Vinsak to strengthen ‘Made in India’ brand

Vinsak has been a distributor of the European manufacturer for the last 18 years in India. ‘We are manufacturing equipment such as slitter rewinders, that have a larger domestic market, and will soon expand our portfolio with the launch of up to five new products this year under the same agreement. The products, too expensive to manufacture in the UK, will be manufactured in India,’ says Ranesh Bajaj, director at Creed Engineers.

Among the five products will be a digital core cutter and digital slitter for short runs. The production shall continue at the new multi-level plant spread across an area of 10,000 sq ft to which the company will soon add another 10,000 sq ft of built up space.

The Vinsak LSR 330 slitter rewinder, from the stable of the European manufacturer, is already being manufactured in the Mumbai facility of Vinsak. ‘We have got repeat orders of this equipment and are hoping to sell 25 to 30 machines in the current fiscal year,’ says Bajaj.

The plant started six months ago and the company has delivered five machines – all exported to Africa. Another LSR 330 is expected to be installed in Mumbai soon. Bajaj says that the company got all its leads in Africa from the last Labelexpo Europe held in September 2013.

With a maximum speed of 300m/min, this equipment comes with optional attachments such as missing label detection, 100 percent web inspection camera system and rotary die-cutting stations, amongst others. The design of this label printing and inspection rewinder includes a quick make-ready rotary-scissor slitting unit with knife separation and lateral adjustment. A color touch screen HMI operator interface enables quick job setups, control of various counting facilities, automatic web advance, taper tension control and end of roll features.

The price of the equipment ranges between 25,000 USD and 45,000 USD. Though various components of the machine are imported, the company has succeeded in reducing overheads by getting competitive labor at a more reasonable cost and focussing on volume production.

Vinsak has also delivered two LVPI 250 presses to India, and is shipping a couple more in the next two months. Priced at approximately 150,000 USD, it is a dedicated press for printing personalized security labels with variable data printing, inspection systems and slitting.

‘This product is also made in India and has a global market. We are confident of generating good sales across Europe and other developed markets,’ says Bajaj. The components of this press are also imported, but the final assembling and testing are done in India.

Vinsak, with its experienced partner, did market research, collected data, and held discussions with its customers before launching the product in the market.

The company is betting big on the rising counterfeit market by providing systems to combat fake products and generates 30 percent of its turnover from this division. Vinsak’s equipment is mostly used for security printing applications and enables the addition of special features, such as embedding hidden images within the design, without spoiling the aesthetics of the label. Vinsak also has a tie-up with a French company Petrel from whom the company can import 3,600 varieties of inks to combat counterfeit products.

‘Label printers need to make initial investments,’ says Barak, ‘but eventually they will add value to the brands and get a better ROI on the end product. It is, however, important to understand customer needs, identify the problem and give a relevant solution. We can make it difficult for the counterfeiter by offering something new and easily verifiable each time.’

Currently, labels with various security features are mostly used in the automobile, cosmetics and banking industries. They are also widely used for events catering to huge crowds. 

The company has also made significant investment in a semi-rotary and rotary intermittent offset shaftless press, the Vinsak LIO 350. It is an in-line combination machine with an integrated control system. Various attachments such as offset, flexography, screen printing, hot-foil stamping, and cold-foil stamping amongst others can be combined on the five-color press. Substrates in varying thickness from 60gsm to 350gsm can be printed on it.

The Vinsak LIO 350 is not only designed in Europe, but also various parts are imported from there. However, the machine is manufactured by a contractor in China. The first LIO was recently sold in Middle East. A color press is also being planned in the near future.

The company has sold a total of 12 VIS inkjet systems globally in 2013-14.

At Labelexpo India, taking place on October 29 – November 1 in New Delhi, Vinsak plans to showcase AB Graphics’ Digicon Series 2 digital convertor, plus the second version of LSR 330 and LVPI presses.

Talking of post-sales service, Bajaj states that it is challenging to cater to customers in various regions due to different customary formalities and legal aspects. Thus, Vinsak has offices in Sri Lanka, Middle East, and East Africa for serving its customers.

Bajaj has been restructuring and reorganizing the company for the last two years and he concludes: ‘It has started to pay off now. We have decided not to become distributors of any other company.’