Paper Mart organized a one day symposium on 24th January 2011 at Moradabad for the Uttar Pradesh & Uttaranchal based paper industry, where most of the industry people were present from the region. The key highlight of the symposium was CEO Panel Discussion wherein Mr. Jitendra Kumar, Chairman, Sidharth Papers Ltd; Mr. Pawan Agarwal, JMD, Naini Tissues Ltd and Mr. Ankur Bindal, Director, Bindal Papers Ltd expressed their views on different subjects including the raw material scenario, technological developments, challenges & opportunities, growth & sustainability for the paper industry based in this region. Here are the few subjects which were discussed and the comments of the industry experts on the same.

Raw Material Scenario

Mr. Jitendra Kumar: Basically there are two main issues one is availability of the raw material and other is price. The transportation cost forms the major part in the price of procuring the agro residue i.e. 30-40%. We should resist on forming the clusters of paper mill at one particular area as the input procurement point of all the agro based mills is same and further addition of another unit will enlarge the area of input procurement which inevitably increase the transport cost and ultimately disturbs the final output.

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Mr. Ankur Bindal: We face a lot of problems in procuring baggase because of its alternate use in power generation. We have to face a lot of competition in prices. As far as transportation cost is concerned if the infrastructure is well developed it can be dealt with.

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Mr. Pawan Agarwal: Naini Group hasn’t done any expansion since the inceptions of Naini Tissues in 2005, with a simple reason that there is a shortage of fiber in this area. The reason of shortage being first alternate use of baggase has come up in the recent times like power generation, ply board manufacturing etc. Second, with the recent policy of UP government sugar mills have mushroomed at a very fast pace in span of every 10 KM. The sugarcane area is limited and sugar industries have tripled in number and existing industries have gone for expansion, so availability of sugarcanes for these sugar industries have gone down which affected the availability of baggase. Fortunately, availability of wheat straw has increased in the recent past but it has not been able to keep pace with the growing demand. Finally I feel all agro based industries whether making kraft paper or W&P paper should search for some other alternative fibre mainly waste paper.

Technology

Mr. Pawan Agarwal: On the technological front earlier we haven’t look beyond our domestic boundaries like Vapi, Kolkata, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar etc. But in recent times it has been quite enterprising and we are really thinking to put up good technologies, and perhaps this is the only reason that we are growing at a good pace. The raw material contains lot of impurities like sand, dust, all sort of moisture content etc. so we need to have good wet washing system. This will improve the quality and reduce the consumption of chemical, steam and energy substantially. Then instead of batch type digesters we should install continuous digesters. In bleaching part the installation of ODL (Oxygen delignifica-tion) can give good results in the quality of paper, brightness and strength properties. In Naini’s case we have got reductions in chemical consumptions to a great extent and Kappa reductions as high as 30%. We can install closed hood in the press section and improve the dryness to a great extent. Today energy is very costly, so saving energy means a lot for every mill. Similarly we can install good kind of felts and screen conditioning equipments.

Mr. Jintendra Kumar: To reduce the production cost all the mills are stretching their machinery & equipments which is hampering the quality of the paper. Whenever new technological developments came under our investment capability it has been adopted. Better technology should be developed so that the usage of water in the cleaning of raw material can be minimized. Moreover with the environment pressure on the paper industry the water discharge should be minimized. There is also a need to upgrade the chemical recovery plants especially by the packaging grade mills.

Mr. Ankur Bindal: We have to see the economic viability of the investment in the technology whether it is necessary or not. Every year fuel prices are going up by 10-15% so it is necessary to develop the energy efficient technologies.

Market Demand Supply Situation

Mr. Pawan Agarwal: Demand and supply are cyclic in nature. Sometimes demand goes up and overtakes supply, sometime supply side has the tendency to keep pace with demand and to overtake demand. It is a natural tendency of the market. Our economy is growing at a pace of 8-9% and paper industry is always said to grow parallel with the economic growth. 2011-12 will see a good demand but there will be pressure on margins of paper industry because input cost is increasing at a faster pace but from demand side I can say that industry will be rest assured.

Secondly, I personally feel that kraft paper which is being used on the top for printing, it should be surface sized. Earlier the capacities were small around 40-60 TPD and whenever when we use to do our cost benefit analysis we don’t find it viable to install size press. But today mills coming up with 250 TPD capacities should install size press. Also we should come with a bag of products.

