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Spotlight on Asaies Automation's Acercon Color Registration System

Priya Raju — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 12:11:00

Rajesh Kumar of Asaies Automation is quite clear about why India needs a robust colour registration system like Acercon Color Registration System. He says, while top-end printers in India use auto registration systems in their presses, the small and medium segment printers mostly rely on skilled operators for maintaining the colour registration. Kumar feels, automation was not considered by most of printers due to the high cost of the auto registration system, availability of cheaper labor and not so quality conscious customers. But now that seems to be changing. The humble Indian print firm is transforming itself.

Rajesh Kumar, who heads a nifty op for Asaies Automation in Kochi has been engaged with Indian web portal and e-commerce sites (www.manoramaonline.com, www.irctc.co.in). In 2000, he built the architecture for colour registration systems based on his electronics and embedded knowledge. Kumar says, the mandate was simple: ease of use to shape the product with latest technologies and reduce the cost. And so, he and his team sought to create a solution with the available components - at the same time without compromising quality and long-term sustainability.

Who are the customers?
Today, the Lokmat Media, ABP and Manipal Technologies at Mumbai, Pune, Jalgaon, Nanded, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Baharampur, Kolkata and Manipal locations. Kumar says, "Asaies can integrate our system with any press currently not having an auto registration system and on any press."

The system can be installed in manual presses (i.e. without registration motors) with necessary technology up gradation/motorization. The Asaies Automation team have developed a high precision web guide system which has been installed in a Harris Press at Malayala Manorama in Kottayam.

What does the software do?
In conventional offset printing, perfect colour registration and print quality is important. While printing an image that has more than one colour, it is necessary to print each colour separately and ensure each colour overlaps the others, precisely. If this is not done, the finished image will look fuzzy, blurred or out-of-register and the copy become waste. To help line the colours up correctly, a system of registration is necessary. As most newspapers in India are opting for all-colour, there has been an increased need to monitor colour registration in print. Advanced colour registration at full press speed is essential for today’s newspaper printer to achieve excellent print quality and stay ahead of competition. Achieving the saleable copies in minimum number of impressions is the key. This is even more critical for printers who are faced with shorter and more frequent press runs. Therefore, it is very important to maintain precise colour registration during start-up and throughout the print run to and ensure maximum waste saving and quality in print.

What market is it aimed at?
Anyone desirous of high-quality print. Top publishing houses in the country deploy old auto registration systems on their presses without the desired outcome. The factor preventing them from repair or upgradation is a huge investment. Plus there are mid-sized printers having manual presses with no motorisation who are intimidated about installing an auto registration system. Asaies Automation, who define themselves as "a young automation company" has been addressing the concerns of this market segment. The technically advanced and highly affordable auto registration system – Acercon is helpful for all types of operators.

How does it help a press operator?
Today, retaining skilled operators and depending on them for top print quality is not feasible in this highly competitive industry. One reason is, even if the operator is highly skillful, the consistency cannot be guaranteed as even the slightest delay in response can affect print quality and lead to waste in high-speed printing.

How does it work?
High-speed presses run from 35,000 to 80,000 copies per hour. This means nearly 10 to 20 copies per second. Scanning each copy to analyse and maintain perfect registration throughout the print run is possible only with high-quality image sensors, high precision controllers and highly intelligent and responsive software often leading to the high cost. This is what Acercon Color Registration System aims to do. Interestingly enough there is version for low speed and high speed

What is the USP?
When PrintWeek India studied the product at the Lokmat plant, the stand-out features were: its circumferential and lateral colour register control; quick response with concurrent motor controls; high performance camera/sensor and optics; robust performance and waste saving even during low colour density and waste saving during low colour density; camera or sensor-based cut-off control.

What makes Acercon unique is its user-friendly and configurable operator console. This enables set offset values.

Technical specifications
Camera/sensor	High-Speed CMOS/CCD sensor
Camera resolution	0.01mm
Illuminating	Maintenance-free LED-flash-unit integrated into camera housing
Mark area	Variable, min. 14 mm x 6 mm, Standard 20 mm x 10 mm
Field of view	25 mm x 15 mm
Mark diameter	0.1mm to 1.0mm
Measuring accuracy of colour register (web-based)	0.01mm
Capture range of colour register (web-based)	≥ 8 mm
Max number of marks per mark field	10
Max operating speed	41.8 m/sec, 8226 ft/min
Maximum controlled units	255
Extendable no of printing units	20
Suitable materials	Paper, cardboard, film (transparent/opaque)
Data exchange	Ethernet/Wi-Fi
Display	Touch Screen Monitor

What about ease of ops for the operator?
The operator console has been designed with high degree of flexibility in configuration and settings including that of camera/sensor and encoder. All relevant information like detection, motor positions, temperature, density, camera/flash LED status, control status etc are shown in the operator console for a quick view.

Settings including camera/sensor and encoder

What functions does the console have?
The new operator console integrates functionalities like registration control, cut-off control, compensator and web-guide control with single or multiple sensors. These are highly user-friendly touch-based with a "Graphical User Interface" that is accessible through LAN/Wifi in new generation devices like Mobile/Tab etc. The operator console is configurable and Asaies Automation can split the console among multiple operators with specific tower/sensor allocation. The operator console has advanced setting options for the sensor and other parameters.

operator console has been designed with high degree of flexibility in configuration

Is operations handsfree?
Rajesh Kumar says it is a 100% handsfree ops; and the system does not require any operator intervention during startup. Of course, if there is a need change in offset or environmental parameters one has to step in. The system gives relevant alerts to the operator if there is any intervention required.

