a paper catalogue of 45 different paper substrates after doing the in-house testing on its Kodak Nexpress SE3000, a handy tool which presents the outcome on all 45 substrates on which the company can provide a solution. The future of Kadam Digital Transprints  holds an even more comprehensive portfolio of services than it now provides. It reinforces this belief with a team committed and encouraged specialists who enjoy what they do. Initially established as a pre-press bureau in 1990, Sanjay Kadam the self-made director, raised eyebrows when his firm set a fixed price for CTP plates.

Moser Baer

Print run of 10 million pages per month. Perhaps the largest average monthly print volumes in the world. Established in 1983, it is the world’s second largest manufacturer of optical storage media like CDs and DVDs. A fleet of Indigo presses. Delivers print to finish in one go. Shopfloor practice and factory management enhances the fabrication. The group advocates pro-green policies. Ram Noumula of Moser Baer loves a good game of golf.

Perfact Digital


With the HP Indigo 5500 digital press, Perfact Digital is the rare company in India to have an Indigo and a Xerox iGen3. An impressive variable print production capacity. One of the first in Asia with the XMPIE site licence. The company has seen major breakthroughs in  BFIS and telecom verticals. Company head Ashwani Arya loves travelling, fine dining  and spending time with his children.

PODS

The ability to print dimensional printing. Does not print sheet; also creates  finished products. The first Kodak NexPress S3000 in India was installed at this digital print shop. The firm has taken huge strides since Sunil Chhugani took over the management in 2010. The firm’s turnover leaped 2.5 times over. PODS was the brainchild of Khagesh Patel.

Printo

India’s first branded retail chain for ptinting solutions with its headquarters in Bengaluru that provides top-rate services. It intends to dot the Indian landscape with over 250+ Printo stores. Besides the regular colour and b/w prints, it offers custom products for personal and business print needs. Be it: a single print or over a thousand, Printo delivers in almost no time. Printo is a professional, board-managed company, co-founded by experts from the document printing and the IT services industry. Patrons can request for a home delivery. Follows the principle of pizza outlets to deliver short-run print orders in less than 30 minutes!

SRK Creatives
 

SRK’s 37 branches are backed by high-end digital equipment from Canon. SRK specialises in personalised printing that range from calendars, photo albums books and wedding cards. SRK has transformed the process of photographic printing from the conventional method to digital technology. The Mehta family is fond of ornaments, and the entire family adorns an Om locket around the neck.

SV Color Graphics

Was founded with an aim to fulfill the Bengaluru’s growing demand for variable data printing, scanning, copying and print-on-demand. Interaction with clients right from the estimation stage to the job production tracking and onwards to completion. Every aspect of SV Color Graphics business exudes professionalism and progress, at the same time not forgetting ideals like quality, trust and loyalty that make SV Color Graphics successful.


Spotlight: Digital in India
 


The popularity of photo books is soaring. The rise in demand is attributed to a boom in expenses on events like weddings and anniversaries which propel a demand for photobooks. This has triggered photo studios and digital print shops to invest in digital printing presses and produce top quality personalised albums.

Mumbai’s Mazda Imaging has a 24x7 operation with a retail outlet. Canvera Digital Technologies in Bengaluru, which has multiple Indigos and employs 250 employees is targetting the wedding album segment.

Likewise there is Zoom 16 in Kolkata and Kay Cee Digital in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, G K Vale in Bengaluru has evolved from one landmark on M G Road to 17 branches in Karnataka including units in Mangalore and Mysore.
 

 

Canon’s Imagepress C7000VP succeeded the CLC colour copiers, which adorned the quick-print and small commercial users.

New Delhi’s Avantika Printers was the first commercial printer in India to install an Imagepress C7000VP. SV Color Graphics and Fast Print Junction, Futura Digital Colour Press, Ramya Reprographics in Bengaluru; SRK and Print Palace in Mumbai followed. Also there’s Geekay Print & Packaging, which installed a C7000VP for its digital section. Canon followed the C7000VP with a C6000VP, a B&W production Imagepress 1135 and the Advance Imagerunner series.

Three firms in New Delhi have installed a C6000. These are: Laxman Printo Graphics, Wave Arts and RK Multi Studio while two C6000s are installed at Arihant Digital and Gurukrupa Digital.

There are commercial firms like Dhote Offset, Silverpoint in Mumbai and Vyoma in Pune where digital complements offset.