Thirdly, we should understand the market first rather than putting up the machine and taking out the product to the market and saying that “yeh bana diya hai ji, isko khareed lo”.

Mr. Jitendra Kumar: The increase in the consumerism has pushed the demand for the packaging industry. Earlier the things which were sold loose are now being sold packed in a good carton or container. The importance to branding is fuelling the demand for the packaging.

Mr. Ankur Bindal: I personally feel that the demand which is going to come in the next 10 years, our paper industry will not be able to cover that. For example we are producing many times more as compared to last decade and we have never seen the stocks are being piled up in the warehouse for more than 10 to 15 days. It gives me a feeling that the type of demand India is witnessing in future it might lead to import of paper from outside.

Sustainability

Mr. Pawan Agarwal: We have to be cautious about sustaining our natural resources because in future our coming generation will use them and paper industry cannot take this blame that we have ruined the natural resources. Industry is working hard on it by undertaking the initiatives like social farm forestry using waste paper, agro residue etc. We have to work on 2 simple aspects i.e. energy and water. We should go for those technologies where we can optimize the usage of both energy and water. Timely we should upgrade and improvised our operations in order to maximize our process efficiencies. Waste water management is a very sensitive issue so we all have to work collectively to make the zero water discharge a success.

Established in the year 1984 at Lalkua by Shree B.K. Birla, a township near the foothills of Himalayas in the state of Uttrakhand, the company after expansion and modernization will have a unique distinction of using varied raw materials and producing variety of finished products ranging from (dissolving) pulp, writing & printing papers, tissue to high end packaging boards, at single location. The company has established a strong brand image in the domestic and overseas markets with excellent quality of its products and services , the current installed capacity of different grades is Writing & Printing wood based 37250 TPA, Writing & Printing grades based on Baggasse with FSC certification 84600 TPA, Writing & Printing based on post consumer waste with FSC certification 75960 TPA, Dissolving Grade Pulp 31320 TPA, Soft Tissue 36000 TPA, and soon to be commissioned board plant has rated capacity of 180,000 TPA backed by a 450 TPD pulp mill. To get more idea about what century is up to we had an interaction with century’s management. Excerpts

Century’s Growth and Recent Developments

Though Century started as writing & printing paper company, new investment decisions consistent with market requirements are taken by Shree B.K. Birla with great futuristic vision; today Century is capable of manufacturing high end, fast growing product mix backed by cutting edge technology.

The new generation products in paper space would be surface sized printing papers, superior writing papers, mill packed cut size papers converted on rotary cutting machines, FSC certified recycled papers with post consumer waste. The mill is looking to produce high end uncoated products for digital printing which are currently being imported. This great transformation was driven by timely decisions of, expanding baggasse digester capacity, film press on PM4 and augmenting cut size capacity.

Consumerism and economic growth are the two main drivers which are taking the packaging demand up. Particularly in northern India there is acute shortage of high quality packaging board and there is a clear demand in the market. So to venture into a packaging segment was a logical decision and further adds wings to our growth prospects. Today Century can boast of a latest Metso ECF fiber line which means state of art technology resulting in superior quality, cost effective and environment friendly operations, manpower optimization, efficient uses of resources and of course the products will have all important – ECF branding. The latest board machine from Voith embodies great manufacturing features like dilution control head box, shoe press, MG cylinder, film size press and soft nip calendar. This machine is designed to manufacture boards ranging from 170 gsm to 500 gsm.

With the time and the growing market demand we ventured in to tissue, as per capita tissue consumption in India was very low and the machines available here are of sub optimal standards in both context – technology and size. So the idea of a tissue plant was conceived and we ventured in to this segment.

Challenges

• Century faced severe shortage of baggasse a year ago and this challenge has been successfully handled by the management resulting in surplus procurement this year.
• There are challenges on the wood procurement side as well. Developing plantations with the farming groups, understanding the land holdings, patterns, identifying the institutional infrastructure to really tap the land for pulp wood growth is the biggest challenge. Again to recommend the right species, understanding the local commercial dynamics is also time consuming process. The challenge is more daunting as we compete with other industries like ply and MDF for wood unlike other parts of the country where the competition is mainly among the paper mills.
• One major challenge is our distance from the port and thus logistically importing waste paper & other inputs becomes quite expensive. Century is now working on innovative solutions by employing multi modal system to control costs.
• Another challenge is the local infrastructure. Lalkua being a small town, the management is working on supply chain strategies to cope with the sudden rise in inbound and outbound tons.
• Manpower is a major concern and thus for the first time we have started campus recruitment of engineers on big scale. Century has maximum pulp & paper engineers and most of them are on retiring stages so getting the fresh talent is the need of the hour. We have also started structured training programs to groom the fresh talent.