Functions integrated in operating interface

• Administration of production parameters

• Camera/Detection settings

• Register status display

• Camera live picture

• Register fine adjustment

• Input of print mark geometry

• Trend display

• Measured value archive

Waste Saving: For a 2 mm correction at @15000 IPH, registration will be achieved within 120 sheets (Assuming motor takes 10 sec for 2 mm movement)

Flexo pre-press specialists at Labelexpo 2016

Rushikesh Aravkar — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 11:13:00

Not so with flexo pre-press. Even with the latest developments in digital flexo pre-press over the last decade, one must agree that pre-press in flexo remains more of an art than of science. It still remains the mastery of a select few.

That’s the reason why Labelexpo 2016 saw more than six flexo pre-press houses flaunting their expertise. These included Ahmedabad-based Ankit Graphics, Hyderabad-based Digiflex, Noida-based Creative Graphics, Bengaluru-based Veepee Graphics, New Delhi-based Alpha Flex and AM Boards.

All these firms have made significant investments in hardware and software and automated operations, anticipating demand for flexographic printing. That’s because label converters are adding capacities, gravure converters are investing in CI flexo presses and more and more gravure jobs are being converted to flexo.

Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics

Creative Graphics has been an Esko loyalist right from the beginning. Today, it runs multi-location operations in Noida, Vasai (Mumbai) and Hyderabad. Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics says the focus has shifted to faster delivery and finest quality. “Customers are demanding plates in shortest turnaround,” he adds.

Ankit Darji (r) of Ankit Graphics

Ankit Graphics, a first-timer at Labelexpo, deploys its Screen Platerite-produced plates to run on Nilpeter and RK Machinery presses. Ankit Darji of Ankit Graphics says, “The accuracy of flexo plates can make or break image quality for a converter. So there’s a huge responsibility that we as a pre-press bureau carry. The response at the show has been impressive. We saw a significant amount of offset printers keen to invest in flexo and labels. It’s good for business.”

Shyam Sunder of Digiflex

For all the pre-press bureaus, the goal is to help their customer create crisp images that can be produced consistently, again and again. But that’s not all. The customers are looking at productivity improvement by achieving the same quality but with reduced number of colours.The latest entrant, Digiflex, which started operations a year ago with Kodak Flexcel technology, has reported 25% month-on-month increase in the number customers and claims to have captured more than 95% of flexo market in Hyderabad.

Speaking of changing customer needs, Shyam Sunder of Digiflex says, “There is an increase in demand for printing higher density solids without laying down more ink and printing high-density white in a single pass.”

Goel agrees. “It’s a challenge to make the customer understand the process differences between gravure and flexo and why it is difficult to achieve gravure quality on flexo. With the technology available, we try to go as close as possible to gravure quality.”

Sunder adds, “When converting jobs from gravure to flexo, there are some jobs which consume more ink, especially with opaque white. For such jobs, our expertise and intelligent use of hybrid screening is required to ensure that ink densities are kept in check.”

In terms of line screen and dot size, 130-150 lpi and 3% dot is status quo.
Darji says, “Achieving 0.5% dot is possible for both pre-press houses as well as printers, but going for such small dot means drastically reducing the press speed. Also, care needs to be taken to keep the plate clean and avoid ink build-up on that micro dot. This hampers productivity. Hence printers avoid having such fine elements in the artwork.

Both Darji and Goel concede that the label printers today want to print higher line screens. For a converter using UV inks and anilox above 1000 lpi, a plate with 150 lpi works well. “There are customers who demand 1% and 0.5% dot and can print line screens of up to 175 lpi. You need to invest in higher anilox if you want to print higher lpi. The label converters like Ahmedabad-based Nitai Press, Accutech Packaging in Vadodara, and Renault Paper Products in Palghar have good sets of anilox. I supply 175 lpi to these clients,” says Darji.

As the end-customer pushes the envelope further, and the benchmark of quality rises further, and artworks become more complex, the onus of quality production will lie with pre-press bureaus. “1% dot and 175 lpi will soon become industry norm and we will be experimenting with even finer line screens and nano dots soon,” concludes Sunder.

Colours Print Media adds Thermostar T9

Rushikesh Aravkar — Tue, 17 May 2016 04:15:14

The managing director Ravi Varma K said, “It was time to replace the existing platesetter, which had a limitation regarding overall output. Therefore, we were assessing CTP platesetters available in the market. We have been using TechNova plates and the market feedback about TechNova’s platesetter was positive, plus the service support of its technical team tilted the decision in favour of Thermostar.”

The new Thermostar installed ten months ago can image 27 plates per hour, and conveniently serves the 90 plates per day requirement of the three machines at CPM.

CPM recently consolidated its operations in a new three-storey building with 20,000 sq/ft area near AC Guards in Hyderabad. The managing director Ravi Varma K is a first generation entrepreneur. He started as a freelancer in 2003 and established the print firm two years later. Today, the company is home to three secondhand four-colour presses, the latest being a Komori Lithrone installed in August 2015.

CPM employs 60 persons and produces more than 40 jobs converting over 1.5-lakh sheets per day. A leading print firm in the seeds and pesticide industry, CPM prints commercial leaflets and packaging cartons for Godrej Agrovet, Adventa, Xylem, Syngenta, Shakti Seeds and many other companies in the sector.

