Under Forty: Prithviraj Mehul Desai (Mail Order Solutions)

When did you decide to join the business?
I spent a couple of years working at a private firm after my engineering. At the end of these two years, I decided that it would be a good time to begin my journey with the business.

Where do you learn the tricks of the trade? In an executive education programme or on the job?
In my case, everything I’ve learnt is on the job. However, an executive education program is on the cards in the next year for me.

What is your greatest print / business achievement to date?
We started our production unit in 2010. That was quite a huge investment. We were able to scale up so quickly that in 2013-14 we made another big investment in post-press automation from Redlands, CMC, and Hunkeler and inkjet technology from Ricoh. These are massive achievements for us.

What technology has made the biggest difference to your business?
For our business, inkjet technology is looking like a game-changer.

What do you prefer: a mentor in the industry or brain storming with like-aged?
There are benefits to both. Since I don’t come from a printing background, it helps significantly to have a mentor in the industry. However, brainstorming with like-aged people gives fresh perspectives and is stimulating.

If you won Rs 25 crores what would you invest in? Why?
Wow! I would completely automate the post-press at MOS. We’d go for a complete wrapping solution, a packing and loading system, and the latest verification and closed-loop system.

3 am print consultant?
Nitin Shah of Award Packaging. In fact, all the members of the BMPA.

One person who impressed you with wisdom. Why?
Pragnyat Lalwani from Seshaasai. In one of his presentations, he conveyed accurate information, and provided various perspectives on the industry and the possibilities. It gave me a lot of food for thought.

What’s the first thing you do on entering the office?|
I spend about 10 minutes attempting to learn German on Duolingo while my emails load.

When you see a great piece of print created by your competitor, what is your reaction?
Appreciation. We feel good that we compete with such companies that provide such high quality, and that we are in the same league as them.

Biggest luxury on your shopfloor
The automatic production line at our unit. We can produce up to 200,000 mail packs in a day with this production line.