Udaipur’s Miraj installs Heidelberg CX 102 UV combi press

Udaipur-based Miraj Multicolour has installed a Heidelberg Speedmaster CX 102 7+Lx3 UV combi printing press at its 300,000-sqft print production facility. This is the company’s fourth Heidelberg press in the last two decades, with three machines coming in the last seven years.

28 Dec 2020 | By Rahul Kumar

(l-r) Mantraraj Paliwal, vice-chairman, Miraj Group; KG Sharma, director, Miraj Multicolour and Madan Paliwal, chairman, Miraj Group

Miraj Multicolour was established in 2001 by Madan Paliwal, chairman of Miraj Group, with the core idea to offer quality printed products to diverse segments like paperboard packaging for food, FMCG, liner cartons, metPET cartons, and commercial printed products with their its services.

Today, Miraj serves as a printing house with printing and packaging solutions from pre-press to post-press, with the production capacity of 20 to 25 million cartons per day and exercise book capacity of 3.50 lakh per day.

KG Sharma, director, Miraj Multicolour, who is with group since 2001, said, “We were outsourcing our jobs even though our plant was operational with 100% capacity. So, we decided to add another machine with higher capability. Heidelberg has been our preferred partner since our establishment in 2001. Heidelberg is a highly reliable partner in our growth, and we are getting excellent after-sales services from its team in India.”

Sharma noted that under the leadership and vision of the Group chairman Madan Paliwal, the company is on the growth track. “The second generation of the family owned business, vice-chairman Mantra Raj Paliwal, expedited our decision-making process and we could finalise the machine quickly,” he said.

Sharma added, “The CX 102 combi press can process substrates from lightweight paper, labels to rigid board at a maximum speed of 16,500-sheets per hour, 50% lower makeready time with autoplate, remote connection for analysis and offers an extremely operator-friendly process. With excellent support from Heidelberg service team, the installation commenced on time even during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The UV system is supplied by IST. The new press adds the capability to process UV jobs, and apart from the existing clients, the company will focus next on the liquor industry. With the addition of this press, the company will now have 21 Heidelberg printing units of 28x40-inch and its capacity will be increased by 30%. It consumes around 1,500 printing plates per month.

Miraj Multicolour converts around 2,000 tons of paper, board and kraft per month with a team of more than 400 in 24x7x365 operation. Sharma said the company is growing at a CAGR of 20%.

Peter Rego, business head sales, Heidelberg India, said, “We are very excited with the new CX 102 installation at Miraj. Team Miraj is doing an excellent job with the current battery of Heidelberg presses, and with the new CX 102, we are sure Miraj will achieve new heights, which is ably headed by KG Sharma under the guidance of Paliwal. We are proud to be their partners over the last 20 years.”

Along with the new press, the company has also ordered Novacut 106E version 3.0 die-cutter and Ambition 106 A2 folder-gluer from Bobst. “Right now, we have four die-cutting machines from Bobst and Eterna and three folder-gluers from Bobst. The new folder-gluer is equipped with a handy pack. Bobst is the perfect solution to meet increased capacity by adding a new printing press,” Sharma said.

A few months back, the company also opted for a fully automatic lamination machine from Zhongke India. Also, it finalised N & B flute machines with high-speed flute laminators. Presently, the company has E-flute line with flute laminators.

In the last three years, the company has invested more than Rs 30-crore in machinery and expansion, Sharma concluded.