Autoprint: mapping road beyond the 10K mark…

Recently, Autoprint rolled out its 10000th machine, which is destined to be installed in Uttar Pradesh. Janani Rajeswari S finds out more about the latest innovations, post-sales customer support and future endeavours at Autoprint. It was a great moment of pride for 23-year-old Coimbatore based printing machine manufacturing company ‘Autoprint Machinery Manufacturers Pvt Ltd’ to roll out its 10000th machine. To mark the occasion, Utsav 10000 was held at Coimbatore. The event was presided over by Dev Nair, president, All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP); KS Khurana, president, Indian Printing, Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (IPAMA); Anand Limaye, general secretary, AIFMP and CD Kumaravel, president, Coimbatore Master Printers’ Association.

It was an event that brought together titans from the printing industry and also the clients of ‘Autoprint.’

Felicitations by the distinguished guests and special invitees

The 10000th machine – a Dion 450+ 4 colour offset printer – is slated to be installed at Jivandeep Printers Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, who is a repeat customer of Autoprint with two prior installations.

The event…

The welcome address was given by CN Ashok, MD, Autoprint, who outlined the humble beginning of Autoprint. They forayed into printing by installing an offset printing machine in 1988 but there were always problems relating to the availability of spare parts and service issues. This instilled the idea of creating an offset printer themselves. Thus, Autoprint was born in 1988,” told K Ramakrishnan, chairman of the company.

Autoprint formally began its activities in 1992. Today, Autoprint boasts of two manufacturing units in Coimbatore and one in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. These centres have been a hub of innovation and the company continues to stick to its motto of ensuring quality, innovation and customer support. They also have a tie-up with Manugraph for sale of their machines in Africa region.

Dev Nair, president, AIFMP, congratulated Autoprint on achieving this milestone and hoped that Autoprint will shine like a star in the global print market and will come up with more machines with even better precision technology.

KS Khurana, president, IPAMA, remarked that he was proud to be a part of the celebration while Anand V Limaye, general secretary, AIFMP, thanked Autoprint for bringing out good quality machines and said that he is happy to note that they have been selling approximately 1.5 machines per day. Other speakers at the occasion included CD Kumaravel, president, Coimbatore Master Printers’ Association and stalwarts of AIFMP like R Suresh, P Chander and Ashokan.

The vote of thanks was given by KG Suresh, joint managing director, Autoprint. He pointed how the team has been constantly working at creating products that set them apart. “It’s true that the Indian printing industry is not as sophisticated as the European market. Yet, we meet quite a lot of people and reach out to their demands. Our main idea is to offer them products at affordable prices,” he added. However, he said that the reception towards indigenous machines has been gradually growing over the last ten years. “So when it comes to innovation, we have improved and there has been a learning curve while adapting to the industry growth,” explained Suresh.

This ceremony was followed by felicitations by the distinguished guests and special invitees.

The honourable guests were taken to Autoprint’s factory and R&D centre. They were taken around and shown Autoprint’s state-of-the-art CNC Centre and a live demo of the premier range of products – the Fine Coat 80, UV coating machine, the Repetto 65, automatic Diepunching machine, and the latest sensation Checkmate 50, the offline Print Inspection System, was also given.

As is Autoprint’s tradition, a tree was planted by the distinguished guests at Autoprint’s R&D centre, to commemorate the rolling out of the 10000th machine, Utsav 10000.

The products gallery…

Autoprint offers sheet fed offset printing machineries like Autoprint 1510 Colt (Single Colour), Autoprint 1510 Colt 7K (Single Colour), Autoprint 1520 Colt (Single Colour), Autoprint 1520 Colt 7K (Single Colour), Autoprint 1520 Knight (Single Colour), Autoprint 1520 Knight NX (Single Colour Non-Woven Bag Printing Machine) and Autoprint Dion 450+ (4 Colour) machine. Their post press machines include Autoprint Reckoner VDP 65 (variable data inkjet printing), Autoprint Fine Coat 65 (UV & Aqueous Coating), Autoprint Fine Coat 80 (UV & Aqueous Coating), Autoprint Repetto 65 V2 (Die Punch & Creasing), Checkmate 65(Print Inspection).

Of these, the latest addition to the list of innovations is ‘Checkmate 50’ that is a print inspection/sorting machine for folding cartons. The camera technology is by Lucid Imaging, Bangalore. It can inspect print defects and foil errors. The machine segregates the good and defective sheets neatly into different stacks which can be further analysed to correct the previous process. The machine is designed to check nearly 40,000 cartons per hour.

In the category of punching, the Autoprint team looks at foraying into the bigger size of 22”x 32” soon.

Post-sales customer relations…

Customer support has been the backbone of the company ever since its inception in 1992. Autoprint launched its ‘Customer Care Centre’ in 1992. The centre has been developing itself technologically over the years. This centre is powered by a toll-free number established three years ago. The calls are handled by three executives who are multilingual. Functioning from 9 am to 5.30 pm, the call centre receives nearly 60 calls a day. Autoprint has created its own CRM software and database of the customer which was initiated in the year 2000.

KS Khurana, president, IPAMA appreciating UV coated sheet produced on Fine Coat.

The concept of G.E.M (Going an extra mile) has helped Autoprint create a special bond with customers who find it difficult to reach out to them. So, an engineer visits the site once in three months to build connectivity. This has definitely helped the company grow. Today, Autoprint has reached across 8,000 out of 40,000 pin codes in India.

The company has received several awards like Stalwart of the printing Industry – AIFMP-2002, Rajiv Gandhi National Quality award from Government of India and BIS in the year 2004, Best Technology award from NSIC – 4 times, Engineering Excellence Award – 2013, Public Choice Award (Checkmate 65), Highest Exporter Award from EEPC (4 times) and Trailblazer Award for Brand Innovation (Repetto 65) – 2011.

Quality manpower…

Most of the employees at Autoprint are skilled and are at least diploma holders. They also undergo a training session that spans over one or two years. This training includes hands-on experience and theory classes once a week. “We usually run one shift a day but whenever the demand is more, we work round the clock as well,” told Suresh.

Future plans…

According to CN Ashok, Autoprint would like to install at least one 4-colour machine across the 425 districts of India. The event ended on the promise of offering more innovative and consumer- focused products in future.