A peek into Nashik Printing Industry

Nashik, also sometimes called Mini Maharashtra, is an ancient city in the northwest region of Maharashtra. Famous the world over for its fresh agricultural produce namely table and wine grapes besides vegetables, it is also known for its proximity with the world renowned holy temples of Shirdi. With a horde of security printing presses in the city, Nashik printing industry is aiming high. Print and Publishing takes a look into this religious land and brings out developmental stories of Nashik-based printers. Excerpts.

Sandeep RaccaRacca Press
–One stop shop for all types of bulk printing

The printing business has been inherited by us from our forefathers who were exactly doing the same for their livelihood” states Sandeep Racca the director of Racca Press. “There was a time when my grandfather used to print on his Treadle machine and later screen printer but now things have changed much.” Sandeep joined the family business in 2012 and was instrumental in installing a Heidelberg four-color offset printer (Heidelberg MOV-H), marking it as an inception of new phase in the history of Racca Printer.

Their production facility now houses two single colour offset printers one from Heidelberg with a size of 19”x25” and other one from Optima (size 18”x28”) which he uses for printing single colored bulk jobs like pamphlets, bills and fliers. In their color section, the PSP is equipped by 4 colors Heidelberg (19”x25”) and Shinohara (15”x20”) and other allied efficient cutting and lamination machine.

They specialize in book printing, stationery printing, designer cards and invitation for occasions like parties, marriages and public meetings. More recently, Sandeep has started publishing religious books, tapping a discrete sect of clients of this sacred heart land, Nashik.

Besides, Racca Press is well acclaimed for offering quality consumables like paper to their clients. Spread over an area of 15,000 sq ft, the enterprise touches a business turnover of a Crore annually, and has 16 workers to assist the production unit.

Shriram SandhanShriram Computers
–The most valuable customer of HP in Nashik

Once awarded as ‘the-most-valuable-customer-of-the-year 2006’ by the digital printing machines manufacturer HP Inc, Shriram Computers has added several excelling phases in his printing hegemony of almost two decades (1998) in the printing hub of Nashik, Ghankar Lane. Shriram is also known for colour and black and white photocopying, scanning and DTP computer typing. Shriram Sandhan has been running the enterprise since the year 1998, starting with just a Dot Matrix printer. At present the PSP is facilitated with a large format HP Color laser (5550 DN) for meeting all sorts of colour printing services as well as HP inkjet 8600 and an HP Pro in their print production facility.

In order to print jumbo maps, for which the PSP is much sought after, Shriram has installed large format plotter at his production unit in order to print up to 44 inch jumbo size prints. In order to deliver architectural documents in an efficient manner, they house a touchscreen Océ Plotwave 340 printing system. The Océ ClearConnect multi-touch screen lets you pan, swipe and spread into ultra easy printing. It’s ideal for building sites and busy offices. It can print and scan documents to cloud. The production unit is also backed up by a wide format black and white printer HP 9050 for delivering solutions for an impressive 50ppm in simplex and duplex mode of the machinery.

Rajeev KalePrintex Prints
–Offering a gamut of printing solutions

Rajeev Kale has been running the Printed Prints since 1988, a time when people used to type on their own. Incepted with a concept of printing of every possible entity, Rajeev has led the printing business to a new altitude, meeting the printing demands of all walk-in customers as well as some Nashik-based big enterprises.

In the year of 2000, Rajeev took a major leap with installation of offset printing machine from Multilith for printing jobs like challans, letter heads, annual reports and hand books.

They also house a Roland Versa Cam for printing on vinyl and flex of up to 5 feet, besides an HP 5100 plotter for large format printing on paper sized from A0 up to 5 feet. Besides these high-end printing machines, Rajeev also has color Xerox machine (12”x18”), installed at the production facility. In the post press section, they house an Avanti lamination machine.

Rajeev boasts of a few big clients in real estate like Thakkar Builders and Developers, Shraddha Land Developers and Builders, Viraj Estates and Jyoti Structures Ltd in general who need bulk quantity of maps and AEC drawings prints in both colour and black and white. The PSP runs a 1200 square feet outlet which is backed up by 3 operators, located at the heart of the city, Canada Corner.

Navneet VajireYashashree Offset
–A self-made PSP at Ghankar Lane

Yet another Printing service provider doing good business in Ghankar Lane is Yashashree Offset, which presents an inspiring story of struggle of success. Navneet Vajire, who worked at a printing press in Nashik, has been instrumental in setting this press in 1997 as he wanted to start his own production unit.

