Arihant Printers, a leading commercial offset printer in Kolkata, has chosen innovation and quality as the growth parameters to sail through the highly competitive print market in India. The company, because of its growing popularity and word-of-mouth appreciations, has been able to source customers from across the country. “I love innovation and that is why I chose to be in this field,” says Sunny Jain, director of Arihant Printers. “There is no limit to innovation in printing. All you need is to understand the market and have the zeal to innovate.”
Started in 1980, Arihant Printers prints catalogs, brochures, wedding cards, posters, calenders, leaflets, etc., apart from from packaging printing. The company has three plants with a combined area of about 4,000 sq. ft with in-house prepress, printing and postpress. In February 2015, the company installed its first 6-color Komori LS29 press with full UV plus coater. “The Komori LS29 can print at speeds up to 16,000 sheets per hour with a format size of 20.8 x 29.5 in. The main purpose of installing this press is to do packaging printing. The speed of makeready and job-to-job changeover times of the Komori LS29 is
excellent,” says Jain. Arihant diversified into packaging printing in 2012. “Today, 70% of our business is packaging printing while the remaining 30% is commercial printing.”
According to Jain, Arihant’s packaging division converts around 25 lakh sheets while producing 50 lakh cartons per month. In the same year in May, the company also installed a Kodak CtP trendsetter. The company consumes about 2500 Kodak plates per month. The company also installed a 4-color Komori LS32 in 2010.
Apart from the Komori LS29, the packaging division of Arihant is powered by an automatic diecutter, six semiautomatic diecutters and two folder-gluers. “The forte of our printing, be it packaging printing or commercial printing, is the ability to produce special effects. Be it glitters or foil stamping or the use of special colors, Arihant has the forte,” says Jain. “Our doors are always open to people with a zeal for quality and innovation.”
Speaking about the market in Kolkata, Jain says, “Price cutting is a big challenge here. However, there is a niche market which looks for quality, which is big enough for us
not to fall into the trap of price cutting. This niche segment is growing as well with print buyers gradually getting quality conscious. I hope this holds truth for every place in India. Apart from this, we have customers from various parts of the country who are looking for quality jobs. This keeps us going.”