“Over the years, we have had a healthy growth. The potential for agro-based industries is huge but the business is dependent on the weather. The last year saw a bit of a slump as erratic monsoon resulted in a slowdown in the agriculture and related businesses,” said Varma.

Looking ahead, Varma is keen to tap the soaring book printing market in the city. “The plan is to invest in a web offset press to cater to private publications,” he explained.

Trend watch: UV CTCP gains momentum

Rushikesh Aravkar — Tue, 17 May 2016 04:12:24

Once the most favoured platemaking technique, UV CTCP was being outpaced by thermal more than violet technology. Today, this number (for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) has upped to 131 – 55 thermal, 39 violet and 37 UV CTCP systems. The total potential of the market has surged to 1.7 lakh sq/m per month.

Of these 131, 63% are in-house installations for a print firm’s captive consumption and majority of them are thermal platesetters. As the major print firms have put in CTP devices in-house, the print service bureau business is on the decline.

The last one year saw nine new thermal kits and five new UV CTCP kits put into service. There was no show for violet platesetter. Interestingly, more than half of the remaining 37% of CTP kits, which are the investments made by the CTP service bureaus, deploy UV CTCP technology.

Clearly, the UV CTCP technology is gaining ascendancy in Tamil Nadu again, especially among the print service bureaus. The number of 128-channel UV CTCP devices has seen a surge in this print sector because of reduced cost of these high powered devices and aggressive marketing by the suppliers.

According to market reports, these are Amsky and Basysprint platesetters, which enable higher throughput and at the same time the plate cost is 20-25% lower than the other digital platemaking technologies. Moreover, if Chinese plates are used, the plate cost is as low as 40%.

Therefore, in this saturated market, service bureaus are switching from violet to UV CTCP in order to combat the cut-throat competition.

PWI View: The CTP segment is saturated. Over the next two years, the service bureau segment will see consolidation. While some firms will close down, few others will venture into printing. Though the number of new installations will reduce, printing companies will continue to add in-house platesetters.

Product of the month: Enfocus Pitstop Pro 13.1

Sriraam Selvam — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:59:24

PitStop, with 1,30,000 users worldwide and around 4,500 licenses in India has been designed for use by people who have experience in pre-press and graphic arts.

The client roster for the PitStop Pro is impressive.

From newspaper giant, ABP in Kolkata and Jagran in Kanpur to Art-O-Print in Ahmedabad. From Repro to Sheth Publishers. From packaging firms like Param Packaging to Shree Arun Packaging. From commercial printers like Jak to Balodhyan Press.

The first avatar was launched two decades ago, in 1997. Originally it was aimed at commercial print, newspaper and magazine production, but as the use of PDF became more widespread, features were added to help with applications such as digital print, sign and display, packaging and labels as well as the traditional repro and advertising. This explains customers that range from Spectrum Scan to Comart. Plus the direct mail players like MOS and Seshasai to pre-media top guns like Express Knowledge in Delhi to Integra in Puducherry to Crest Premedia in Pune.

So what does Pitstop do?

The software is a digital artwork quality control, editing, and production aid. It is supplied as a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat and can be used to check, verify (such as for PDF/X), report, auto-correct or convert (say RGB to CMYK) and edit the graphic and text content of PDF files.

According to Hemanshu Desai of Venus Infotech (who along with Basis System) are behind the success of Enfocus in India, the USP of the Pitstop Pro is its smooth interaction with the actual objects in a PDF.

All you have to do is just select the objects that you want, find out the attributes and also edit them with a toolset. Besides, there are manual pre-flight results, letting you directly interact with the PDF to find problem elements and correct them.

Desai says, “PitStop Pro is a digital artwork quality control, editing and production aid. It is supplied as a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat and can be used to check, verify (such as for PDF/X), report, auto-correct or convert (say RGB to CMYK) and edit the graphic and text content of PDF files. Its manual content editing abilities are notably more extensive that those of Adobe Acrobat or Illustrator. There are facilities for automatic editing using either PDF Preflight Profile or an action list or global changes.”

More than work in progress

It’s working methodology is simple. For starts, its system requirements need Mac OS X or Windows, both running with Adobe Acrobat.

As per a company brief to PrintWeek, the PDF files are opened in Adobe Acrobat, after which the user selects the PitStop Pro menu and can choose to preflight check the files or just edit them.

Preflight checks can be chosen from a standard set which include PDF/X and the Ghent PDF Workgroup standards, or users can define their own routines from a list of possibilities.

The preflight check can also include automatic fixes for problems such as incorrect colour spaces, missing fonts or unwanted spot colours. The user can also manually edit the PDF by selecting image elements or text and modifying them with familiar design tools. Alternatively one-click ‘Global Changes’ will correct all instances of an issue in a PDF file.

The latest incremental PitStop 13 update 1 has the ability to ‘restrict’ the preflight to within a contour or irregular shape. This could be a dieline or cutter guide, for example.

As Hemanshu Desai says, “Other features that were added were, the ability to generate bleed.” This Desai asserts is “the most important thing that is generally forgotten till last moment. Three different actions list are provided that will work for different conditions of the original file.”

Also the new PitStop can customise pre-flight messages. According to Desai, this means, “Instead of writing a technical message, one can now edit the message to write in simple English or for that matter any local language supported by the operating system.”

