GM Offset, a commercial and packaging printer based in Delhi’s Patparganj, has added a Komori Lithrone LS-40 to its portfolio to enhance its printing and converting capacity. This is the sixth Komori press for the company since its inception in 2011. Its products consist of hardcover and paperback books, magazines, brochures, visiting cards, calendars, and posters.
The company, which started its journey with two second-hand Dominant presses, today supplies to printers and printing customers in the Delhi-NCR region and a few other locations in the North. Situated in the printing hub of Patparganj on the eastern side of Delhi, the commercial printer deals majorly in outsourced jobs through third parties or brokers. The company has four production plants within the industrial area — one is owned and three are rented spaces.
Govind Arora, owner of GM Offset, told Packaging South Asia that he began his venture in the printing industry in 2005 in partnership. In 2011, he became the sole proprietor. According to him, the company now prints around 6,00,000 sheets per day. “We rely on Komori due to its on-time service support and we have built a strong relationship over the past seven years,” he said.
The printer has installed five Komori multicolor presses so far. An Enthrone 429/110 in 2013, a 426/122 was acquired in 2016, an Enthrone 429/291 and an Enthrone 426/127 were acquired in 2017, a GL437/2016 was installed in 2019, and another Enthrone 426/122 in 2023. Apart from the Komori multicolor presses, Arora’s finishing and binding lines consist of a Bindwell 6-clamp perfect binder, four lamination machines, two semi-automatic die-cutting machines from Friends Engineering in Amritsar, and utilizes curing technology from Alpna Visual Packaging Aids in Delhi.
Arora says that over time, printing technologies have gone through several enhancements and diversifications. The market too has grown with a rise in the number of printed goods providers. “Consequently, jobs have grown too,” he said. “Our clients know us for consistency and job management. The dynamics of third-party work in such a manner that we are never out of jobs and have consistent orders.”
The company is looking to invest in a digital press for sampling and short-run jobs. “We get many requests for samples before the job order as the market is focused on finishing. Also digital is a very good approach for short-run packaging print jobs, which are more economical in terms of energy and effort. So we are going through several options,” Arora said.
GM Offset’s work includes a full variety of commercial printing products while producing monocartons for packaging. It has many premium brands in its kitty such as Benign, Hira Sweets, Jaguar bath fittings, Havells, and Dulux paints via outsourced work from dealers across Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.
The year 2023 has been very good for the company in terms of jobs and technological expansion but it had its own set of challenges. “While the number of machines and clients are going up, the printing rates are coming down due to competition. This leads to cost benefits for end-users but the printer faces a financial crunch. There should be common rates for print jobs.”
