A momentary mingle with Kolkata commercial printers

Commercial printing is no more stuck to its age-old tradition as the sector has technologically been amplified to a new shift, following the advent of highly advanced digital production presses over the years. To witness such landmark revolution in the printing industry, Jyaneswar Laishram from Print & Publishing travels down the by-lanes around Kolkata city, where dwell a cohort of commercial printers of different business sizes or models and production capabilities, interacting with them to update their take on the ongoing digital revolution and expansion plans ahead. Antarctica Limited
Provider of complete packaging & printing solutions

Rohit KuthariThough incepted in the year 1982 as a brainchild of Ranjan Kuthari, a brilliant electrical engineer, Antarctica incarnated in its current stature in the year 1994 with instant upgrade of its infrastructure. With an eye to bring in the latest technologies for commercial print production, the company is equipped with a large machine portfolio comprising a line of high-end machines designed for every activity in pre-press, press and post-press processes. “In a nutshell, we would like to define our activities spanning from scanning, designing, printing as well as finishing with spot varnishing, UV coating and lamination,” says Rohit Kuthari, executive director, Antarctica Limited. He adds that they go where the winds of technological changes in the industry blow.

The current production facility of Antarctica is equipped with a line of high-end industrial machines, viz. 17 units of KBA, a Dominant, a Muller Martini and a string of six Gravure presses. The company is known for introducing multi-colour offset machines in the region, which helped them to eventually switch to packaging in the year 1996, with the adoption of ‘online coating’ technology. Since then, Antarctica has been diversifying its activities into different verticals, in which packaging is one of the focused arenas they have landed upon.

“When the scope of packaging expanded, we subsequently entered into this segment with the exports of our end-products to a number of customers in offshore countries,” mentions Rohit, adding that ‘packaging’ is now gaining a new ground in the Indian market too. Some of the countries where Antarctica exports their finished products include Sri Lanka, UAE, Russia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, to mention a few. Of the leading customers with which the company has been closely associated for a long period of time, a big name worth mentioning is UNICEF for whom Antarctica is constantly delivering printed and packaging items.

When asked about the next-level development plan of the company, Rohit quickly replies ‘book publishing,’ which he highlights as one of the sunshine domains in India today. He adds that they are looking at the new prospect of on-demand/short-run book production, signifying the fact that in order to survive in the cut-throat market situation of today, one must adopt all possible verticals these days, instead of hooking to a traditional parameter all the time.

Tithi Print & Art
Mix of offset & digital

Tarun Dutta with Xerox 252Rated to be one of the widely-acclaimed jobbers in the city, Tithi Print & Art is where one can find a crowd of customers regularly thronging to get prints of varied configuration and texture for myriad applications, produced either by offset or digital. Tarun Dutta, founder of Tithi Print & Art, says they concentrate only on printing activity, which is why they are able to deliver best of print available in the city. “We have a single-colour Autoprint offset printer along with a couple of Xerox 252 digital presses to meet the need and increasing demand for innovative prints in the city, or I would rather say around West Bengal as our regular customers come from any part of the state,” narrates Tarun.

Incepted around 15 years back, Tithi Print & Art has been a commercial printing corner where customers are predominantly a walk-in lot. Besides, well-known local establishments around Kolkata come to this commercial printer with a trust in quality of prints the company constantly provides. “Besides prints, we don’t engage in any other activity; that’s why we are able to concentrate on production of high-quality prints for various applications, be it for packaging, display, promotional docs or any other thing,” explains Tarun, adding that they always look at maintaining a tradition of quality print to appease their customers at the utmost satisfactory level.

Behind the success of Tithi Print & Art is its team of six experienced printing professionals, who are engaged in all activities starting right from graphic designing up to print production. Though the commercial printing market, not only Kolkata but all across the country, is now experiencing gradual growth in print finishing, Tarun feels that he would like to see the market situation first before adding print finishing equipments for varnishing, which the company is keeping in pipeline for future engagement.

Puja Enterprise
Young but growing

Tapan DasFor Tapan Das of Puja Enterprise, everything is new and unfolding gradually in printing, just like cracking of a new dawn of business. Presence of this commercial printer in the city’s printing market is relatively new. Established just five years back, Puja Enterprise is now testing the water of commercial printing—with a hope that things are going to get into a new swing with the adoption of an upgraded production printer, replacing its dormant machines. “It might be a long-term plan for us to go in a bigger way; but we are now concentrating on expansion of our printing facility as well as the manpower,” says Tapan.