Multi-user options

Desai talks about how one can “buy the PitStop as Perpetual License, Single user or a Multi-user option (that is, above five), ‘Floating’ licenses is available for more than five users, which can be activated and deactivated via the Workgroup manager. This lets different people in a job sequence access PitStop as necessary, without needing to buy a copy for all of them. There is a stand-alone version called PitStop Server, intended for a fully automatic checking and automatic fixing workflow using hot folders.”

He adds, “Connect all is another option available to connect the printer with their clients in, a way for printers to control the way customer PDFs are created and to verify and correct them if needed before they are uploaded.

A perpetual single licence is Euro 699. Alternatively, there is an annual subscription at Euro 300 (or Euro 32 per month). Desai says, there is a floating licence (five users and above) start from is Euro 3500 for up to five users and one year’s maintenance. A free 30-day trial version is available for download from the Enfocus website.

Hemanshu Desai of Venus Infotech will offer a special price for PrintWeek India readers.

Countdown to Drupa: PantoneLIVE Private Cloud for converters

Dibyajyoti Sarma — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 12:25:17

The new offering is part of the PantoneLIVE ecosystem designed to communicate colour digitally, accurately between brand owners, designers, pre-media, ink suppliers and printers. It removes any ambiguity when communicating colour specifications across the workflow process. This enables converters to deliver consistent colour and meet customer expectations every time.

The company will demonstrate PantoneLIVE Private Cloud and related professional services at Drupa 2016 in Hall 8B/ A23. At Drupa, converters can also learn from X-Rite colour experts how PantoneLIVE can improve efficiencies regardless of their role in the packaging supply chain, to deliver fast ROI and increase customer satisfaction.

“In addition to the Pantone Matching System (PMS), many converters have invested time and resources developing their own colour libraries and standards for specific customers,” said Adrián Fernández, vice-president, PantoneLIVE, X-Rite Pantone. “Leveraging the benefits of the PantoneLIVE model to streamline colour specification and communication, we are now enabling printers to publish proprietary colours in a private cloud infrastructure. This makes colour data easily available at all phases of production and across multiple locations. No matter the colour standard used, converters can be sure that everyone is using the same reference data.”

All colours published in PantoneLIVE Private Cloud are available for selection within PantoneLIVE-enabled pre-press systems such as GMG and Esko. The ability to digitally communicate and share colour means accurate proof. Having colour references stored in a secure online repository significantly reduces press side approvals times. Now, everyone in the colour supply chain or across different production locations can work with the same specified, pre-validated and achievable brand colour. Press operators no longer have to spend extra time and materials trying to reach unachievable colour.

To help customers move to the PantoneLIVE Private Cloud, X-Rite has developed tools and professional services designed to manage colour libraries and workflows. The new PantoneLIVE Rationalization Service analyses and consolidates a printer’s existing colour library to improve colour accuracy, increase production efficiencies, reduce ink stocks and avoid wasteful duplication of colour.

Drupa 2016 will take place from 31 May to 10 June 2016 at Dusseldorf, Germany. PrintWeek India is a cooperating media partner at the show. The team led by Noel D’cunha, Rushikesh Aravkar and Monica Rohra will be present on all days of the show.

Dibya’s colloquy: Spotlight on printed words at the Oscars

Dibyajyoti Sarma — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 17:29:19

The 2016 edition of the Oscars was organised on 28 February, and though it was all about Hollywood (and controversy!), for us print-obsessive viewers, there was much to cheer about.

The Academy Award for Best Picture went to a film with a newspaper at its heart – Spotlight. This is the first time a film with the newsprint newspaper (yes, this is how the western media describes printed newspapers these days!) in the centre has taken home the coveted trophy. Both Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941), loosely based on the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and Alan J Pakula’s All the President’s Men (1976), based on the investigation by two Washington Post journalists, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, which would become the infamous Watergate scandal, were nominated for the award but failed to win. Another film in the same category is Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent (1940), about an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain.

Spotlight is more down-to-earth, retelling a long investigation by a group of journalists from Boston Globe, the Spotlight team, to uncover the systemic child abuse in the Catholic Church. For the American audience, it was a throwback to another era, where newsprint newspapers were a real thing, where one could wait for months before ‘breaking’ a story, where people trusted newspaper stories.

For us, it was a kick to see those large web offset machines chugging on the big screen, churning out prints.

Aside from Spotlight, a number of Oscar winners this year started out as humble books. This is, of course, great news for us. As these movies are now popular, the publishers would reissue the books, with new covers, and moviegoers will picks them up – more jobs for book printers.

Here we trace the Oscar winners to their humble origin – the book version.

The Revenant
Michael Punke’s The Revenant (2002), meaning someone, dead or alive, who has returned, tells the real-life story of Hugh Glass (played by DiCaprio), a far trapper, in Rocky Mountains in 1823, where a grizzly bear attacks him and then his men abandon him. Glass survives, fuelled by his passion for revenge, and travels 3,000 mile across the harsh American frontier, to find the men who betrayed him.

It is a tale of enthralling adventure and the film’s director Alejandro G Iñárritu turns this into primal tale of survival, with the battle of the grizzly bear at its centre. The film does not reflect the emotional density of the books, but it is visceral, to say the least.

Trivia: Punke is the US ambassador to the WTO.

