Pune-based Pratham Technologies showcased innovative solutions at drupa 2024, expecting the event to significantly boost its global operations and help expand its revenue. The company, which derives a large part of its revenue from exports to developed markets such as Europe and North America, feels it is essential to participate in events such as drupa.
At drupa, Pratham presented a 12-fold outsert folder with an auto tray packer, designed to reduce manual intervention in the pharmaceutical packaging industry. Additionally, the company unveiled its new automatic commercial folder, targeting the commercial and book markets.
“Last year, we achieved a topline of Rs. 80 crore, and this year we are confident of reaching the Rs 100-crore mark. About 70% of our business comes from exports to Europe and the USA. Our goal is to reach the Rs 500-crore mark in the next five years. This is ambitious but achievable,” said Datta Deshpande, CEO of Pratham Technologies, during drupa.
Pratham moved to a new, larger plant near Pune in 2021, necessitated by the need for a bigger shopfloor to build larger machines, which the older plant couldn’t accommodate. “Moving to a bigger plant has helped us a lot. I feel we will soon require an even bigger space. We want to make our manufacturing hub in Pune even stronger in the years ahead. We will keep on investing in Pune,” Deshpande noted.
The company has a subsidiary in the USA, Pratham Technologies USA, handling services and marketing for its North American customers. Pratham is now planning to expand its footprint in Europe.
“We are considering establishing our R&D centre and marketing operations in Germany and making a presence in the UK. We already have a solid partner in Germany supplying rollers to Pratham. They have a robust setup, and we can collaborate with them. The German setup will cater to the entire European continent. In the UK, we have excellent partners for robotics and automation, and we can work with them as well. The UK office will take care of the UK and Ireland markets,” Deshpande said.
Pratham is considering moving into robotics and automation and planning certain products to cater to digital printing.
Excellent drupa for Pratham
This was the third drupa where Pratham exhibited. The company booked a larger stall for this edition. According to Deshpande, the event was highly successful, and they signed some deals.
“We were supposed to be here in 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. For the 2024 edition, we decided to take a bigger stall than what we had planned for 2020. Our stand size was 180 square meters. We had been very busy here. drupa is a great platform to launch new solutions. The quality of visitors, both from India and overseas, has been amazing,” he said.
