At Printpack India 2015, Welbound displayed its range of perfect binding machines, all with different speeds and features. Welbound showcased a single clamp binder, WB Blue, which is ideal for on-demand book printing and commercial printing and capable of binding 300 books an hour. It can also bind books which can be hard cover bound later. We are displaying another single clamp machine with cover feeding facility, said Pallippuram Sajith, director marketing and sales, Welbound.
The company also showcased a 7-clamp binder with Alta Pail melting system and slot die from Nordson, which is again for short to medium run. However, the star of the show was the in-line perfect binding machine with gatherer and perfect binder attached in-line. This is the first time that any Indian company has manufactured a machine like this. We are displaying this machine for the first time in India at Printpack. The machines displayed at the event have the flexibility to use three different glueing systems PUR hot melt, regular EVA hot melt and water-based adhesives, says Sajith.
At Printpack, Welbound along with Henkel showed its visitors how book printers and publishers can bring down production cost, wastage and more while retaining the improved binding quality. We are displaying the partnership strength between Henkel and Welbound in producing the best applicators, machines as well as support for substrates used in these machines, says Sajith.
Speaking about the event, Sajith says, We have around 500 qualified visitors at our stand till now, and this is a good number because book printing is a very exclusive and niche area. We are happy, visitors are showing a good amount of interest in the machines.
Although the book printing industry is growing in India, specially driven by textbooks printing, but still book publishers are facing various challenges mainly because of the change in the distribution models. Earlier the books were distributed through book shops or book sellers which now is taken over by eStores like Flipkart and Amazon, says Sajith. Today the requirements have changed and publishers need to be highly professional to forecast and ensure that the logistics are in place.
We are India-centric, so our strategy is to ride the growth of book production in India,says Sajith. We also know that the market is changing and automated machines, stronger adhesives like PUR are the demand of the market we are working towards that. We want to retain our market share which is about 70% now.
