Any Graphics in Wonderland

Kuldip Goel’s rags to riches story from screen print to label to decals to POS to carton packaging have made the Noida-based firm a super specialist. Special report by Ramu Ramanathan

08 Dec 2014 | By Ramu Ramanathan

Kuldip Goel, owner and managing director of Any Graphics, a specialist producer of print in Noida, is man who conjures one print idea a minute. The medium-sized company is predicated on the notion that to break rules is beautiful.

The company that swept ten awards out of a total of twenty awards at the LMAI Awards in addition to the PrintWeek India Label Printer of the Year 2014 is on an investment spree. This includes Heidelberg XL 75, a fully loaded seven colour UV Press with an online coater. In addition, there will be a Bobst Novacut and folder-gluer. The additional line which will supplement their current packaging set-up will boost the company’s foray into mono cartons for the top FMCG brands in the country.
 
The expansion process was on when the PrintWeek India team visited the unit. Goel and his son, Naveen, tells us, “The machines will be installed in January and the plant will be fully operational in February 2015.”

Humble origins
Known in India for bagging the big international awards, Kuldip Goel’s origins are humble. He began his journey 35 years ago with the sale of stickers worth Rs 100. This was when he was 14 years. Since then, he has been a world beater. Case in point being the Fespa awards and the three World Label Award from the World Label Association for excellence in label printing.
 
Senior Goel and Any Graphics have been moving in print’s orbit since 25 years.
 
“I just love print. For me, print is passion,” Kuldip Goel says.
 
“In the early days, I was the one to ensure restricted use of benzene inks in the plant. This is important from the safety perspective of my team who work day in and night out at the plant.” Goel imported a top pedigree ink from Sericol UK, at a hefty price, to ensure a superior sheen to the print application.” When asked as to why he embarked on these adventures, he replies, “I became fascinated by printing, how it is made and how it works.”

Superior design
Even today, Kuldip Goel loves print design. Or giving a shape to packaging cartons. Nothing triggers his imagination more than solve a problem or add an element to a product.
 
This includes, multilayer labels or labels with hidden features over the past few decades. Many samples are on display. This includes, multicolour web letterpress in combination with roll-to-roll screen printing. The print-runs range from 5,000 to 50,000 metres. But what sets them apart is the Goel recipe in the post-press process. This includes, natural feel effect, raised printing thick UV coatings on thin fonts, hot foil stampings and online die cutting as a simple embellishment.
 
What is equally impressive is the usage of a range of paper, film and foil substrates, complex adhesives, ink formulations, latest colour matching systems, graphic designs and reproduction formats.
 
It’s vintage stuff for a company, which was a small business and now boasts of 250 full-time staff who can relish the office space with natural light that leads to substantial energy savings.

Small, but smart
Now the next-gen, Naveen Goel plans to take the Any Graphics mission to provide label and packaging products to both retail clients and FMCG brands.

Naveen Goel says, “We intend to be a smart and innovative supplier of mono cartons and specialised packaging offerings, and as a supplier of high quality, self-adhesive labels and publicity materials and decals to the print industry.

Any Graphics is a mid-size packaging firm which can convert around three lakh pieces of mono cartons every day, according to Naveen, who has identified the potential in packaging. Which is why the father and son duo have boosted the production capacity. With the expansion from February 2015, these figures would reach to around 5-6 lakh mono cartons every day.

Naveen says he is convinced by the efficiency of the Heidelberg seven-colour press which has some nifty customisation with which he hopes to create a new kind of opportunity such as FDA approved food packaging, finer print quality, the ability to add a strong hit of opaque white, and able to print on virtually any substrate.

“It also offers the model of experiment with consumables,” he says.

Initially, Any Graphics was a typical trade printer with bespoke designs. But now innovation holds the key. This could be Fresnel Lens packaging, natural feel effect on mono cartons or labels, an extra fifth panel for a mono carton or velvet finish or even combination of various print processes.

Naveen Goel shows off a sample pack of product types and substrates to demonstrate the company’s abilities. The samples include, Fresnel Lens, natural feel effect, extended flap as functional packaging and fifth display panel. Naveen says, “Innovation in packaging is driven by brand owner’s need to reduce costs and improve product differentiation on shelf.”

A print future
“There are a lot of opportunities for Any Graphics out there,” says Naveen.

“We have a packaging model under development, which will be quite different to anything else available in the market.”

Some of the brands and competitors in the Indian market are grudging in their praise about the print-bravado the Goels display. But the fact remains, their approach is a good indication of the direction in which the industry is heading. Kuldip Goel created a compact unit with quick thinking. Now Naveen Goel is tweaking the system so that the firm can compete in what is traditionally populated by large, cumbersome operations.

“Print will be an interesting space over the next few years. With changes in technology coming through, no one is really aware of what is coming, and how it will change,” Kuldip Goel says.

Meanwhile it’s all hands on the deck; as the medium sized specialist is doing all it can to stay ahead of the pack. Even as the Goels see off the PrintWeek India team to the gate, they are confident that the next time we visit the factory, the sales figures would have doubled or tripled.
 
Award winning jobs

Baobab Oil Label
Special features of this label are the small size font, which was printed reverse. This meant, a small size reverse font printed in hot stamping foil and perfectly registered thick UV coating on thin fonts as well reverse at Baobab Oil. The UV coating is very thick at certain areas. This makes  it appear as if another label is pasted on top of the label. The special effects created justify the design and the product. This label is printed on a narrow web letterpress.
 

Seven Island Label
A metallised label has been created for a brand that wanted to showcase Indian heritage with elegance. So the design has been treated with the special effect to give the feeling of carvings on the golden area with metallic velvet on the background. The brand is highlighted with the help of a very thick UV texture.
 

Salveo Carton
This carton depicts the natural fruits extract, so a special effect of Natural Feel Effect is created on top of the fruits so as to give the real feel. When touched with the fingers, one can feel each grain of fruits differently. So the Any Graphics team gave a complete real feel to the pack with their unique self created Natural Feel Effect technology.

Sensodyne Carton
This pack is a seven-colour job with very high opacity of white on a metallised film. Registered Lens effect with high gloss UV at various positions of the pack complement the design where the rest of the pack is a complete matte.

 

Fiama Di Wills Label
This job is printed with White + CMYK + special violet on which the stars have been given an effect to look like crystals which can be easily differentiated from a contrasting background. Utmost care is taken in the fine detailing of the product. A very thick UV is used to highlight the brand of the label. This label looks very elegant and eye catching.

Henko Matic Carton
Creation of fifth panel top to bottom, which was almost impossible to paste by automated system as it would not be flat at the time of pasting. The Any Graphics team created a compensation arc (geometrically calculated in microns) on the other side of fifth panel, so that we were able to paste and supply the cartons in flat shape. The fifth panel is of course an advantage to the customer as it increases the shelf presence of the carton. Besides, it is with the registered Fresnel Lens technology which can easily catch the eye of the end user. Lens effects at different parts of the pack make it look very attractive.