Jak and Archana rule AIFMP Ricoh NAEP Awards 2014

“The awards are a tribute to excellence and innovation in printing and document management and serve as an inspiration for continuous enhancement of quality standards in the field,” said Manoj Kumar, CEO, Ricoh India. 

Among of the biggest winners of the night was Mumbai-based Jak Printers, who won total 44 awards, including 7 gold, 12 silver, and 25 certificates of merits. Mumbai’s only print house with a design studio, pre-press, printing, bindery, dispatch and Heidelberg CTP machines under one roof, Jak Printers provides start to finish printing solutions, from coffee table books to versatile calendars, comprehensive brochures to attractive catalogues, brightly hued posters to product packaging.

Another big winner of the night was Delhi-based Archana Advertising, who also took home total 44 awards in different categories. Other printers with two-digit awards in their kitties included Cochin-based Anaswara Offset (14 awards), Kolkata-based CDC Printers (16), Manipal-based Manipal Technologies (15) and Manipal Utility Packaging Solution (21), Hyderabad-based Pragati Offset (14), Ahmedabad-based Print Vision (11), and Mumbai-based Prodon Enterprises (11).  

Apart from the awards to the printers, three industry leaders were conferred the Print Ratna Awards at the ceremony. These included Pranav Parikh, chairman and managing director, Technova Image Systems, SM Shah, chairman, Manugraph, and KC Sanjeev, managing director, Welbound.

Presented by AIFMP, and consisting of 59 regional associations representing more than 2,50,000 printers in India, NAEP is the only national print awards recognised by government of India.

“The first NAEP event was held in 1999, and since then AIFMP has takes the initiatives to motivate the Indian printers and show the world how competitive we are in the market,” said AMSG Ashokan, the then president of AIFMP. “The event makes the printers set their entries as benchmark for quality.”  

“I have always believed that if success is to be achieved, only quality products should be manufactured. When awards are given for attaining quality and excellence, it is bound to foster an environment where new technologies and innovations are pioneered and do well,” said SM Shah of Manugraph.

“With its focus on excellence, the Indian printing industry has transformed itself into becoming globally competitive,” said Pranav Parikh of Technova, adding, “Now, it represents an exceptional blend of aesthetics, craftsmanship, technology and management expertise.”

Saying that Welbound has been in service of the book printing industry for the last 25 years, KC Sanjeev of Welbound added, “We have constantly worked with our customers in accelerating technology adoption that lead to better value realisation.”

Attending the event, Beatrice Klose, secretary general, World Print and Communication Forum, congratulated AIFMP for hosting the awards and said, “In a globalised world, printers from all different countries, continents and cultures must meet and work together for the betterment of the industry as a whole.”

This year, the country’s premier print awards event had received total 2,219 entries from total 179 printers from all over the country, among which total 123 printers took home the awards in different categories. The award ceremony was attended by 515 people.