A Xerox 252 and a semi-automatic lamination machine are what all Puja Enterprise owns in its current production facility. “We know that our current machine portfolio cannot handle the high-end print demands of corporate clients. So, right now, we have limited ourselves to taking orders from walk-in customers only,” explains Tapan. He further says they have to see the market situation very carefully, observing where the demands are ticking; and only then, they can go for a next-level development in both infrastructure and manpower.

There are only four staff members at Puja Enterprise, among which one is a designer and the rest handle everything from printing, packaging and delivery of end-products. Now that the commercial printing market of Kolkata or extensively of West Bengal is escalating towards ‘print finish’ arena, Puja Enterprise is looking at it with an inculcated mind to foray into the zone, which may help them find a new vertical in business in future.

Colour Digital Print
Locally popular printer

Bidhan SarkarIt has been a couple of decades since Colour Digital Print had emerged as one of the popular commercial printers in the city, serving customers from different industrial clusters and different walks of life. Bidhan Sarkar, founder of Colour Digital Print, is now in mood to take the company to a new level with the adoption of at advanced or upgraded range of production presses in the company’s production facility. “Commercial printing has picked up new eminence with the advent of ultra-modern printing technologies and software designed for advanced colour registrations and so on,” affirms Bidhan.

Currently, the production setup of Colour Digital Print is equipped with a couple of Xerox presses—Xerox 252 and Xerox 250—and a single-colour Autoprint offset press. A team of six staffers, which include a graphic designer, is the vitality behind the competency of the company producing myriad of prints in varied textures and qualities. “We would surely look at updating our existing machine portfolio, sooner than later, as trends in the commercial printing market keep changing at a swift pace,” says Bidhan, adding, “Business may get outdated if we are not able to catch up with the latest happenings in the market.”

Most of the customers buzzing around the reception lobby of Colour Digital Print are walk-in customers as well as few from mid-agencies who bring orders from corporate biggies. When enquired about the future plan of the company, Bidhan shares that post-press is the parameter where they would like to make a foray into it. Print finishing is what Colour Digital Print is planning to introduce to its clients in near future—for which the existing production setup of the company will adopt an upgraded digital production press.

Seva Mudran
Educational books and beyond

Prasanta Kumar HazraThe first letterpress at Seva Mudran, one of the popular offset printers in Kolkata city, was installed around 30 years back when the company opened its door to commercial printing. “My father established this company at a very scratch level, with a mere letter press,” remembers Prasanta Kumar Hazra of Seva Mudran. Later on, from time to time, the production setup of the company keeps upgrading and today, a line comprising a two-colour KBA offset machine, a Xerox Nuvera and a Muller Martini system and others form the portfolio.

When it comes to counting the major customers with whom Seva Mudran has been associated for a long period of time, a host of educational book publishers, government schools and colleges around Kolkata are at the forefront. “We are now more into book printing; for this, we have contracted with a number of schools and colleges of West Bengal Government,” explains Prasanta, adding that they also engage a bit in commercial printing jobs, producing items like brochures, leaflets, office docs, among others. The clients of the company are also from other places beyond Kolkata, such as Siliguri.

A team of 16 well-trained printing professionals are employed at the production division of Seva Mudran. The team consists of graphic designers as well as machine operators.

Terming it a long-term plan, Prasanta mentions that they are looking for suitable UV technology to be included in its existing machine portfolio. “A lot could be done with the addition of UV technology to our portfolio,” he affirms, signifying the possible prospects of the technology in spot varnishing and other print finish jobs.

Santi Packers
A one-stop destination for all printing and packaging needs

Swaraj Sreemany with Xerox J75Genesis of Santi Packers can be dated back to 25 years of struggle, which this commercial printing firm underwent before attaining the height they achieve today. Recollecting the hardship, Swaraj Sreemany, founder of Santi Packers and the architect behind the creation of this radical printing and packaging firm, shares that he started the company with a meagre profit of Rs 50, which he garnered from his first client in the year 1990. “In the first big move, around 1995, we adopted a couple of Mitsubishi presses (a monochrome and a two-colour) with a little help from Sun Offset Printers in Chennai; I still feel indebted to them for their favourable aid during my crucial period,” asserts Swaraj, adding that they keep upgrading the portfolio since then as per the increasing demand or need of their customers.