Carol
Patricia Highsmith named the book The Price of Salt. Later, it was republished as Carol. The 1952 novel is a dazzling lesbian romance, which was a daring act during the time of sexual repression, especially since it has a happy ending. So much so, Highsmith first published the book under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. Lovers of suspense would remember Highsmith for two of her beloved works, Strangers on a Train (1950) and The Talented Mr Ripley (1955), both of which became successful films.

Todd Haynes’s film version, staring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, polishes the text to the barebones of the story and observes the scandalous romance from the equivalent of a cinematic close-up. It proves to be one of the most romantic movies ever made.

Brooklyn
This one is pedigree. Irish master Colm Tóibín is one of the most celebrated writers working today, and the 2009 novel won a Costa Award. The screenplay is by Nick Hornby, another celebrated author, whose own novel About a Boy is a successful film. The book tells the story of a young Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan) to America, and how she falls in love and how she has to return and has to choose between two countries and two lovers.

Simply, it is a love-triangle spanning two continents, and John Crowley’s film version retains the power of Tóibín’s calm, unhurried tone in a journey from innocence to acceptance.

The Martian
This is a story of the triumph of self-publishing. Andy Weir published The Martian, the story of an astronaut stranded in the Red Planet, himself in 2011. When the sale of the eBook version picked up, Crown Publishing purchased the rights and re-released it in 2014. The story follows Mark Watney, stranded alone on Mars in 2035, who must improvise in order to survive. Besides the obvious adventure element, the book has been praised for its realistic description of the future technologies, for which Weir studied orbital mechanics, astronomy, and the history of manned spaceflight.

Ridley Scott, a master of science fiction horror films, made the movie as much realistic as possible, with no small help from NASA itself, bolstered by a winning performance from Matt Damon. It was one of the most popular movies of 2015.

Trivia: When rebuffed by literary agents (this is such an old story, potential bestsellers ignored by agents; it is time somebody fired those agents who do not recognise a future bestseller!) Weir made the book available online, first in his website, then on Amazon Kindle. The Kindle edition rose to the top of Amazon’s list of bestselling science-fiction titles, where it sold 35,000 copies in three months. This garnered the attention of publishers.

Room
Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue’s novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010, among other awards. This is a harrowing story of a five-year-old boy and his abused and captive mother, told with finesse and literary perfection. The novel tells the story of Jake who is born in the room and which is his whole world, before he and his mother are rescued and how his perspectives about the world changes.

Lenny Abrahamson’s film keeps the focus on the mother-son (played by Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay) relationship and the film works chiefly due to the performance of these two actors. No wonder, Larson took home the Best Actress Oscar.

The Big Short
Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (2010) is about the build-up of the housing and credit bubble during the 2000s. It was in The New York Times bestseller list for 28 weeks. The book describes several of the key players in the creation of the credit default swap market that sought to bet against the collateralized debt obligation bubble and thus ended up profiting from the financial crisis of 2007-08.

The star-studded film works mainly because the director Adam McKay, who also wrote the script, infuses enough drama and eccentricities while at the time explaining the intricacies of the financial market. If you like finance, you would definitely love the movie.

The Danish Girl
In a year when former Olympic Gold medallist Bruce Jenner reinvented herself as Caitlyn Jenner, the story of Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery, does not sound exciting, but it is. In The Danish Girl (2000), David Ebershoff attempts a fictionalised account of Elbe’s inner life, and he has been successful in most parts, with critics calling it fascinating and humane.

Tom Hooper’s film has been praised for the acting of Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, and Alicia Vikander as his wife (she won an Oscar.), but has been criticised otherwise. Critics pointed out that the movie is all gloss, with no real human emotion, with one critic saying, “The frocks are more convincing than the emotions.” So, perhaps, the book remains the best bet to appreciate the story.

Honourable mentions
There are other movies inspired by written content. Jay Roach’s Trumbo (played by Bryan Cranston), a biopic on the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for his alleged Communist propaganda, is based on the biography Dalton Trumbo (1977) by Bruce Alexander Cook. Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, for which Charlotte Rampling was nominated for Best Actress, is based on the short story In Another Country by David Constantine. Japan’s Studio Ghibli has a tradition of adapting English novels into Japanese animation (Howl’s Moving Castle, Arrietty). This year’s Oscar nominated animation film When Marnie Was There is based on Joan G Robinson’s novel of the same name. This is one of the favourite books of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki.

Narain Printers brings pre-press in-house with Amsky

Rahul Kumar — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 23:56:59

Recently, Narain Printers installed a thermal CTP, Ausetter T 848, manufactured by China-based Amsky. The company received the product from TechNova Imaging Systems. There are several agencies in the country to distribute Amsky products.

The Ausetter T 848 is equipped with 48 channel imaging system and a discrete 830 nm laser. The CTP device can produce 22 thermal plates an hour, with a resolution up to 2400 dpi.

IN Mittal of Narain Printers said, “We had started losing jobs because we used to outsource the plates, and there were issues of quality and delivery. Therefore, we decided to opt for a thermal CTP. Right now, we are consuming more than 100 plates per day.”

Mittal said the company opted for Ausetter T 848 because it is thermal, cost-effective and most importantly, it comes in a compact size.

This is not all. The book printing company has also ordered a new four-colour Komori GL437 printing press. The press is under installation.

Mittal said, “Our production demand is increasing and by installing a new printing press, we can minimise our turnaround time to meet our increased production demand.”

