A technology behind all that
glitter of leading Hindi dailies:
churned on Prakash Web Offset presses
Newly opened second high-tech web offset press manufacturing plant of Prakash Web Offset in Faridabad is a destination where the search for right machines comes to an end for a number of newspaper printers in India and overseas. All About Newspapers team’s recent visit to this modern plant unearthed some peerless peculiarities of this web offset press manufacturer through a face-to-face conversation with Saurabh Gupta, director, Prakash Web Offset.
Saurabh Gupta
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It has been more than 13 years of Prakash Web Offset manufacturing web presses through which the company has gained an outstanding popularity across India and overseas markets to deliver ideal range of presses for printing newspapers and books. “So far, we have sold around 700 units worldwide and our average annual production is approximately 50-60 units or around four-five towers every month,” revealed Saurabh Gupta, director, Prakash Web Offset. He mentioned that the company’s export business has grown manifold over the last few years.
Clients all around
Around 40 percent of Prakash Web Offset’s overall production constitutes exports to the countries like US, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Bangladesh and others. “We are now very aggressively accessing some new overseas markets with our distinguished presence and good references, hoping that we will be able to capture some more countries soon,” said Saurabh adding that their web offset presses attract the overseas customers for a reason as these machines are designed keeping in mind the individual requirements using robust components.
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Coming in the top-list of those leading clients of Prakash Web Offset would include some of the country’s largely circulated Hindi dailies like Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Rajasthan Patrika, Nai Dunia, Navabharat, to mention a few. “Prakash Speedster, which ranks the top speed press in our portfolio, is the one most of the leading Hindi dailies (our clients) have adopted,” asserted Saurabh. Prakash Speedster runs at the maximum speed of 36,000 copies per hour. Others notable in the machine portfolio can also be mentioned as Prakash Superb that churns 30,000 copies per hour and Prakash 16, which is considered to be an economical option and capable to churn 16,000 copies per hour, indeed an ideal press for moderately circulated newspapers. “Our machines are very cost effective and I can say 18 months period is the ROI for our presses,” mentioned Saurabh.
New plant
Prakash Web Offset’s new manufacturing plant is a complete and integrated facility. “To facilitate free movement of men and materials and also taking care of future expansion, we have planned our facility within the area of two acres,” said Saurabh.
Installed at the new plant is a line of CNC machines to build robust main frames, cylinders, folders, towers, three-colour satellites and most of the components which provide added advantage of reliability, print quality and disturbance-free high speeds. On metallurgical process, Saurabh mentioned that the iron used in the main frames is thoroughly tested for hardness, blackening, temperature and casting for stress relief. “Competency and proficiency of our machines give around 30-40 percent extra production capability when it comes to comparing with others available in the same segment,” he mentioned.
Manpower of 110 well-trained professionals, which comprise machine designers, engineers and others, formed the backbone at Prakash Web Offset. “What we are planning for future is to keep our CNC unit separate and this unit will remain as an exclusive assembling division.” Of course, quality of each component in Prakash web offset presses is widely acclaimed to be the best in superiority and competence. In addition to the company’s robust machine portfolio is the team of qualified engineers who are unusually skillful in terms of the way they line up and install the presses.
Modern trend
“Our recent installation at Nai Dunia is a fully automatic web press featured with pneumatic and motorised controls. Sometimes our customers demand for the most modern dampening systems such as spray bars. We recently installed a six tower lines with spray bars whereas other options such as auto registration, remote inking, auto reel changers are also available,” said Saurabh.
Concerning retrofitting, Saurabh mentioned they keep receiving orders for retrofitting. He added, “Our engineers are excited to go for such challenging technological updates in the current Indian newspaper printing market. The trend of retrofitting is picking up in India as newspaper printers wish to somehow keep their existing machines running for more time and thus getting upgraded.”
Hooking to Prakash Web Offset is as easy as breathing since this web offset press manufacturer has been regular to renowned printing expos like drupa, China Print, Printpack India and others. “We firmly stand for dedicated service and products to our customers anywhere all over the world,” heralded Saurabh.
