Eswara and UPS set benchmark for Chennai print firms at PWI Awards

Universal Print Systems (UPS) was the PrintWeek India Label Printer of the Year in 2009. According to the jury, the entries from UPS addressed key aspects of how good labels should be.

"The fine effect of the images was the result of high-end pre-press activity. Immaculate registration produced crisp print of small-sized text, while the post-press die-cutting was also up to the mark, considering that some were in roll form," stated UPS.

The labels were printed on a Mark Andy 2200 flexo press while the cold foiling and die-cutting was carried out inline.

Meanwhile in 2011, another Chennai-based screen printing firm, Eswara Screens, won the PrintWeek India Screen Printer of the Year Award.

Eswara Screens made a strong case in the debate about replacement of screen printing using digital printing.The award winning entry consisted of three miniature books of Mahatma Gandhi's biography. 

The three were sized 5x5mm consisting 144 pages; 11x13mm with 124 pages; 10x12mm with 168 pages; and a 19-page palm leaf book in 24x8.5mm size, which amazed the judges. Eswara’s manual work on the books, remarked a judge, only confirms that screen process is the only one which can do jobs that are not achievable with any other type of printing techniques.

The cutting, book wrapper and binding was done manually. The four books along with a magnifying glass were neatly showcased in an intricately carved box.

K Eswar Kumar of Eswara Screens, said, “The job took us one year to complete, simply because of its size. To print with such a small size was a tough task. We had to cut, bind and wrap the books manually for which we used needles. Even to view the book we have to use the needle. We provided a magnifying glass to view the book."

Eswara Screen has also been recognised by the Limca Book of Records for its work in screen-printing.