Previously, the company had Heidelberg and Dominant printing presses, besides India-made web offset presses.

Recently, the first generation book printing company also invested in a greenfield project and purchased a separate piece of land (1,000 sq/m) in the same vicinity in Noida Sector 63. Now, the company has two factories with a combined area of 2,000 sq/m.

Picture Gallery: EFI Connect 2016 – Making print sexy in Las Vegas

PrintWeek India — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:47:33

What they learnt: Ankit Darji, Ankit Graphics

Priya Raju — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 22:48:50

After completing his post graduation from Scotland, I decided to enter our two-decade family business that is a flexo pre-press bureau in Ahmedabad. The transition period was difficult for me, in terms of the lifestyle and even the work culture.

After joining the business, I realised that, with the kind of equipment and capacity installed we were unable to maximise the output, which was due to the attitude of the employees.

It was a challenge for me to convince the employees who were working with us since ages, on certain do’s and don’ts plus their work style. Especially, since I was new to the organisation. As a result many employees quit and the attrition rate was high. I did fail in retaining them. We treat employees as an asset and to lose them was a big setback for me.

I had to recruit new employees and train them according to the parameters designed by me. I also noticed that if an employee is overburdened with jobs then it resulted in a drop in efficiency.

This rang a bell for me, and I decided to invest in automation, so as to prevent such failures in future.

In 2011, I invested in equipment that were programmable, which any employee can learn to operate. With this things improved and the quality of the efficiency increased and consistency improved. It has also opened the doors to cater to different segments.

LESSON LEARNT

Employees are an asset. One should take care of the employees, ensuring they are not burdened with too many jobs. It will eventually result in the decrease in the quality of output. Finally, constantly innovate and invest in technologies.

Darji, a polymer engineer, graduated from Napier University, Scotland, wanted to join his family business and wants to take the business to the next level. Apart from work he loves long drives and listening to rock music. Next on his radar is to go on a road trip from Ahmedabad to Leh!

"Tough times never last, but tough people do," says Saeesh Dhond of The Impression Group
Read his story here

Nippon Color sells two Cron UV CTCP systems at Pamex 2015

Dibyajyoti Sarma — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:00:03

According to Jayant Pardiwala of Nippon Color, nowadays companies are investing in CTCP purely because of its low plate cost. PS plates are around 30% cheaper compared to thermal and violet plates. “Printers who are using more than 2,500 plates per month and printing maximum 250 lpi have also opted for UV CTCP technology so that they can save money on plates,” he said.

Saving money on plate prices was the reason why Mumbai’s Nikeda Art Printers opted for the Cron UV CTCP solution. The company is currently using Violet CTP. Pardiwala said with the new system, the customer will save around Rs 18,00,000 per year.

It was the same motivation for Mumbai’s Aldel Sales Corporation as well. The company is currently using Screen thermal CTP and opted for the Cron UV CTCP Solution so that they can save money on plate prices. Pardiwala said with the new system, the customer will save around Rs 20,00,000 per year.

Earlier, Nippon Color had sold a Cron thermal CTP to Award Offset Printers. The new device will be installed at its new Silvasa plant. Pardiwala said the company opted for the Cron thermal CTP because of its high quality output, long-lasting laser diode and reliability. This device can expose any process-less plates available in the market, and the maintenance of the system is minimal.

Nippon Color announces multiple installations of Cron, Kodak kit

Dibyajyoti Sarma — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 14:50:34

Speaking to PrintWeek India, Jayant Pardiwala of Nippon said the CTP market in India has matured and Indian pre-press service bureaus and commercial printers are either opting for UV CTCP systems or thermal platesetters.

In the current market scenarios, however, there is a tussle between these two technologies, considering their investment costs and running costs. For example, the investment cost for thermal platesetters may be less, but it has higher running cost. On the other hand, the investment cost of UV CTCP is high, almost double, compared to thermal, but the running cost is comparatively low, as it can use PS plates.

The companies, which purchased Cron UV CTCP from Nippon Color, are Aurangabad’s Shree Mauli Process; New Delhi’s Bharati International; Rajkot’s Colors Print Pack; Lucknow’s Fine Graphix; Kolkata’s Balaji Printing Solution; Bhopal’s Box Corrugators & Offset Printers; Ambala’s Ideal Solution and Meerut’s Soniya Printer Scan.

Pardiwala said pre-press service bureaus are investing in CTCP purely because of its low plate cost. “Even today, PS plates are around 30% cheaper compared to thermal and violet plates,” he said, adding, “Printers who are using more than 2,500 plates per month and printing maximum 250 lpi have also opted for UV CTCP technology so that they can save money on plates.”

On the other hand, in packaging segment, customers are opting for thermal technology because of its high run-length and quality.

The companies, which purchased Kodak thermal CTP from Nippon Colour in the last six months, are Mumbai’s Vakil & Sons; Mumbai’s Sahaya Print Services; Siliguri’s Vista Prints and Surat’s Progressive Printing Press.

Pre-Press Company: Shilp Gravures

PrintWeek India — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 21:16:47

Shilp Gravures is India’s pioneering and undisputed leader in electro-mechanical engraving, with a substantial market share in the flexible packaging industry. The company approaches its work practices from the creative end and this is what distinguishes it from all the other gravure cylinder suppliers in the field.