Farm Forestry at Century

We are in process of setting up farm forestry on a large scale for which we have already identified the areas where we can have the land available for us. We won’t be targeting the prime land but will tap the marginal, fellow, degraded and waste lands, where we will be providing best genetically planting materials to the farmers through the R&D tie ups in India and abroad to get the best possible yield. With better genetic planting materials the farmers can even achieve multifold increase in the yield, they otherwise get from conventional seeds. Besides we will ensure technology penetration to all the farmers. We’ll provide them the best agro forestry models for inter cropping depending on the micro climatic conditions and land holding pattern. It will improve the eco balance of the area apart from creation of large carbon sinks. We intend to grow twice the trees required for our wood pulp. Our requirement would be approx 5,000 hectares but we will cover 10,000 hectares within two years. Roughly 2500 trees per hectare will be planted.

What lies ahead?

The game in paper industry is more dependent on site dynamics and competitiveness. The future plans ahead are:-

• We are going for a captive calcium carbonate plant which will improve our cost competitiveness and quality of paper and surface.
• We will invest in poly extrusion for our packaging board machine in order to produce cup stock, frozen packaging and liquid packaging boards etc.
• After the stabilization of the current expansion, we shall make appropriate investment decisions to take the Lalkua site to its optimum size and shall also explore Gujarat, UP as new destinations for our production set up.

Mr. Chetan Chowhan - Inaugural Speaker

Mr. Chetan Chauhan, a well know cricketer & commentator who twice remained member of the Lok Sabha from Amroha and also owns a small paper mill in Gajraula, U.P. delivered the keynote speech at the symposium. He started his speech by highlighting the strong fundamentals of India “It is the second fastest growing major economy in the world which is set to expand at a faster pace than China in 2012. Agriculture is one of the strongholds of the Indian economy and accounts for 14.6 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2009-10. India is the second largest producer of rice, wheat, sugar. 50% of the Indian population is below the age of 25 and more than 65% hovers below the age of 35. Economists predict that by 2020, India will be among the leading economies of the world.”

Further he elaborated the Do’s for UP & Uttaranchal Region in order to become efficient and competitive, “Paper industry in this region basically comprises of small & mid size units and there are some challenges for them to overcome in order to have sustainability. So, the key aspects to be looked in are raw material availability, better technology for efficiency & overall competitiveness, better pulping technologies, manpower and lastly product development & quality.”

Talking about the growth drivers for paper industry like economic growth, increasing government spending on education, population growth, changing demographics, improving living standards, increase in advertising and direct mailers, growth in print media he concluded the speech by giving an anecdote “Businesses will not survive with conservative outlook. Systematic approach along with better working culture combined with latest technology will enable the industry to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. With the country’s economy growing robustly, the paper consumption in India is bound to expand.”

Mr. Pankaj Aggarwal - Keynote Speaker

In the inaugural speech Mr. Pankaj Aggarwal, Managing Director, Bindlas Duplux Ltd, gave the synopsis of paper industry in Uttar Pradesh & Uttaranchal region. Here are the dialogues.

“The consumption of paper is directly attached to the growth of the economy. With the emergence of economy use of paper has risen tremendously like in packaging, education, documentation etc. In short, paper is associated with our feelings, learning’s and life”.

Giving a picture of the paper industry in this region, he said “Today UP & Uttaranchal has 165 paper machines out of which Muzaffarnagar has 42 paper machines. Calculating the production capacity of this region, if we multiply the average production with 165 paper machines the result comes out to be more than 4 million tons of paper annually. The government statistics says that the paper consumption in India is 9 million tons. But as per our census it is minimum 15 kg per capita”.

Highlighting the prosperity agro based paper industry is bringing in this region, he said “In Muzaffarnagar, due to the paper industry more than 5000 Kolus have been established because the profit margin in selling the bagasse is much more than making jaggery (gud). Generally each kolu is run by 8 people which means that directly 40,000 families are fed by these activities. Further for transporting this bagasse from one place to another another 1000’s of people are being employed for this purpose so the setting up of paper industry is a boon for the development of the villages & the people”.