As on today, the production facility of Santi Packers is fully upgraded with a line of new production presses, both offset and digital, which include a Fuji Shinohara, a Xerox J75, four-colour Katayama and others. Also, equipped in the pre-press and post-press divisions of the company are a Kodak CtP, Rapido automatic punching and shearing machine, a laminator, a binder, three cutting machines, etc. “In the region’s commercial printing market, we are now positioned as a specialist in meeting comprehensive demands for print finishes and customised jobs; in this, our Xerox digital press extensively serves all purposes,” asserts Swaraj. Xerox J75 runs at a speed up to 75 ppm, churning prints at 2400 x 2400 dpi resolution.

Santi Packers is now engaged in providing big corporates all possible printing and packaging outputs in the city—right from business cards to magazine covers. The company has a total team of 19 professionals, which is the dexterity behind the overall vigour of print production. Revealing their future expansion plans, Swaraj mentions the next-level development at Santi Packers will be the unveiling of a division for label printing. Current clientele of the company consists of a number of tea brands from all over West Bengal—not only from Kolkata, but also from the satellite towns, such as Siliguri. In addition, a number of offset printing firms in the city rush to Santi Packers for digital print finish jobs.

Nandan Press
Run by third-generation, still going strong…

Rajendra Nandan DattaUndoubtedly, Kolkata is home to a host of old commercial printers that are still operating to their fullest swing and Nandan Press is one such printing house. Established in the year 1890, it is now run by third generation of the founders. “Yes, our press (Nandan Press) was established by my grandfather as a block printer. After revamps and development with new technologies over the decades, we eventually switched to offset printing in the year 1987. After that our production facility has been upgrading with the addition of one new machine to another,” recalls Rajendra Nandan Datta of Nandan Press.

Today, the production facility of the company houses a Komori, a two-colour Adast Dominant, four-colour Akiyama and some pre-press equipments, including a Kodak CtP machine. “We keep our eyes open to observe the changing trends in the market to upgrade our existing machine portfolio; hopefully we would make expansion towards digital printing, which is now gaining a new ground in the innovative print finish jobs,” says Rajendra Nandan. He further mentions ‘print finish’ as one of the growing domains in the current commercial printing market of India.

“We are not yet associated with big corporate clients; though, some of the agencies with whom we have tied up closely often bring us some big projects from MNCs,” mentions Rajendra Nandan, adding that the company’s focus is now on the walk-in customers, which include local establishments based in Kolkata. According to his observation, in the big cities or metros like Kolkata, demands for prints, box-making and lamination are escalating year on year, particularly in the packaging segment. On this, Rajendra shares that a host of companies engaged in packaging make beeline at their doorstep. Apart from Kolkata, customers of Nandan Press come from nearby towns like Katihar and Bhagalpur in Bihar. For all vigour, contribution from the company’s team of 30 well-trained printing and packaging professionals definitely deserves a mention.

On Date Service
Moving ahead for up-to-date services

Vimal Shah with Xerox 252There’s always something in a name! It holds true in case of On Date Service too. “We give our company the name ‘On Date Service’ because we established our firm with a notion in mind to deliver the most up-to-date service using the most conventional technologies,” says Pankaj Shah, co-founder, On Date Service. Established as an offset printer, delivering one-colour outputs to local customers around Kolkata and its surrounding regions, On Date Service has now set its spotlight on ‘digital printing’ and finishing, which they are now gearing up to expand in a broader way in future.

With the engagement of four well-trained printing professionals under the aegis of Vimal Shah, founder of On Date Service and father of Pankaj Shah, now the company is escalating gradually to expand its production facility as well as the machine portfolio. “We are now in a bit of dilemma of choosing machines suitable for our expansion towards a new vertical; well, UV is now a sort of talk-of-the-town technology, but I am not so sure about instant ROI,” narrates Pankaj. Irrespective of all, On Date Service will definitely go for larger or industrial digital presses and high-end finishing equipments, sooner than later.

As on date, On Date Service is equipped with a Xerox 252 and a semi-automatic lamination machine, both running in the company’s production setup since 2010. Engaged in the production of brochures, cards, book covers, leaflets and a range of commercial print items, the company has roped in a number of local companies and walk-in customers from all over West Bengal. “Our plan is to expand our one-room production setup into a well spaced area that we have already spotted,” says Pankaj, adding, “With the shifting of our location we will be recruiting a new set of professionals for a brand new initiative in our business.”