Shilp Gravures’ financial mettle has strengthened over the last year since it was adjudged joint-winners in the Pre-Press Company of the Year. Its revenue of the fiscal year 2014-15 was up 10% at Rs 63.06 crore and profit after taxes stand at around Rs 5.17 crore up by 13.93% from 4.54-crore in the last fiscal year.

In 2009, Ahmedabad-based Shilp acquired a flexo trade shop to enter into the flexography segment and since then has assembled a slew of kit. The company has recently added Esko’s full HD Flexo solution and a Degraf 405 DW plate processor from Glunz & Jensen.

Shilp Gravures (Ahmedabad)

Tel: +91 9925204010/ ambarpatel@shilpgravures.com

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Delhi’s Metro Press gets Kodak Trendsetter Q800

PrintWeek India — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 22:43:33

Established in 1965, Metro Press offers services both in commercial and packaging printing. In commercial printing, the company is into brochures, book covers, catalogues, calendars, paper packaging boxes, plastic sheets and stickers. In packaging, it is into mono cartons and boxes. Besides, its Delhi unit, the company has another unit in Sonipat, Haryana.

Before purchasing the Kodak Trendsetter Q800 from Insight Communication, the company was using Italy-based Chron exposure system.

Metro Press consumes 25-30 plates on a daily basis and has the conversion capacity of 70% in duplex board and 30% in paper. The company produces 15-20 jobs a day.

Sushil Jain, director, Metro Press, said, “To achieve excellence in our services and solutions, we collect accurate details from our clients and monitor every job as per the inspection plan and zero-defect checklist.”

The Kodak Trendsetter Q800 is an eight page CTP device. The autoloader provides automated plate loading and unloading of up to 40 plates (0.3 mm) without slip sheets, auto unload features, semi-automatic plate loading and automatic unloading to plate processor or stacker, the single cassette unit provides automated plate loading and unloading of up to 120 plates (0.3 mm) with automated slip sheets removal and automatic plate rotation.

Reasoning his investment, Jain said the company opted for the Trendsetter Q800 in a move to improve the speed and productivity of their pre-press operations.

The company is witnessing 40-50% boost in productivity or print capabilities after this installation, as the processing step required by traditional thermal plates has been completely eliminated.

“For the future, we are planning to invest in a Heidelberg CD six-colour press with coater to complement our packaging business,” Jain concluded.

Content-X by ppi to be a Wan-Ifra highlight

Rahul Kumar — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 13:02:01

The company is targeting not just newspaper and magazine publishers, but also media companies, printers, corporate publishers and SMEs. “We regard India as a strong market. Especially since the Parliament elections, there has not only been new mood of invigoration in the country, but also, there have been clear signs that publishers in India are becoming more active and entering a renewed period of growth,” Raab explains.

“Early this year, we managed to attain an important new customer in Jagran Prakashan. They want to increase their growth with us. The large-scale project has already started and is working out accordingly. The Go-Live project will start in the first quarter of 2016.”

Raab says Wan-Ifra in Mumbai is important for the company as it provides the opportunity to discuss and listen to interesting perspectives of the latest trends. “India has become the second most important market for us after Germany, and so, the conference and expo is one of the most important and interesting events for us. And of course, we are looking forward to meeting ‘good old acquaintances’ as well as making new contacts,” he adds.

Dainik Jagran to run on ppi Media workflow solution from 2016

Rahul Kumar — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 20:45:23

“The need of hour is a reliable workflow suited for a multi-edition and multi-centre working, which delivers accuracy and speed. Working simultaneously on page (editorial) and advertisement / scheduling for placement of content and advertisements and support of page planning with central approach are some of its key features. Among some workflows tested, ppi Media with its complete workflow solution was the preferred choice,” said Sandeep Gupta, executive president of Jagran Prakashan.

The media house, which distributes newspapers in 11 states in India, has decided to go with ppi Media’s print production solutions, including PlanPag for planning and production, AdX Print, AdPag and AdMan for ad solutions, ProPag for automatic page assembly, as well as to supplement for InLink and DistEl.

“We are proud to have found such a renowned customer as Jagran Prakashan,” said Norbert Ohl, CEO, ppi Media's CEO. “The Hindi daily has an impressive track record and is among the most popular daily newspapers in India. I am looking forward to working together and implementing this major project.”

The project officially kicked off in February 2015 when ppi Media set up the initial systems in Jagran’s publishing houses. The first modules are scheduled to go live in October 2015 and all work will be completed by Q1 2016.

“This will be an exciting time for us. We have known the professionals at Jagran for several years and have no doubts that working together we can get this ground-breaking project up and running,” Ohl added.

Apart from Dainik Jagran, the media conglomerate’s flagship newspaper in Hindi, its English newspaper Mid Day, published from Mumbai, and its local editions will also be running ppi Media workflow solutions as of 2016.

A major player in Indian newspaper market, Dainik Jagran prints dailies in several languages, Hindi (Dainik Jagran, Nai Dunia, Nav Dunia), Urdu (Inquilab), Gujarati (Gujarati Midday), English (Mid Day), Punjabi (Punjabi Jagran) and a compact bi-lingual (Hindi and English) paper (iNext). It also has its presence in magazines, radio, internet, below-the-line-marketing and mobile value-added services.

ppi Media is the leading international workflow specialist for newspaper and magazine publishers, as well as printers, corporate publishers and groups, and SMEs. On the German market, 80% of all daily newspapers are produced with products by ppi Media.

