New Digipack Solutions installs OKI Pro9542 digital printer and a diecutter

2022-05-28 09:07:36 By : Mr. Spring Shao

Machines supplied by Mumbai-based Hi-Tech Solutions

Pune-based manufacturer of printed poly laminates, New Digipack Solutions, has recently installed an OKI Pro9542 five-color digital printer and an automatic diecutting machine. Both these machines have been supplied by Mumbai-based Hi-Tech Solutions and were commissioned in September. The two-decade-old company is managed by the duo of Kishor Kadam and Pranali Devjilkar. 

Designed for graphic arts and light production use, the Pro9542 delivers CMYK plus high-density white-under single-pass printing on a wide range of light, dark and transparent media. The OKI Pro9542 is ideal for short-run printing packaging, greetings cards, stationery, tags, and labels. It is sheetfed and prints using LED toner-based technology.

The unit supplied to New Digipack Solutions comes with an envelop fuser to print on zip-lock pouches. The automatic diecutting machine supplies is from Hi-Tech’s own stable and is sold under the Hi-Tech brand. 

“The primary reason for buying the OKI Pro9542 is to cater to short-run, light printing jobs. The printer can directly print on ready pouches in low quantity with excellent print quality. With the OKI 9542 digital printer, we can now print on various stock pouches and a variety of sticker print media. We also can supply custom shape labels with diecutter in a short period of time,” Kadam says. 

Kadam says that he has seen a huge rise in volumes of such printing jobs since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out last year. “We believe this trend will continue. We are looking forward to working with start-ups, small scale businesses and helping them grow their brands,” he adds. 

This is the first time New Digipack Solutions has done business with Hi-Tech. Devjilkar says the experience of working with Hi-Tech has been great.

“This is the first time we have bought any equipment from Hi-Tech. The whole experience was very good. And we are extremely satisfied with both the printer and the diecutter,” Devjilkar says.

Hi-Tech Systems was established in 1989, and since 2007 it has emerged as a leading name in the short run, on-demand, and quick print and print finishing solutions business. The company, which represents multiple global brands, operates from Shah and Nahar Industrial Estate in the central Mumbai district of Lower Parel.

New Digipack Solutions prints and converts items like pillow pouches, three-sided sealed pouches, zip-lock pouches, and stand-up pouches, among others. The company supplies to customers in the agro-business, fertilizer, FMCG, and spices, among others.

The company currently has a gravure printing setup with ancillary equipment. It is also planning to expand its flexography unit in the coming years. 

The recent sharp increase in commodity prices has led to a rise in raw material costs in the packaging and printing segments. This has forced New Digipack Solutions to increase the prices of its products.  

“The rise in raw material cost has been very sharp, and we had to go for price hikes. There was no other option. This is happening across the industry,” Kadam says. 

Talking about the recovery in business, he says that volumes have recovered to a large degree, but they are still a bit below the January 2020 levels. He believes it will take another four to six months for the volumes to surpass pre-pandemic levels. 

“We have seen robust recovery since the second wave-related lockdown were relaxed a few months ago. However, it will take some more time to get back to where we were in January last year,” Kadam says.

Talking about further investments, Devjilkar says the company is planning to get a digital foil stamping machine, another OKI 9542 printer, and two more diecutters in the future. 

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.

The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.

Web analytics show that we now have readership in North America and Europe amongst the 90 countries where our five platforms reach. Our traffic which more than doubled in 2020, has at times gone up by another 50% in 2021. And advertising which had fallen to pieces in 2020 and 2021, has started its return since January 2022.

As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.

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