Further on challenges for the industry in this region, he added “Being situated in North we face lot of limitations such as we are far from the sea shores so the availability of the waste paper is very difficult, wood is not in abundance so there is only one alternate left for us i.e. agro residue. In UP & Uttaranchal there are small and medium size mills so for better economies of scale some joint initiatives have been taken up by us like installation of common treatment plant, common fire fighting vehicles etc”.

Mr. Manzur Rahman from GapCon Engineering Pvt. Ltd. presented the paper on “Paper and Board Calendering” highlighting the fundamentals of calendering, weakness in calenders observed in India, modern single nip calender design prerequisites, calenders for various grades, GapCon VariCal, basic Concept of Soft Nip Calender, GapCon VariCalTM Soft.

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Mr. Avenish Prasad from SAP India Pvt. Ltd. presented the paper on “Integrated Processes lead to Sustainable Growth: SAP Solution for Paper Industry” touching upon the business trends and challenges of the Indian paper industry, how ERP’s integrated processes address those challenges, benefits of integrated ERP application and lastly how the companies have leveraged ERP solutions.

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Mr. Amol Thakur from Parason Machinery touched upon the subject “Latest Fine Bar Technology & Fine edged-Curved Bar Plate” where he highlighted the importance of refining in the stock preparation and what kind of benefits does refining provides.

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Forbes Marshal presented paper on “The energy efficient paper mill- An Indian perspective” highlighting the importance of steam as a cost, observations on specific energy consumption, factors affecting steam consumption, need for automation and new developments. They also highlighted the fact that steam accounts for 70% energy consumption of a paper machine and a reduction of 20% in steam consumption for a 100 TPD plant saves Rs 8,500,000 equivalent to almost 600 tons of extra paper produced.

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Mr. D.K. Raina from Wires & Fabriks talked about STL the fourth generation of forming fabric. He explained about the conservative system which was being adopted by the mills in forming fabric. He gave people an outline of using STL by highlighting its benefits which are designed to achieve paper qualities, mechanical stability, energy & chemical efficiency and runnability.

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We took views from few paper mills on their planned investment for the coming year and their views on the paper industry in Uttar Pradesh & Uttaranchal region.

Mr. DK Singhal - Technical Director, Chandpur Enterprises Ltd.

Planned Investment in Equipment/Technology in 2011

We are planning investment only in process modification such as installation of Thermocompressor, modification/replacement of paper machine hood and drives etc. We plan to invest around INR 20-40 million in the next year.

Comments on Paper Industry in U.P. and Uttaranchal

The paper industry in U.P. and Uttaranchal has made a significant progress during the last decade from the technology perspective. With a major thrust on best practices the industry is being shifted from local made equipments/technology to global suppliers. The past few years have witnessed sharp decline in specific energy consumption, specific water consumption as well as reduced specific fuel and raw material consumption.

The areas needing more efforts include R&D and knowledge sharing. I understand Naini Group has already initiated in developing a good in-house R&D infrastructure, by having its laboratory got NABL accredited. Many others are also there in line to follow them. For knowledge sharing initiatives like Yahoo group “PaperTechnology” and symposium by Paper Mart are going to be very helpful in future.

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Mr. Ved Krishna - Managing Director, Yash Papers Ltd

Planned Investment in Equipment / Technology in 2011

Comment on Paper Industry in U.P. & Uttaranchal

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Mr. Amit Gupta - Technical Director, Dev Priya Industries Ltd.

Planned Investment in Equipment / Technology in 2011

We have planned to invest about 50 million rupees in the coming financial year to upgrade our equipment / technology for betterment of our products and increasing capacity as well.

Comment on Paper Industry in U.P. & Uttaranchal

As everybody knows that packaging grade is becoming more important day by day, we all need to concentrate on quality and standardization of our products, and this should be done by corrugators also, as we are all moving towards globalization.

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Wires & Fabriks (S.A.) Ltd.

Started in 1963 with German machinery and technology, the company is a market leader in manufacturing Synthetic Fabrics being used in Paper Industry on Fourdrinier and Pulp mill applications in Single, Double and Triple Layers including SSB fabrics. Company is also known for woven and spiral linked dryer fabrics apart from Stainless Steel wire cloth in open ended and diagonal seam form Moulds, Washers and Dandy roll covers. Having collaborated with leading European companies, the Company also deals in Papermaking Chemicals. Upgraded to ISO 9001:2008 accreditation, today Wires & Fabriks exports its quality products to over twenty countries.

