Kapoor Imaging presented its structural product vision for the packaging and commercial print sectors PrintWeek’s Leaders & Legends event on 9 June 2026. Giridharan Sandhanam, executive director, Kapoor Imaging, outlined the company's long-term corporate strategy to transition the domestic print industry toward zero-waste pressrooms while optimising overall production efficiency. The presentation outlined technical advancements in chemical reduction, automated plate processing, and digital press engineering.
The company highlighted pre-press processing as a focal point for mitigating chemical waste in its modern print facility. To address this structural requirement, Kapoor Imaging announced plans to deploy the Super Fine Filtration System (SFFS), an inline filtration module engineered to continuously remove chemical sludge from the developer bath during the plate manufacturing cycle.
The apparatus would operate via a single-inlet, single-outlet plumbing network, enabling field engineers to retrofit the configuration onto existing plate processors or ship it fully integrated with new CTP units.
“The implementation of the filtration system directly extends the overall life of the developer chemistry, resulting in lower chemistry consumption per plate while ensuring dot repeatability across the production run,” Sandham said. The development pipeline will integrate automated conductivity meters to control bath replenishment parameters based on chemical strength rather than total processed surface area. This mechanical stabilisation will allow high-fidelity dots to replicate without dimensional variation, producing cleaner lithographic plates that maintain ink-water balance truer on high-speed sheetfed presses.
For chemical-free pre-press lines, Kapoor Imaging detailed its commercial alignment with Kodak to supply Sonora process-free thermal plates alongside the automated Trendsetter and Magnus plate-setter product families. The process-free thermal plates eliminate the processing unit, removing water consumption, power utilities, and downstream chemical handling costs entirely from the pre-press room.
The plates will support high-resolution commercial and packaging configurations, accommodating up to 300-lpi conventional screening and 20-micron FM screening matrices.
Kapoor Imaging's domestic distribution infrastructure is secured by a long-term supply agreement with Lucky-Huaguang, a state-owned industrial enterprise running 13 high-volume offset plate manufacturing lines.
The supplier has dedicated a single manufacturing line solely to produce the Topaz line of offset plates for the distributor, providing a fixed annual allocation of 20-million sqm of plate capacity to protect domestic print shops from global logistics shocks.
The plate inventory spans violet, Ultraviolet Computer-to-conventional-plate (UV CTCP), and thermal variants to service newspaper publishers and rigid metal packaging converters.
Beyond conventional offset applications, the company will expand its commercial reach into the narrow-web and wide-format flexible packaging markets. The group also announced the formalization of a partnership with Sumei Taiwan to distribute specialized photopolymer flexographic plates, paired with digital flexo platesetters manufactured by Doie China.
Sandhanam explained, "The expansion into the flexographic domain will allow our teams to deliver technical precision into the fast-growing packaging segment, where rigid tool costs and short lead times dictate commercial success."
The presentation also highlighted LEP technology via the HP Indigo press portfolio, demonstrating how digital engines can complement existing high-volume offset machinery rather than replacing it. Conventional lithographic setups encounter long turnaround times and high mechanical setup costs that render short-run jobs financially unviable. Digital press options bypass plate-making entirely, allowing quick file edit, send, and print workflows that process up to seven-colour customized packaging jobs and VDP assignments on identical substrates.
From a substrate perspective, the liquid electrophotography architecture utilizes a thin ink layer that follows the natural topography of the underlying media, replicating the true texture and surface gloss of uncoated kraft, textured paperboard, or synthetic plastics.
This contrast stands distinct from conventional xerographic dry toners or standard water-based and UV-curable inkjet systems, which deposit a thick polymer layer that masks the structural properties of the base packaging material. The print quality remains consistent and predictable because the positioning of every drop of the specialized Electroink is controlled electronically through the entire transfer cycle, ensuring high print fidelity across any operating speed.
On the pressroom chemistry front, the supplier announced plans to operate an industrial blending facility in Siruvada, situated near the Sri City industrial zone outside Chennai. The plant will convert chemical master concentrates from RBP Chemicals USA into finished press washes and specialized single-step fountain solutions engineered to eliminate IPA usage across web offset and sheetfed configurations.
The facility will operate under a strict zero-waste-to-ground engineering protocol where 100% of the industrial wash solutions are recovered, filtered, and reused within the closed-loop blending circuit to maintain local environmental compliance.