Vishwakala Printers carving own path

Bengaluru is a big home to a bunch of much-acclaimed commercial printers, among which Vishwakala Printers deserves a special mention. Jyaneswar Laishram from Print & Publishing recently dropped in at the company’s new world-class facility located in the industrial suburb of Yeshwanthpur for a brief exploration of their genesis and outstanding outputs. A dig into the origin of Vishwakala Printers directly connects to a historic inception of the company in the year 1984. Since then the company climbed up the ladder of repute as HC Vishwanatha Babu, managing partner, along with his mother began to successfully maintain the progression through impressive, quality works carried out all along the way. Babu, who initially trained at Geethanjali Printers in the city, recalled, “It was just a single letterpress in a dilapidated car garage we started our printing business with an investment of Rs 45,000. Other machines that amplified the portfolio were a couple of treadle presses and a Grapho machine.”

New beginning
Babu finally took a crucial decision in 1994, after a decade of struggle, for steady expansion of his letterpress unit. He invested in a single colour Dominant. Four years later, in 1998, he magnified the portfolio with their first two-colour Heidelberg from New Zealand. As the activities of Vishwakala Printers grew and demands from their clients increased, infrastructure of the company was further magnified with the adoption of a used Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 machine in 2005. And in the very next year was an Agfa Avalon CTP platesetter in the portfolio.

Located in Mahalakshmi Layout, Vishwakala Printers had a facility of 14,000 sq ft with a team of 50 well-trained professionals. Babu revealed that a big reason behind the overall success of Vishwakala Printers is his dedicated staff who he termed the ‘real strength’. In addition, he appreciated the Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75-4+L, which was bought after selling off the SM 74, for being one of the most useful machines to achieve great quality outputs.

Constant updates
The year 2005 was yet another milestone at Vishwakala Printers for big updates in their portfolio. It was in the same year the company’s portfolio kept updating with a number of finishing machines, such as Polar cutting machine and a major investment on Kodak Trendsetter, Hohner machine (four-head pinning machine with loop pinning option).

Over the three decades since its inception, Vishwakala Printers marked its robust presence across the country. Widely acclaimed for its high-quality outputs that could be noticed in every single piece of work they delivered, major clients of the company are predominantly dwelled in the corporate world. “We have been an ultimate destination for those seeking for flawless prints produced on a spectrum of materials,” said Babu.

A big turn
HC Vishwanatha BabuIn April 2013, Vishwakala Printers incarnated into a new avatar following their move into a new production facility of 40,000 sq ft located in the industrial suburb of Yashwanthpur. The new facility houses the company’s entire operations is an imposing building with architectural elegance. The setup speaks itself the degree of success of Vishwakala Printers, which is indeed a creation of Vishwanath Babu who is known for his out-of-box ideas and things catered with differences.

Now, in addition to the existing line, machine portfolio at the new facility of Vishwakala Printers garners a totally new level. Latest in the facility includes brand new Heidelberg Speedmaster SX 52, Excel 75 aqua plotters, Heidelberg folding machine, Heidelberg Eurobind 600 PUR, Muller Martini saddle stitcher, Muller Martini perfect binder, to mention a few. Core activities at Vishwakala Printers comprise coffee-table books, brochures, catalogues, table-top calendars, tags for apparel industry, paper carry bags, corporate stationeries and so on in other categories. Processing and production of all these items including pre-press tasks like designing, plate making (with Agfa thermal platesetter) are collectively executed under the roof of the company.

USP of Vishwakala Printers, according to Babu, is that that they are not afraid to quote a price, provided they never compromise on quality. Delivering as much perfection as possible, timely service and maximum efficiency play key reasons why this company never lost its customers for decades. Some of the long-time customers who have been closely associated with Vishwakala Printers include most of all major jewellery companies like Tanishq as well as others from different clusters including Arvind Mills, Mudura Lifestyles, etc. On the company’s next move, Babu mentioned any new trend or tradition surfacing in the industry is what they get set to tap.