Anvi Composers: offering digital print services to publishers across India

Vijay Chaudhary of Anvi Composers shares their journey of becoming the first company in Delhi to use the digital press for printing books to offer a complete printing services to its customers across Delhi and India..

P&P: Please give a brief history of your company.

Vijay: Established in 1993, Anvi Composers has a long and well-respected history in the printing market and had kickstarted operations with an initial investment of approx. INR 1 lakh and equipment base of just two computers and one printer. The company established itself as a service provider to the publication houses. In the initial years, we majorly handled the layout and typesetting of books.

In an attempt to keep pace with the latest technology and printing trends and over the last 28 years, the company achieved several milestones. In 1994, Anvi Composers was the first company to draw figures on a computer using the software. The business expanded and equipment base from just two computers at the start to around 30 computers in 1999.

In 2004, Anvi Composers was the first company in Delhi to use the digital press for printing books. The installation of Xerox digital press 4110 and 5252 DocuColor, a color machine, added many more capabilities to the existing portfolio. Very few print houses were using digital printing in publishing services due to low awareness of print-on-demand or short-run jobs. Publishers used to print anywhere between 300-1000 books even if it took 3-4 years to sell those out because offset printing was not economical for short-run jobs, and there was no other option. The first customer to come on board was Penguin Books, with short-run jobs of around 50-100 books. Once the batch was sold out, we used to receive a request for the next batch.

P&P: What is the present area of business of your organization?

Vijay: Our focus has been on providing end-to-end solutions to any publication. Over the last 28 years, we have evolved our services gradually and expanded our offerings to packing and online selling. Today, we have grown into a complete printing business offering a plethora of benchmarked prepress and printing services ranging from Book Composition, Image-setting, and digital printing services to its customers across Delhi and India.

In our office space of around 3000 square feet, we have equipment like digital printing machines, type-setting unit and complete inhouse provision for binding and finishing.

Our services include print on demand book printing and customized printing of a variety of gifting and corporate products.

P&P: Who are your clients? Which are the major market segments that you target?

Vijay: We have been catering to all the major publishing companies, including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University, McGraw Hill Education, Pearson Education, Amity University Press etc.

We cater to the major market segments, including variable data printing services, professional editorial services, data conversion services, and digital printing. Our latest venture is to explore the online segment, and we plan to extend our footprint in this market.

P&P: What according to you are the major challenges in the printing business in present times? Any solutions?

Vijay: In spite of the onset of e-publishing, majority of customers in the India still use hardcopies. However, we have seen new solutions boosting the print industry and believe that further innovation will open more doors in the Indian print market. For example – earlier, people used to prefer readymade prints but now customized printing is picking up pace. Print media is reducing overall but boost in digital industry has also opened new avenues. For the packaging industry, long-haul jobs were preferred earlier but now, owing to reduced volumes, short-run jobs are coming in. Hence, we believe printing business will find new ways to move ahead in future as well.

P&P: For how long you have been associated with Xerox India and how has been experience so far? What were the reasons to consider Xerox over other manufacturers?

Vijay: Our 17 years long association with Xerox has been very fruitful and satisfying. In the past, we owned Xerox DocuColor 5252, Xerox 5080 and Xerox 4110 machines. The Versant 280 is our latest Xerox machine.

We have also tried machines from other companies, however, we switched back to Xerox as Versant 280 seemed to be the best buy in the recent time. Xerox has always provided us with the best services and helped us keep our machines in the best shape possible.

The versatility of Xerox machines is way ahead than other brands. The latest color expansion feature with Xerox Adaptive CMYK+ kit provides printing businesses like us with a future-oriented approach. Xerox has never compromised on the quality and it has enabled us to fulfill our commitment to our customers on an ongoing basis.

Xerox also sends us timely updates which is highly appreciated. It shows the brand’s connect with the customers as Xerox helps us stay updated with the latest industry offerings.

P&P: Why did you invest in Xerox Versant 280 machine?

Vijay: Xerox Versant 280 is an efficient digital press providing the perfect combination of speed and image quality. As the Xerox machines offer superior color consistency, we decided to opt for Versant 280. It also provides transfer printing capability to print on any media, including cloth, ceramic, acrylic etc.

Another reason for investing in this machine is its minimal power consumption, which is very important to us, as the electricity charges are pretty high for commercial businesses. Also, Versant 280 is a very compact machine and doesn’t take up much space within the office.

Versant 280 also offers us an option to expand to four more colors and increase the printing options with the Xerox Adaptive CMYK+ kit. We plan to purchase it within this year as it is a unique feature that provides more opportunities in the same machine without any significant investment.

P&P: Post installation, how has been your experience with Xerox Versant 280 machine and how will it boost your production and business?

Vijay: Since installation, we are delighted with the Xerox Versant 280 machine. Earlier it was challenging to print light greys and some of the pastel shades, which are pattern-oriented. Versant 280 has helped in printing consistent flat backgrounds. It was a big challenge for us to reproduce the same color that was printed 2-3 months back. But this issue has also been promptly resolved by the superior color consistency of Versant 280.

The machine’s software functions, including the registration process, are also very user-friendly, and high-end operators are not required to run the machine.

Versant 280 provides versatility in terms of media applications – significantly more than the competitors. With Versant 280, we are now thinking of venturing into transfer printing as we will now be able to transfer the print on cloth, wood, acrylic, ceramic or other media. Till now, it was dangerous to use synthetic material in a machine with a high fusing temperature. But in Versant 280, the transfer paper is oil-synthetic, and it requires less temperature for fusing. This will help us in expanding our horizons with more products and offerings to our customers.

We have already started with many product launches and believe Versant 280 will prove to be instrumental in boosting our business.

P&P: What is your present turnover and what is the target for the coming year? What is your expected growth/return-on-investment (ROI) after investing in the new Xerox Versant 280 machine?

Vijay: Our present turnover is around INR 2.5 crores. Our main target, and our strong belief, for the coming year is to diligently do our job and produce top quality results for our customers. We are targeting an increase of 5-10% in our turnover in the financial year 2021-22.

Thanks to the transfer printing capability of Xerox Versant 280, we are launching an array of products. We expect Versant 280 to further contribute to our business growth. Hence, we are confident that ROI will be great from this. Looking at the advantages of the machine, its cost would be easily recovered well within two years.