Parason Machinery (I) Pvt. Ltd.

Parason Machinery (I) Pvt. Ltd. is engaged in the manufacturing of a wide range of machinery & spares for paper industry. The unit has established in 1991 under the leadership of its Chairman Dr. Champa lal Desarda, who is doctorate in metallurgical engineering with over 36 years of experience. The unit manufactures complete equipment of different size for pulping section including refiners, pulpers, screen & deinking plant. Products of the company are also exported to over 42 countries in Asia, Europe, Australia, America, Africa.

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SAP

“SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE : SAP) is the world’s leading provider of enterprise application software, offering solutions that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. Started in 1996, SAP in India is one of the fastest growing companies within SAP worldwide with over 5,220 employees and over 4,500 customers.

Forbes Marshall

Forbes Marshall began 60 years ago as a company offering steam generation solutions in association with Spirax Sarco of the UK who are world leaders in steam engineering and energy conservation. With a combination of specialist knowledge and the latest technology, over the decades their products have provided the benchmark for Indian paper industry.

English Indian Clays Ltd.

The Company was incorporated in 1963 in technical & financial collaboration with English China Clays Ltd., U.K., the pioneer and the then world leader in Kaolin processing. They have two key Divisions, viz., Clay & Starch. Both the Divisions of EICL have grown to be market leaders in their respective fields. This growth has been chiefly driven by prudent investment in world class R&D facilities for research, enabling these Businesses to be specialized solution providers for various applications spanning diverse Industries.

GapCon Engineering Pvt. Ltd.

GapCon Engineering Pvt. Ltd. an Indo-German joint venture company, was conceptualised based on the growing demands for modern state of art calenders and deflection compensating rolls in India, with corresponding technical services. Primary objectives are to bring to India, for the first time, engineering knowledge, experience and mill services on calendar and deflection compensating rolls. GapCon proposes to offer economical and cost effective solutions, appropriate for the cost sensitive Indian market.

Sam Turbo Industry Ltd.

Sam Turbo Industry Ltd. are in the field of designing, manufacturing, supplying and servicing pumps for essential industries in India since 1971. Today SAM is an acknowledged leader in its industries and continues to combine innovative design and material with most advanced manufacturing techniques to ensure unequalled quality and reliability. Sam Turbo are the leading supplier of pumps for Paper & Pulp Mills, for all applications like paper & Pulp stock, liquor, acids water etc.

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Honest Iron & Engineering Works

Honest Iron & Engineering Works was established in 1965 offering its services and catering needs of Paper Industry untiringly for last 45 years. It offers a complete manufacturing program in their fully equipped workshop with all facilities under single roof backed by experienced designers & technocrats, where high speed quality paper machines are built up. Honest’s Paper Machines are also exported to Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Iran.

Mr. Ashwani Arya

Views on the Indian digital printing industry

Digital printing industry is growing at a very fast rate unlike the any other segment of printing industry. Economy though showing the signs of improvement but down the line it is not true as there is no healthy competition in the market.

Recession and its effect on printing industry

Recession has hit the Indian markets at large. Be it an insurance, banking or telecom industry, they all are facing downturn which ultimately worsened the printing sector as eventually every industry is a print buyer.

Offset Printing Industry has huge un-utilized capacities leaving an effect on the working of the entire printing industry. People are not counting on their capital investment and other expenses in a lure to keep their plants running.

Perfact’s Solutions and infrastructure

PERFACT with the turnover of 6 million USD caters various Industry verticals like Insurance, Education & Healthcare etc, at present we are feeding 5 insurance companies with 6 lac policy booklets a month. Our developing and innovative technologies have helped us to establish web links with the leading corporate’s.

With the investment of more than 2 crore we were the first to provide the web to print solutions, printing 1 million cards daily without any calls, mails and other problems. Our new venture “Print My Emotions” was initiated with an investment of 50 lakhs. It is a powerful tool that empowers to create a personalized photo album in less than five minutes. Our other applications like business card; admit cards, certificates, medical reports, school kit etc have helped in creating demand and utilizing opportunities which are profitable. With this we will achieve our target of 100 crores.

Indian scenario Globally

The digital printing companies are growing at a fast pace in Europe and there is a wide scope for digital printing in the Indian markets too as there is just a need to understand the areas which are overlooked in particular vertical, than create an application and solution for that vertical.

