Print Summit addresses Indian print market

Ashish Hemrajani, founder and chief operating officer of Bookmyshow.com, highlighted the move towards digital media while stressing the need for print in security applications. He stressed, while citing real life examples, that the ‘delightful’ customer experience is the key to success.

Professor Boman Moradian, proprietor of Telesis Consultancy Services, director at Essel Propack and director at Garware Polyester, emphasised the importance of performance management. In his address, he told printers to do ‘simple things damn well’ such as taking time out to address customer complaints, being focused on timely delivery and manufacturing cycle time while focusing on fundamentals.

Moradian pointed out that a plant must be designed with material flow and plant organization in mind: ‘When placed in the same system, people, however different, tend to produce similar results.’

Jit Khoon, chief executive officer of Winson Press, based out of Singapore, spoke about the tough times the company faced in the past and shared some lessons from the experience thus far. He noted that ‘technology is not a magic pill’, and a company must formulate its strategy first. He said: ‘Srategy is sexy, execution is the king.’

Using a wine bottle as a reference, he pointed out that bottlenecks are usually at the top – and so the desired change must begin at the top management. He emphasised that people are key to success, so organizations must invest in training and educating the workforce while being transparent with them.

The panel discussion on how the Indian print industry measures success – top line or bottom line –saw Narendra Paruchuri of Pragati Offset point out that an organization must be efficient and continuously improve for profitability. He said that top line and bottom line are secondary concerns. C J Jassawala, chief operating officer of Thomson Press, said that an organization must not use the past to make decisions for the future.

‘The key is to strike the right balance to include cost rationalisation without compromising with quality,’ Jassawala said.

Other panelists included Dharti Desai of MOS and Nilesh Parwani of Vistaprint. Avijit Mukherjee, chief operating officer of Ricoh India, highlighted the evolving digital print makret in India.

The one day seminar was concluded by a session by Ajay Mehta of SMI Coated Papers, who pointed out that the packaging industry has grown by around 15 percent year-on-year. The low per capita consumption of pressure-sensitive labels in India – equating to 25 million sq m a month - is bound to grow once the retail market opens up. Growing at 15 percent, Mehta forecasted that consumption will rise to about 115 million sq m in the next 15 years. This growth would require 513 machines in 15 years which translates to about 34 new presses a year.

‘There are opportunities galore,’ Mehta concluded. ‘We have to decide where we want to take our company and how we want to lead our future.’