The Jagran Prakashan and PPI team

A tale of two extraordinary artists

Krishna Naidu — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 18:52:35

A lazy Sunday, left me riveted with his use of East Asian calligraphy. Plus his control over the brush. As one climbed the floors of the NGMA in Mumbai, I was moved by the folk-style paintings of Jamini Roy and his pointillist brushstrokes.

Amazing, visual language.

Hop skip and jump away from the NGMA is the Artisans Studio in the Kala Ghoda District.

Here on view are 90 vintage prints which showcase how Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) has impacted the imagery of advertisements, calendars and Bollywood posters; and even matchboxes and playing cards.

Today, most of RRV's creations, especially the Hindu gods and goddesses are part of popular art. They became, “the best-loved visuals in India”, adorning nooks and corners and puja-ghars of innumerable homes.

What is interesting is, Raja Ravi Varma started a printing press in Ghatkopar, Mumbai in 1894. In 1899, he shifted his unit to Malavali village near Lonavala. In 1901, the press was sold to a printing technician from Germany. Later it was destroyed in a fire and shut down.

Even today, a visit to that village, prints can be traced that came out of the Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press. Plus one can find the original litho stones which used to print cheaper versions of Ravi Varma's oil paintings. The original oleographs, which bear Ravi Varma's signature, can cost between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

The pictures carried the names of press: The Ravi Varma Press Ghatkopar, The Ravi Varma Press Malavli, The Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press Bombay (FAL Press), The Ravi Varma Press Karla, The Ravi Uday Press etc.

Some of this extraordinary legacy has found a permanent resting place at the Hasta Shilpa Trust’s heritage village in Manipal.

The museum owes its heritage to Vijaynath Shenoy who heard of the Malavali story and made a trip. He bought 100-odd lithographic stones, with prints of the paintings intact, along with the original oleographs and the lithographic machines. Furthermore, he selected calendars, posters, labels of consumer products, greeting cards, playing cards and matchbox labels with Ravi Varma's prints on them. All of these are now on display at the Gallery of Cultural Legacy of Raja Ravi Varma, a part of the Hasta Shilpa Trust, which is a heritage village project in Manipal.

In this way, a little bit of legacy of one of the greatest painters (and printers) in India has been preserved.

Roadmap to sprint: Sort, Speed, System, Sequence and Satisfaction

Vinod Nawab — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 00:30:33

While travelling across India, I cast an eye across every printing and packaging set-up, and observe them through the lenses of the governing authorities. What I see is that everyone is aiming for quality, and producing prints on machines with similar configurations. The increase in demands has led to advancement in production and competition. A growth in the printing industry is acquired either by circulation of jobs, continuous running of machines, total output of the day or by an advanced overture parallel to the ‘five-S’.

The former is a traditional way to escalate output, whereas, the latter is lucrative work-flow. The ‘five-S’ provides an in-depth control to refrain the system. These ‘five-S’ are acronym for Sort, Speed, System, Sequence, and Satisfaction. On assimilating these ‘S’ into a business, it gives a new definition to print, that is sprint, a roaring success to print.

Sorting: Moderating the first point, the printing industry is customary to quality production that upholds a level in the market. But to be highlighted in the market, it is equally necessary to sort before distribution. Sorting helps keep the products assembled, as well as distinguished, which lets the users effectively manage the industry.

Speed: The second thing concentrates on a constant change, which is a benefit for any industry across the world. In the printing industry, a constant running of machine at higher speed is what ails you. Hence, full speed is substantiated by creating a complete set-up and by incorporating inputs of high standards to maximise the betterment of output.

System: A lot of managing a set-up and staff is about adopting a system. Everything that works in a system is less prone to failure. A system oversees and runs interference for the forthcoming issues, and therefore, acts as a long-term insurance to one’s industry. It is generated to advance the performance of a task through a pre-defined standard profile and path.

Sequence: Subsequent steps of a process if programmed in a sequence will undoubtedly result in remuneration. Be it meeting the demands of a customer, judging the loads on a machine and planning the utilisation of its capacity. All of this, if enrolled in a sequence will benefit the process.

Satisfaction: Innovation must come from grassroots, from the people who work in our industry, because they know what works and what doesn’t. It is important to satisfy the workers, who work hard to accomplish a goal, and the end users with exclusive requirements. It is a give and take action, you satisfy the individuals and they will put their best to help you succeed.

Digiflex in Hyderabad

PrintWeek India — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 17:50:07

Digiflex in Hyderabad

System Flexo installs G&J Concept 305 DW

Rushikesh Aravkar — Mon, 04 May 2015 16:49:51

The installation of Concept 305 DW by System Flexo is part of the company’s expansion plan. According to Bhagat Singh Jeena, director at System Flexo, the plan is to add a bigger size flexo platesetter by the end of 2015 and cater to wide web flexo market.

Currently, the pre-press bureau caters to the narrow web flexo market with an Esko CDI 2530 digital flexo plate imaging system, Esko Deskpack software, which were installed in 2013 and G&J Concept 201 processor.

“We have been using G&J’s processor for several years now and are satisfied with its performance. Hence, when we planned our expansion, G&J was an obvious choice.”

System Flexo is in flexo pre-press business since 2004 in Mumbai and started the Vasai unit in May 2012. Since then it is catering to more than 100 label print firms in and out of Maharashtra.

The processor was supplied by Mumbai-based Malhotra Graphics.

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