Noida’s Creative servicing rising mobile market with Zhengrun

The Zhengrun rigid box machine can produce 15,000 boxes per day. Sodhisons has sold 15 rigid box machines in India so far. Of these, 11 have been installed and the remaining four are under installation.

Rohit Khanna, director, Creative Offset Printers, said, “We started manufacturing rigid boxes with one fully automatic machine from Zhengrun. In less than a year, we have installed a second higher version fully automatic machine and a semi-automatic line.”

The reason why the company invested in three rigid box lines in quick succession is simple: The mobile handset retail market is booming and it will continue to do so for some time. “If you observe the market, you see a clear growth path,” said Khanna. “The mobile manufacturing industry in the country is growing rapidly. Now, mobile handsets are both an essential commodity and a lifestyle statement. So we don’t foresee the demand going down anytime soon.”

Several multinationals and local companies including Karbon, HTC, Gionee, Lava and Intex have setup assembling or manufacturing units for mobile handsets in India. This, in turn, is propelling the demand for rigid boxes. According to Khanna, mobile manufacturing companies use rigid boxes for high-end phones and mono carton boxes for mid and lower segment phones.

With the first installation, Creative was producing approximately 15,000 boxes per day. With the new installations, their production will go up to 35,000 rigid boxes per day.

“Print production is a combined effort of man and technology. If you have achieved the best combination, you are good to go,” said Khanna. “Our main business focus is manufacturing mobile handset boxes. However, over a period, we realised that we could not offer our customers the quantities they desired with the existing automatic machine. We live by simple philosophy – the act of creation is as important as the art of creation. We keep our finger on the pulse of changing times and adapt to its demands. Hence, we decided to purchase another fully automatic machine. In this, Sodhisons has proven to be our reliable partner.”

While there are several rigid box machines available in the market, Khanna said Creative opted for the Zhengrun machine for two reasons. First, the company already had a machine from Zhengrun. This meant that the shopfloor operators already had hands-on experience and expertise in running the machine optimally. The second and compelling reason was cost-effectiveness. “There may be better machines in the market, but at Creative, there is a constant endeavour to look for cost-effective solutions and thereby, offer value for money to our customers. Zhengrun met our requirements while still maintaining the quality and speed that we were looking for,” Khanna said.

The company had also invested in the Shuttleworth MIS system a few years ago. “With the MIS system, we now calculate the actual and near exact cost of our production. Earlier, this calculation was tedious and time-consuming as it involved so many different parameters and processes,” Khanna said.

Another edge at Creative is that the company offers end-to-end designing, printing and packaging solutions to its clients. It is one of the few print houses in India that has its own full-fledged design studio. The studio is equipped with not only the latest state-of-the-art technology but also a full-scale agency lineup, including a creative director, visualiser, animators, copywriters, designers and web designers, offering innovative design solutions for both print and electronic media. With top of the line in-house pre-production, production and post-production facilities, it is easily a one-stop shop for all design and print production needs.

Next, Creative is looking at greenfield expansion. “We believe, for success, printers need to have all operations under one roof,” Khanna said. Creative converts 200 tonnes of board/paper and fires 1,000 plates per month. The company has around 200 employees.

And the secret of Creative’s rapid growth? “We are not the biggest, we are not the oldest and that’s why we try harder,” said an energetic Khanna.