COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Harshit Varshney , owner of Lovely Offset printer Aligarh . Photo IPP
and daily monitoring of temperature are being taken .
Indian Printer and Publisher – What types of consumables do you use ?
Harshit Varshney – We purchase local offset plates . For packaging , we use some whiteboard and primarily greyboard . Board comes from mills such as Century , Emami , Khanna , Pahal , Cheema , and Dev . For cartons , we use Shalimar glue .
Indian Printer and Publisher – Today , we see different types of packaging in the market . Which kind of packaging are you doing ?
Packaging for Hunk Interlocks . Photo IPP
Harshit Varshney – As a packaging printer and converter , we produce as per the demand by the customer , but there is a trend in the market of window patched cartons and we do these with 10-micron film . Our focus is to make cartons with windows and we are also planning to be more environmentally friendly .
Indian Printer and Publisher – Who are your targeted customers ?
Harshit Varshney – As we know , Aligarh is famous for locks , so we are also doing lock packaging – Mortice lockset , padlocks , interlocks , multilock , and many other packs for the lock industry .
Indian Printer and Publisher - In this segment , is there a price war ? How do you compete for your price from competitors ?
Harshit Varshney – Price war is there in all the segments , not only in printing . Every customer wants the product cheap and best . However , to compete , you don ’ t have to compromise with the quality . Even though your price is high , the customer will continue to buy your product .
Indian Printer and Publisher – Our observation is that technology is changing in the market . What are your future goals ?
Harshit Varshney – As we are now in a condition to take our business to the next level , we plan to purchase Heidelberg presses in January or February 2022 . We now have to move from being a small-size commercial printer to a mid-size commercial printer . “ Technological change is mandatory in the business . Without technological advancement , the business will not grow , and one day your well-established business will be on its knees .” n
Costs are increasing and supply is tightening
Flint Group Packaging Inks announces price increase in India – South Africa
The industry is facing an extraordinarily turbulent set of supply chain conditions , intensified by the global pandemic . Costs are increasing and supply is tightening across almost all procurement categories . Three of the most volatile areas include - multiple petrochemical derivatives , such as resins & solvents , pigments , and freight .
Upal Roy , managing director , Flint Group India and South Africa , notes , “ The current and unusual set of supply chain conditions are some of the most severe that we have witnessed . Our industry is facing substantial cost and availability headwinds , across multiple raw
material categories . Resins , solvents and pigments ( including Titanium Dioxide ), are particularly problematic , as well as freight and packaging costs ”.
Flint Group collaboration with global supply chain
Flint Group India and South Africa continue to collaborate with its global supply chain partners to mitigate as many negative effects as possible . However , recent force majeure announcements and the global freight imbalance is impeding some corrective actions and the current situation is not sustainable in the long term .
Roy concludes , “ Despite today ’ s announcement , we are resolutely committed to efficiency projects to negate the adverse supply chain circumstances , wherever feasible . Nonetheless , the magnitude of these increases makes it clear that these activities alone will not suffice .” n
Indian Printer & Publisher | 1 November 2021
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