Arasan Ganesan Polytechnic College (AGPC)

Founded in the year 1981 by Arasan AMS Ganesan, a famous philanthropist of Sivakasi under Arasan Educational Charity Trust, the Arasan Ganesan Polytechnic College, Sivakasi is a Government aided co-educational institution spread in an area of sprawling 50 acre campus. Started with just two diploma programmes in ‘civil engineering’ and ‘electronics and communication engineering’ the college has now grown up into a co-educational institution with a total intake of 400 and caters well to the technical education needs of the region by offering eight diploma courses including ‘diploma in printing technology.’

Under World Bank Project Scheme, the Printing Technology Department was established in 1996 in a separate building equipped with machines including two Heidelberg Printmaster QM 46 two colour offset printing machine, Dominant single colour offset printing machine, flexography printing machine, Heidelberg DuoSetter film imagesetter, Glunz & Jensen automatic film processor, Stahl folding machine, semiautomatic cutting machine, etc. Besides, the department has exclusive computer center and various labs including DTP, process camera, plate making, finishing, etc.

Talking to SK Khurana, editor, Print & Publishing M Nandakumar, head, Department of Printing Technology, Arasan Ganesan Polytechnic College, Sivakasi revealed that, the department undertakes production works by utilizing available resources and also caters to the print production needs of the college. The students are given hands on training during print production works. Apart from educational training and guidance the department also offer training under Govt of India sponsored schemes like Persons with Disabilities Project, National Service Scheme, etc. The certificate courses under continuing education programme are also offered for students in screen printing, offset printing, and offset machine maintenance, DTP, book binding, e-publishing, imagesetter operations, etc.

“The department has been facilitating one of the deserving students to undergo ten-day training programme at PMA, Heidelberg, Germany since the year 2005 sponsored by Heidelberg India Pvt Ltd,” added Nandakumar who is a person of versatile personality acting as resource person. A BE in printing technology and ME in safety engineering, Nandakumar has written many articles on managing quality and printing technologies. Having experience of more than 14 years with specialization in prepress, digital and offset printing, he has authored books for diploma students on the topics including: Digital and Non-Impact Printing, Designing Software, Designing and Planning for Printing Production, Desk Top Publishing, etc.

In-plant training to the students starts at an early stage of study of IIIrd semester. The department arranges for campus interviews for companies from India and overseas. Some of the companies who regularly visit for campus interview include: Emirates Printing Press and Pacman LLC from Dubai; Essel Propack, Mumbai; Living Media (India) Ltd; Kohinoor Printers, Pondicherry; Scientific Publishing Services (P) Ltd, Chennai; SPI Technologies, Pondicherry and Chennai; Srinivas Fine Arts Ltd; ITC Printing & Packaging Division, Chennai; and RR Donnelley, Chennai.