New pre-press solutions
for printers’ community at large
Creed Engineers has come forward to help printers
making their life easier by offering Vinsak brand CtP plates.
India is a country with over
1,50,000 printers (approx
collected figure) comprising
majorly of tiny and small. With the
introduction of innovative products in
all fields of graphic arts during last
two to three decades, the print quality
of printed products – commercials,
books, packaging, etc – has come
up significantly. The credit towards
this goes ultimately to availability
of equipments and consumables
comprising of high quality printing
machines (sheetfed and webfed),
richly produced printing inks, highly
textured paper manufactured within
India or imported one, and finally
the printing plates (pre-sensitized
and CtP).
All the above mentioned resources
have been made available by multiple
vendors offering indigenously
produced equipments/consumables as
well as imported ones, with a large
range of choice to opt from baring
the last item in the list mentioned
above i.e. printing plate which
comes with very limited options.
The reasons towards this are obvious
as the availability of manufacturing
techniques and processes have been
through handful of manufacturers
all over the world, which can be
counted on fingers.
Though, in the books of economics,
it has always been taught to the
students that the success of limited
number of producers can be assured
for a much longer period, if the
secret of manufacturing processes can
be kept under the cover. With this
philosophy there have been a number
of examples where manufacturers
made their fortunes and created
multi-location empires.
But with the passage of time,
the entries to all such ‘out of
bond’ manufacturing eventually
opened up and new breed of
entrepreneurs surfaced. These new
sets of producers help small time
users a lot because of a close personal
contacts and encouraging adoption
of new technologies without much
hesitation which otherwise have
been a forte for comparatively big
time users.
With the advent of time, similar
case has been with printing plates
(PS and CtP), as has been put forth
by Sankarshanan (Shanan) who is
from Rochester (NY), the capital of
imaging science in the United States,
saying that how can any technology
be limited to few select producers
for all times to come? The concept
of ‘princely’ can not be continued in
today’s continuous R&D efforts, being
implied in many countries involving
scientists of all trade to be able to
produce a variety of products. The
advent of innovative manufacturing
process and growth of entrepreneurship
in other nations of the world has
further spurred a wider spread of
manufacturing capabilities. These
largely help the innumerable small and
mid sized printers that struggle every
day to make their business ends meet.
The benefits of high technology need
to reach the bottom of the pyramid.
And now is the time.
Shanan added further by citing an
example of manufacturing automotive
vehicles, where many models are
offered in the market. Though the
high priced sophisticated vehicles do
always require a nicely carpeted road
to drive smoothly, there are always a
big range of vehicles available which
can be driven rough and tough even
on bumpy roads and still become
affordable to public at large.
Similarly for the printers, small or
large, new suppliers with attractively
priced plates, competent to produce
acceptable results are bound to
be welcomed for sure. Vinsak is
one such brand coming out from
the stable of well reputed trading
organisation – Creed Engineers.
Having established in 1993, they
have been representing many
European and US produced hardware
and consumables for commercial,
security and packaging segments.
According to Shanan, a principal
lead in the building of VINSAK
brand for Creed, “Vinsak plates
are available in innumerable
sizes and thickness required
by print shops. Answering to
the ques t ion of di s t r ibut ion
challenges,” he adds, “Key to
distribution is efficient forecasting
and manufacturing disciplines.
Great thought has been put
in managing such challenges.
Though these challenges differ
within cities – big or small, at
least we feel proud to offer a
healthy and viable alternative to
other branded products, keeping the
customer and the market interest
in mind.”
“We shall in no way treat Indian
printers in such a way that our
terms of dealing become less
friendly apart from not agreeing to
the initiative moved by a leading
plate manufacturer for getting new
duties imposed on imported plates.
It is important to enable every plate
to be compatible with a platesetter.
Limiting such choices really is
determent to the customer. In the
modern economy, the choice has
to be with the customer to decide
– not the vendor. Regular visits/
interaction with actual users i.e.
plate makers with an educational
initiative will be our top agenda.
The testing of our plates with
quality printing set ups all over
India has already been completed
in Q2 of 2011, and actual sales of
plates & chemistry is now in use
in many reputed printing houses
across the nation. Maintaining the
supply chain, reliability, price in
comparison with others in the market
and above all ability to reproduce
fine tone will definitely be our target.
“We may not be big in size but our
intentions are big, to offer the right
solution to the customer,” concluded
Shanan while conversing with
SK Khurana, editor, AAN during
his recent visit to India in
New Delhi.