The digital printing industry in India has neither the dearth of money nor the orders, nor any kind of unutilized capacity. “I am printing 1 million cards a day without any mails, calls or other problems and still there is a huge opportunity that hasn’t been looked upon”.

Clientele

• Max New York Life Insurance • Teri • DMRC Ltd. • CII • MLIC • UNDP • Hewitt • IFFCO-TOKIO • Airtel • Quality Council of India • Pizza Hut • ibibo • HSBC • Sona • NIIT • Yum • KFC• GESEACO • Reliance Group • ICAI • Canon • ICICI Bank • Bharti Telecom • Xerox • Global Business Impact • Fidelity • Bank of America • Aviva • American Express • ABN-AMRO.

Profile

Started his career as an electrical engineer with Modi Xerox Limited and now playing a role of an entrepreneur but he says, “Xerox is still a part of my life. It flows in my blood; it is actually in my DNA”.

My Drives

I am the driver who is hitting the ball everyday to beat the recession as possessing the technology from leading equipment manufacturers is not the only solution. It’s our applications, quality service, pioneering team and software technology developers that are attracting the customers and increasing demand.

Mr. Christopher Reid

The association between Infoprint and EIH is expected to help telecommunication companies and financial institutions such as banks in order to increase their customer loyalty and revenue per subscriber. Introduction of TransPromo, the largest personalized marketing application in the world is added to bills and statements, thereby eliminating the low value mass-marketing inserts and helps to increase customer’s retention. The association with EIH is a next step ahead for telecommunications companies in India.

We had an interaction with Mr. Christopher Reid, Vice President & General Manager – Asia Pacific, Infoprint Solutions Company; here are the excerpts of the dialogue.

“We had number of opportunities of working with some of the largest scales in the world in terms of total number of deals, number of engines, potential employees and major share was driven by telcos and banks in India for us. It’s an exciting thing for us because if the industry continues to change and offset entrepreneur are coming to digital which is happening in India much faster. This is happening mainly because the Indian customers are really leaping, as they are moving towards value-added applications and more volumes. Rather than investing in the monochrome business they seem to be much more interested color business. Infoprint 5000, the inkjet color technology is doing really well with 60% market share in India and dominating the Asia-pacific as well”, highlights Reid.

Q: How do you compare India and China in this sector?

India is probably more ahead of China in terms of the offset to digital migration for the POD, both behind the Americans and Europeans, but India seems to be moving faster and China has just started in that transition. The color technology is pretty adopted in both the countries, like if you see devices from leading equipment manufacturers. But, the big transition in high point printing is moving faster in India. Apart from that the government control in China is highly regulated and controlled which makes the transition period very slow whereas, here in India we have a straight economy, as soon as the one makes a plan he executes it.

Q: About your workforce in the region.

Talking about our head quarters at Singapore, we have 30 people in Singapore and around 200 people in across the region in Asia pacific and continue to grow. In India there are about 30 people, with our marketing, sales and customer support. Also at present we are relying on IBM for IT support and personal solutions but in future we will be 100% RICOH owned company. Thus we are working on our single most important project internally, which is the disconnection of IT from IBM and are planning to bring more people over the next year for this front.

Q: What are your growth projections for India?

In terms of engines we can see growth of 50% next year, based on the large opportunities with some of the telcos and banks. We didn’t see this type of the growth opportunity anywhere. There is net new and continuous technology coming in the Indian market. In other countries especially in the North America and Europe it’s really a replacement model, replacing orders, slower and continuous form of work and technology. While in India it is all new and consolidated, positioned at centralized locations.

Q: What are the future expansion plans?

For next 1 or 2 years our focus is really on India for execution, doing customer interface, driving our business, continue to be a well managed company having a reasonable profit share. Whatever it takes to strive in India, our team is extremely confident in software services, project management, providing complex solutions, which would be advantageous for us. We had opened up a demonstration facility in Shanghai, and we are working with our partners to bring such demonstration facility here in India.

Q: About Paper stocks used.

With our technology one can use extended range of papers including offset papers, digital papers, inkjet coated papers. So they have an option of choosing different types of paper depending on the application and also managing the cost and quality of print. In the coming time people will use more inkjet coated papers as it improves the print quality. The advantage of using Infoprint 5000 is the high quality of dyes and ink pigments which delivers good quality print on low cost paper.

