Established in 1982 in Vadodara, Concord Printing has emerged as a leading specialist printer in Western India over the past more than 30 years. Earlier known as Pravin Printing Press, the company entered monocarton production a decade ago and has kept expanding its position as a leading monocarton supplier in the region and also in exports.
A couple of years ago, Concord added a 6-color plus coater Ryobi 920 press to which it retrofitted interdeck and end of press UV curing systems. This was in addition to its earlier Heidelberg 4-color plus coater press and several other diecutting and coating and finishing equipment including a Bobst Visionfold 110 installed two years ago. The most recent addition in Concord’s converting department has been the Novacut 106 that was added during the festival season in October 2017.
Concord director Kayyum Memon, explained to us that the company’s carton business really accellerated about two years ago which required technology investments to meet customer requirements for both value addition and timely deliveries within short turn-around times. Both the Ryobi 6-color plus coater and the Bobst Visionfold 110 were installed to consolidate the high value monocarton business.
Memon explains, “Our association with Bobst started with installation of a Visionfold 110 folder gluer two years back. The machine was commissioned for production on the 4th day of installation. Currently, with the Visionfold and the Novacut 106 in place, we are able to produce around 40,000 cartons in a night for any urgent monocarton order. Earlier, it took a whole day and several processes to produce the same. The Bobst machines have helped us to improve our converting accuracy and quality and also productivity and speed. This is certainly helping us to grow and deliver fast.”
Speaking about the two converting machines Memon talks about the innovations within the machines that improve quality and eliminated defects while converting, “There are very small aspects, where Bobst’s experts have looked at. These small aspects will help printers and convertors like us to achieve quality. For instance, simple components like springs are used so efficiently for the lifting mechanism in the Bobst’s Visionfold. Also, the gliders in the machine at this stage help the smooth passage of paper for further processing by keeping it straight and avoids wrinkling.”
Value addition
While the packaging market is growing rapidly Memon suggests that but when it comes to printing both caution and innovation are needed. Clients are looking for solutions that have to provide unusual visual effects and out-of-the-box solutions, believes Memon. He says “On our new printing and converting machines, we have started experimenting with a variety of new solutions that we can offer. Recently, in one of our orders for calendars, we experimented with spot UV finishes and embossing on the new Novacut diecutter which offers both a glowing and standout texture or 3D effect. Our client is extremely pleased that we were able to produce such unusual and high quality work. For similar effects on monocartons we can perform both the diecutting and embossing on the Bobst Novacut in a single pass.”
Cost, not the only deciding factor
Speaking on the current market conditions and costs, Memon says, “Constantly innovating and value addition is a key factor to be sustainable in this challenging market. We want our customers to get used to our efficient service, timely delivery and with quality jobs. We have been able to offer these three components to our clients, which has made them less cost less sensitive.”
Expansion is on the cards
Concord is looking to aggressively expand its manufacturing capacity by upgrading its machinery. The company has dedicated and comprehensive modern departments for prepress, press and postpress and converting. Operating with two shifts that can a day, the company has doubled its production in last two years to where it is now able to finish and convert about 40,000 cartons a day using Bobst’s Novacut diecutter and Visionfold 110 folder gluer. It plans to double its current converting capacity of about 80 tons a day within the next two years. In order to make this happen, the company plans to move to a larger premises where all its integrated packaging applications and increased capacities can function efficiently.