Their production facility houses Fuji 52 single color offset printing machines (size: 15”x20”) and Ryobi a single color offset printer (13”x17”), besides others. Backed by a team of ten adept professionals, the facility is spread over an area of 2000 sq ft. They offer bulk printing jobs like wedding cards, business cards, letter heads, invitation cards and also stationeries for schools.

Talking about their future plan, Navneet informed that since it is not feasible to invest in high –end machinery like ‘Heidelberg’ as there is a stiff competition of rates in the market, he will continue with his present day business in a more sorted out manner.

Anil ShindeMedia Arts
–A modest but quality set-up

Anil Shinde started his printing unit – Media Arts – in 2008. Located at the heart of the printing hub at Ghankar Lane in Nashik, he has worked with chief institutes of the Nashik city, sufficing their stationery needs like registers, files, bill books, ledger and forms.

The production unit of Media arts has Thompson Crown MK II single colour offset printer. They also house a colour copier machine from Canon 1150, black-and-white copier Canon 3300. In his post press section, Anil has one cutting machine from Janta Printing and Publishing and one embossing machine. “We are always on the lookout for bulk orders,” he said.

Satish RautPrathamesh Enterprises
–Relying on age-old client relationship

Well known for his suave nature, Satish Raut, the owner of the Prathamesh Enterprises, located at the Bitco Point in Nashik, says, “We have a set of educational institutions as our clients, who rely on us for all their printing requirements.” Naveen Marathi Primary School is one their loyal clients.

They house one single color offset printer of Multilith, which is efficiently used for printing all kinds of print jobs like visiting cards, bill books, and letter heads. This machine can print at a speed of 5000 copies per hour. Apart from this, there is a black and white photocopier installed at the facility for catering to walk in customers.

They have a team of half-dozen professionals, working in a set up of 150 sq ft facility, with an annual turnover of Rs 20-25 lakh per annum.

Sharad GaikwadSharad Arts
–A well-known printing set up in Nashik

Being one of the oldest printing houses at the Ghankar Lane, Sharad Gaikwad, the owner of Sharad Arts, is a well known printing professional. The PSP was incepted in 1986, a time when screen printing was used, which was later followed by offset printing. Telling about their contemporary printing facility, Sharad explains how he has transformed into a digital printer in recent years. For this, he installed two Konica Minolta 6501 and one Xerox 7425 digital printing machines.

With a capacity to print 1000 prints in an hour, Sharad caters to bulk printing demands of the third party printers. Working in a 200 square feet production facility, Sharad single-handedly deals all sorts of printing. While asking about their future plans, Sharad mentioned that he has no intention to bring any changes in his current business format as business is doing great for now.

Sanjay PichaShreya Printers
–Celebrating 25 years in printing

Shreya Printers is celebrating its silver jubilee in printing this year. A line of best-in-class printing machineries are installed under their 600 sq ft production set up at the Vakilwadi area of Nashik City. The facility houses a 13”x18” four color offset printer from Ryobi. Telling more about his production facility, Sanjay K. Picha says that they plan to diversify in near future with the inclusion of one 4-color Heidelberg machine.

The facility is run by a set of seven skilled workers who are dexterous enough to provide creative inputs while at work. Besides this production set up, Sanjay has a godown for storing all raw materials and for giving final touch to the print jobs. Working for a straight 25 years, Sanjay reveals that his printing firm has a capability to print 2000 to 2500 copies in an hour.

Jiten AhujaCrystal Prints
–A second generation leading print set up

It’s been just a year since I took the overall responsibility of this printing set up after the demise of my father, who built this printing press 25 years before,” admits Jiten Ahuja, a young printing professional. “As the demand and the pulse of the market are ever changing, I have to keep myself updated with the latest innovations and experiments undergoing in our industry,” he added.

The production facility houses two 4-color offset printers viz. 15”x20” Thompson and 11”x17” Multilith. In digital printing, they house Xerox 7435 which is quite efficient in copying, printing and scanning at a speed of 25ppm.

They cater to diverse print jobs like magazines, brochures, stationeries, business cards and envelopes. Few of their clients include educational institutions like St. Philomena Convent High School, Nirmala Convent High School and Ashoka Universal School, who are some of their repeat customers, who rely on them for all their printing requirements.