T Print gets eighth Mark Andy press

Explaining the move, T Print owner, Subramaniam Eassuwaren said: ‘The yield in the tea industry is low and margins are thin so we feel the need to diversify to printing pressure-sensitive labels for lubricants, cosmetics, FMCG and garment industries. We are looking at adding UV lamps for the first time to a flexography press for printing pressure-sensitive labels. This will also help us reduce imports from Southeast Asia and other international markets.’

T Print already houses six Mark Andy 2200 presses with water-based inks for making tea tags and pouches as well as a Rotoflex VLI 330 slitting machine. All Mark Andy presses run at an average speed of 95 to 100m/min and print about a total of 453,000 sqm a day.

The company has also installed a refurbished 13in-wide, 6-color press from the Middle East. It is a water-based machine built with high precision helical gears and features die-cutting, turnbar, electronically controlled web guiding system and LED strobe lights.

With new machines and increasing infrastructure, the company will shift its current operations to a bigger and more futuristic facility in the Industrial Zone in Colombo in the next two to three months.

T Print started operations in 1992 with two 7in wide 6-color refurbished Mark Andy 2200 presses and got its first new 13in wide 8-color Mark Andy 2200 press in March 2005. The company also houses 65 tea bagging machines, mostly customized, that run for 24 hours, seven days a week, and each produces 450 bags per minute. The newer machines in this ancillary of equipment are stapler-free machines as required by today's customer requirements. T-print exports packed tea to more than 75 countries.