Being into the business for more than 50 years, Sheth Printograph is today an esteemed name among packaging and printing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Packaging South Asia met HV Sheth, the founder of Sheth Printograph, along with his daughter, Sonal Sheth, director, for a discussion on the company’s focus areas and how it looks at opportunities both at home and in the global market.
Range of products and customization
Talking about the company’s range of products, which are marketed under the brand name Daya Printograph, Sonal shares that a lot of things have changed in the packaging segment and one of the products to have gained traction is metpet-based packaging. Daya Printograph offers metpet lamination machines and metalized polyester cutting and pasting machines, both of which are produced in-house. The company also offers machines for duplex packaging while for finishing, Sheth Printograph has creasing machines and engravers. For flexible packaging, the company makes postpress machines, ideal for 3+1 and 4+1 combinations.
Turnkey projects
In the corrugation segment, Sheth Printograph now undertakes turnkey projects. “The customers come to us with the idea, a piece of land and a plan. We guide them right from how to construct the building to getting the approvals from authorities. We handle similar projects overseas where it involves consultation, execution, and six months of operation. So, right from planning, construction of the plant building, machinery and equipment, manpower, sourcing raw material, to training the entrepreneurs in cost calculations and personnel hiring, we do everything,” says Sonal.
The company’s services are rather crucial considering the countries where it operates are absolutely unaware of how such projects are executed. Sheth Printograph is like a one-stop shop for such businesses, sourcing whatever they need, from consumables (ink, wires, tubes, chemicals, and even the craft paper) to producing the box. Sheth Printograph ensures that their clients don’t have to go all around the world trying to source these materials. “One particular customer who had set up a corrugated box manufacturing plant along with a flexible packaging plant with a rotogravure press had actually sourced the equipment from other manufacturers in India. Although we did not supply equipment to
them, we helped them set up the plants including the entire quality inspection, site, testing, shipping logistics and just about anything that is required to set up a plant,” Sonal recalls.
On asking why Sheth Printograph decided to explore overseas markets despite the challenges, Sonal says it is because the Indian market is a lot more challenging and there is no dearth of suppliers here. “Beating the competition in this scenario means beating the price,” she adds. However, on turnkey deals with overseas clients in developing countries, price is not the main focus area; instead, it is the service, consultation, expertise, experience, and other value additions that are sought. This provides Sheth Printograph the edge since it has acquired all these capabilities and has mastered the ways to deliver them. While the Indian market has its own limitations for suppliers, which is normal for a mature market, overseas markets are newly developing and despite competition from Chinese companies as well as several Indian companies, any business that has a good track record of performance, stands to gain customer confidence in these markets.