The paper selection is done like one is the offset paper and the other is inkjet treated but both of them are doing the work of the traditional offset papers. The next revolutionary technology is moving into coated stocks, so we have kept a number of maps for the coated stuff that is suitable for various applications. We are using papers from Indian manufacturers, which are certified by us. We have now a list of 200 papers that are certified and approved for the RICOH machines.

Q: What challenges did you faced in the Indian market?

Most of the people were saying that they don’t want to initiate as they first want to see as what will happen in the marketplace. We got the concept and we made the initial investments and now the conversations with those people are totally different, partly because the market has moved faster. More customers are coming because of which print economy has increased the drive of transpromo and also the telcos are willing to invest in more integrated multi-channel marketing.

INTRODUCTION

Digital printing technologies are rapidly replacing traditional offset for many forms of print solutions. This signifies more than a production shift. It represents a radical marketing shift & this is occurring because digital print production enables marketers to produce applications and manage their documents in ways not possible or cost-effective with offset. This report examines how digital print technologies are reshaping print marketing by changing cost structures, changing document management models, and driving customization and personalization. Points are illustrated and special emphasis is placed on the importance of changing the way marketers evaluate the printing sector. Also the Report concludes with best practices and strategies for success.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A telephonic survey with digital print providers has been done. Following an exploration of printer’s demographics, questions were asked to understand how and why different papers are selected for digital printing jobs, factors which influence their paper buying behavior, their challenges and expectations. The following categories were explored:

• Paper grades commonly used for digital printing jobs
• Time span of business
• Number of digital printing equipments
• Factors which affect brand decisions
• Relative importance of different paper properties and characteristics
• Paper characteristics are need to be  improved, and
• Limitations imposed by digital press.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Digital print shops and marketing services providers
• Digital press and other vendors

OBJECTIVES

The main aim of the present study is to accomplish the following objectives:

• To find out the perception of the digital printer’s regarding factors influencing their paper buying behavior
• To find out the awareness of the digital printers regarding new technologies and applications
• To understand the satisfaction level of the digital printers and their expectations.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE DIGITAL PRINTERS

This survey reviews the literature relating to the issues faced by the digital printing industry in India, in particular. The survey discusses the main challenge of technology and business services by showing how the drivers of this industry are aware about the new developments and applications. The survey looks at how printers & print buyers should be made aware about the industry that facilitates knowledge, information sharing, communication and integration with customers in today’s highly networked and digitalized market. A printing service provider can perform many applications including commercial printing, book printing, banner printing, brochure printing, print digital photos, personalized & variable content, business card printing, security printing and many other special applications.

1. Lack of awareness: Several consumers are unacquainted about the new and special applications coming in way of digital printing. There is lack of awareness among the users about the possibilities that digital printing can offer to its customers. Various high-end technologies are available in the market and each is suitable for doing a different job. People should be knowledgeable about capabilities of different machines & getting the jobs done through correct machines.

2. Quality of paper: Many times the quality of the paper is not up to the mark as required for printing. Also the improper packaging and mishandling of the paper affects its quality which in turn make the production suffer.

3. Technological Tribulations: Technological faults lead to breakdown of machines for a long time subsequently loss in productivity and a setback for printers as it affects the profitability & relations with the customers due to delayed deliveries. Another huge problem faced with the technology is its maintenance. It’s complicated as their parts are sensitive and these machines are advanced equipped with latest technology.

4. Paper choking: At times paper gets choked in the machine and creates a lot of internal problems in the machine which hampers the expected life & quality of the machine. This severely affects the on-going production as the choked paper is needed to bring out and then re-start the entire process again which escorts to loss in quality and delayed delivery of work.

5. Market scenario: Penetration of digital presses is increasing, making the market more competitive. Anticipating the highflier market potential, people are installing digital equipment, without calculating their capital investment and other expenses like fixed cost, variable cost and depreciation of machines. Ultimately expelling the market by selling at low price and compromising on profits.

6. Just in Time: Digital technology is considered as a quick service mechanism. It is a flexible unit which provides high-speed jobs within the specified time to their customers. There is always a bell ringing on the top of the operator and is required to fulfill the jobs on time which is tough to do always.

7. Non- availability of paper: Paper is the primary raw material for printing and the non availability of this material brings a lot of trouble. Keeping the consumption in mind advance stock of papers are stored which adds up to the inventory cost. Further the availability of economical unbranded paper has reduced the market size of superior quality papers which has in turn reduced the paper traders interest in stocking quality branded grades.

