The Komori Enthrone series which is a compact design offset presses saw 28 installations. The Enthrone press employs an array of double-size impression and transfer cylinders to ensure consistent performance on short runs of a diverse work mix. The press can accommodate sheet thicknesses of 0.04 mm to 0.6 mm. While the Lithrone Series, is typically five colour and above configuration with multiple options and multi-substrate sheetfed offset press, saw installation of 24 presses in the last 18 months.
Ajay Aggarwal, director of Insight Print Communications pointed out an interesting trend, "In our case, not a single machine went to first-time buyers." He said, "Most B2 sized presses went to customers wanting to replace their old presses with brand new ones or augment their printing capacities. Then the packaging segments and 37-inch were other two segments which took all the high-end presses."
Smaller B and C category towns have started investing in brand new machines. Meerut and Surat are prime examples. Kerala is another state - where we installed many presses. Kerala has more than 70 second-hand presses but now "a phase of new presses has begun”, Aggarwal said, "More and more use of HUV / UV and coater-based value added printing was visible in the commercial segment which is slowly advancing from standard four-colour printing.” With the recent slew of installations, and acquisition of Southern territory a few years ago, Insight now has an install base of around 150 brand new Komoris in the past five years.
Aggarwal said, "Print is growing in the packaging segment. Today, between KBA, Komori and Heidelberg 20 brand new machines have been installed specifically in the packaging segment and most have been used to cater to increase the existing business. The 36-inch and 37-inch segment of the press have seen growth for Komori and Ryobi, with this we saw new machines being used increasingly in the publishing segment. But this growth has been at the expense of business on old 40” presses. Overall publishing segment has not grown so much. Similarly, the B2 size segment was very good for us and our customers who have been pulling business from presses running old machines but the overall commercial market has also been struggling”. "Overall Komori did very well in all segments i.e commercial, publishing and packaging," concluded Aggarwal.
Currently, the total value of offset printing machines imported for the first seven month of 2015 stands at Rs 345 crore with Komori taking the leading share of brand new machine imports.