I remember the 1990 drupa and Kaku Kohli’s modest stand at the show – taking a photograph and using it in the Indian Printer and Publisher review of the show. Every Indian exhibitor was important and although there were several single width newspaper press manufacturers at the time, there may have been only a couple of flexible packaging equipment manufacturers from our country at the show. Needless to say, I pursued Kohli for advertising ever since we started Packaging South Asia in 2007, in which we could start covering flexible packaging since our technical editor was and is a respected flexible packaging expert.
A few years later, I visited a leading converter who had purchased the Kohli gravure press for printing on thin and extensible substrates – essentially doing something that it was suggested only CI flexo presses could do. This adapted model became a hit in some parts of the market. Of course I met Kaku at several shows and at the launch and demonstration of the extrusion laminator in Rajkot built in collaboration with Rajoo Engineers.
However, it is during the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that I have become a student of Kohli. Although I have a couple of other gurus in flexible packaging also, his teaching has appealed to me as a sheetfed and webfed offset printer who is learning gravure.
Kaku himself approaches technology like a science student – he takes apart every step of the process or the machine. He seems to understand that modern machines are like an Airbus – they are an aerodynamic system with several subsystems. He tries to understand every component of the system and why it is there and how it can fail or add value to the end product, or to the ease of running the machine and getting quality.
He can explain every subsystem or module of the press – the drying system, the ink transfer and thicknesses and how the inks behave with various solvents. Actually he is a printer and to me this explains his frequent travel overseas, since I imagine he has gone to meet a customer who has installed his machine and to help him in case the press is not being used optimally. In these situations one also learns a lot, which comes in handy when you want to improve your press or conceptualize a new one.
Photo Kohli Industries
Kaku Kohli is obviously a great teacher. You could see that in the brilliant Zoom demonstrations during the pandemic that he conducted of the new TheaOne presses at never-before-seen speeds of an Asian manufactured gravure press. He remotely directed his team in the factory that were the main actors, showing the press running at 600 meters a minute to water-based inks running at 500 meters a minute. You could see that he had built in the ease of operation or ease and instant feedback for the operator.
We saw many virtual shows during the pandemic from global leaders but none were really as alive or immediate with live questions and answers where the participants could be heard asking their questions and directing the camera and sound. The camera followed the operator to the wonderful control panels or the part of the press where the demonstrators and Kohli explained and answered the question or showed the detail and function on the running press.
You could also see that the man is fearless – he has never run away from automation – he has embraced it, knowing that software is the easiest thing once you decide what you want it for. He is a master of implementing user-friendly automation and press feedback and he tries to measure every process in every module of the machine.
Photo Kohli Industries
One last thing – he is aware of the terrible losses to our industry because of fire hazards. In every demonstration during the pandemic of his gravure presses he showed and explained the fire extinguishing function on each unit. It was a problem that needs to be talked about more, and a solution that we have been looking for.
One more last thing – Kohli Industries may be just one of our industry’s companies that are now in their third or even fourth generation which is moving into responsibility and celebrating half a century. However, the organization stands out for me for its rapid understanding of the future and quick adaptation to new technology. You could see from the Zoom demonstrations that Kohli has customers around the world and that Kaku Kohli is always just a phone call away for a visit, and a cup of coffee.
