Giving an insight into the prospects of digital printing, Appadurai, Country Manager – HP Indigo Graphics Solutions Business India, tells about all new market trends and promising applications revolving around the technology and the company’s plans for PAMEX 2020.
What are the newer trends and applications digital printers should look for as photo book segment is a bit saturated?
Appadurai: Here the answer to this question could be in two different parts. One, obviously there are a lot of discussions going on in the photo book market, but I literally don’t believe that the segment is saturated. Yes, most of the digital players in the market whom we have been in touch so far are predominantly the wedding photo album printers. However, if India starts printing holiday books and amateur photography, let’s say if 1% of India prints one photo book a year, say holiday book or travel book, I think all the digital printers will double their business. This is the kind of opportunity lying untapped in the photo book segment. If wedding photo book printers don’t branch out into other forms of photo books, they will be stuck and it will be saturation for them. I would say photo book printing market is one of the fastest growing segments and it will be grown in the coming days, for sure.
As the second part of my answer, when we look at the newer trends in the market there is growth in value-added applications, especially gift boxes. This is one of the areas which is escalating much faster. For example, the greeting card invitation business in form of boxes is really ramping up fast. I know at least 20-30 of our customers have installed box making machines. That’s one of the areas where digital volume is growing really fast. Earlier printers were using traditional technologies like screen printing which are very labour intensive and now people are seeing the benefit of digital printing using special media, even the finishing is no longer the same way we had 10 years ago. .
What kind of timelines should printers keep for upgrading a digital press or when planning to invest in a new machine?
Appadurai: Typically every time we offer a brand new digital press, we give a minimum seven-year service support. Having said this we have also been supporting the presses which are 11 years old. Typically in a five years cycle, technologies go up to the next level, newer things come up in such period. For example, the machine being sold five years ago did not have especial inks, such as silver ink. In order take part in the competition, in every fifth year printers should upgrade their machines. From business stand point, I would consider five years is the possible timeline.
According to you which area in packaging segment can be converted to digital for faster adoption and sellability in India?
Appadurai: It’s difficult to identify a particular area. But I will tell three areas which are growing much faster—flexible packaging, folding carton and plastic tube. For faster adoption business in the country like India, hugely the flexible packaging will be number one pick for me. In case of gravure, minimum cost of the cylinder will be Rs. 30,000. India is a country with a lot of startup businesses are emerging and you have different kinds of food packaging. All kinds of companies, say a Ludhiana-based juice manufacturer, needs good quality flexible packaging. In small cities, food companies are being introduced; organic foods are becoming popular, producing minimum quantities like 1 tonne, 100 kg or 200 kg. This area is growing super fast.
There are a lot of startups, small and medium digital printers, which are adopting digital technologies— most of them are packaging converters who use HP Indigo producing pouches like never before. So, flexible packaging is one of the fastest segments. Having said that, self-adhesive label market is also another domain, including pharmaceutical and cosmetics, where adoption of digital technology is growing faster. So is the folding carton segment. Beyond that there are small applications like in mould label (IML), which are also growing faster.
How is the inkjet picking up in the commercial and packaging segments?
Appadurai: Inkjet has been here for a long time. In fact, in drupa 2008 people were talking so much of inkjet, then in drupa 2012 they called it ‘inkjet drupa’, again in 2016 they talked about it. It has been for a long time. Unfortunately, I think from a stand point of growth, inkjet could not do well against Indigo or toner technology. Inkjet however provides advantages in terms of speed and lower coverage cost. But unfortunately in commercial and packaging applications, it is not picking up well, if you want good quality flexible packaging. No doubt we are market leader in the inkjet segment as almost 60 percent of inkjet heads across the world are shipped from HP. We never know what’s the future? The day the inkjet is growing bigger, we will have expanded solutions for sure.
Do you think online selling/retailing of print applications can increase digital printing in India?
Appadurai: Answer to this question is ‘200% Yes’! Online retailing will definitely increase print. In this, let’s look at the increasing prospect of web-to-print presses. We are very much confident that online is the way to grow. For example, cities are becoming bigger, transportation is cumbersome. In such case web-to-print will increase business. If I am not a converter or printer but I have a website, then it is convenient to make my customers to stick to me through online selling. I also believe that if Uber can transform the whole transportation industry by eliminating all the middlemen and all the unorganized factors, so can be in the printing industry through online selling.
What are your plans for PAMEX 2020?
Appadurai: We have shown quite a lot of machines and technologies in various expos over the recent past. This time at PAMEX 2020 we are trying to do slightly different as 60 percent of our booth space will be dedicated to applications. We have packaging and commercial printing sections, sections for software and web-to-print solutions. But the focus will be on applications and education on these. Indigo is not one machine for one application but multiple applications, it can do commercial, folding carton, photo, etc. It is one investment for multiple applications, this will be our focus.
Though we are focusing little on machines, we are showing a Made for India press—HP 7 ECO. Here ECO stands for Economy, Environment…whatever you call it in relevance. We are showing it for the first time at PAMEX 2020. The story behind this press is that this is low-cost entry-level machine, which is made of 60 percent recycled parts. The press has received a lot of certifications from international agencies for being the most environmentally produced machine, which can do quite a lot of applications including commercial printing to cartons. But our focus at the booth will be on applications.