8. Recession: Every person in an industry is a buyer of print but due to the recession the industries are cutting the print & marketing budgets drastically as a part of cost cutting policy profit trade. Market is departing in the downward track due to recession prevailing in the digital printing industry.

9. Point of shift to offset: Cross over point from Digital to Offset is less than 300 impressions in India but it is more than 2000 in US, hence short run market is limited.

10. Re-sale of old machinery: Investment in the new technology is really expensive, everybody can’t think for the brand new machines. Selling of the used digital equipments is a great challenge as their re-sale value is minimal and is sold at throw away prices.

EXPECTATIONS

The digital printing community suggest some viable solutions for the challenges they face. Along with that they expressed the further expectations from technology providers, paper manufacturers and the industry as a whole.

1. Online UV coating is one thing that is present in offset printing, but introduction of the same in the digital printing will make the work effortless and attractive.

2. Paper Quality: Every person doing the job of digital printing desires the best quality paper to provide outstanding results to their customers. Hence, the quality of the paper should be improved. The high-quality and other special papers should be easily accessible in the market at reasonable prices.

3. Technology: Multiple application equipments should be introduced. Up-to-the-minute technology should now be launched in digital printing to thump the growing competition and attain economies of scale. The processing speed of the machines should be flying in order to complete the jobs before time. Cost of technology, software, its running cost, ink cost and other solutions should be reduced which will eventually lend a hand in growing the digital printing industry. The services provided by the distributors should be fast and improved.

4. Magnitude of machinery: The size of the paper should be enlarged to make possibility of further different applications.

5. Awareness: Both the consumers and the users are required to be aware about the digital machine applications & its capabilities with supportive softwares which will lead to increase in business for digital printing in the market.

6. Organized sector: The size of the industry should be monitored from time to time in order to eradicate any fragmentation. So, the need to work as an organized sector arise.

Number of digital press

Respondents identifies with the number of digital machines used by them to carry out the printing applications, the major chunk of printers (55%) owns a single machines. The printers employing 2 machines portion out the market with (32%) marker share. The printers with 3 or 4 machines were sharing the market more or less equally with (7%) and (6%) respectively. The analysis shows that the people with less degree of market share (7% & 6%) have foreseen the potential in digital printing industry and made a continuous investment by employing 3 or more machines. The major portion of market with 87% is jointly is held by the initial starters employing 1 or 2 machines.

Type of jobs

Respondents identified the types of jobs produced with digital printing; the leading categories ranked as a “major portion” of the business were Marketing and Promotional Materials, Quick Printing Applications, and Specialized Application which are tailored according to the consumer. When asked to indicate only one predominant job type, the leading application is again Marketing and Promotional Materials (86%), followed by Quick Printing (82%), Specialized Applications (72%), and Books, Manuals, Periodicals and Direct mail with (63%) each, Proofing (57%). The outcome of above analysis shows that most of the printers’ executes diversified portfolio of applications.

Paper used

Respondents when asked about the preference of paper used by them were identified as using both branded and unbranded with a share of (48%). But, when analyzed out of the whole index respondents were more inclined towards branded paper (43%). Therefore, it is necessary for the paper industry to upgrade themselves in the perspective of technology, quality, service, price, knowledge, competition and thereby offering better product portfolio.

Type of paper

Respondents identified in area of paper grade categories which are used for digital printing and their frequency of its use. Coated gloss is the leading grade (90%), followed by coated matte (85%), and premium uncoated (75%). The frequency of using paper like premium bond (57%), tinted/colored (53%), recycled (48%) is fair but the quantum is limited. The paper like coated high gloss (46%), coated satin (31%), and uncoated (21%) were used in squat amount.

Factors Considered in Paper Buying

Runnability (96%) and print quality (98%) were the most important factors identified by the respondents statistically as these are the parameters on which customer’s satisfaction depends. Price (64%) was found not to be a leading factor in the purchase decision for these digital grades in this survey as normally, it is the most important factor in any purchase decision. The availability of the grades (85%) and appearance (88%) were the second most important aspect highlighted by the respondents.

Number of years

Respondents identified with the life span of their working in the industry. We found that the respondents in the first 5 years are above 80% reason being boost in digital printing industry in the recent years. The numbers of respondents doing digital printing business for more than 5 years is very less as people were not fully aware of the technology and were hesitant in making investment in new printing vertical.