Gallus sells three presses to Indian players at Labelexpo Europe

The company has cracked three deals with the Indian customers at the show floor. Two Gallus ECS 340 presses have been sold to Super Labels from Mumbai and one EM 280 has been finalized for Raj Press in Bengaluru.  

Talking about the response and footfall at the show, Samir Patkar, managing director, Gallus India, says, ‘We have had a successful show but we expected more customers from India. Fewer footfalls from the country could be attributed to devaluation of the currency and last minute planning due to which the cost of logistics go high. But this gave us a chance to focus on customers who visited us. We met 60 to 70 targeted and serious printers from India.’

Gallus India has sold nine presses since January 2013 and the company is looking at a total of 10 to 11 presses by the end of December 2013. Talking of total Gallus installations in India, Patkar says that there are 72 presses installed in the country of which 58 are EM 280. Of these 58, 26 are installed in the liquor and beverage industry alone. ‘This is our biggest success story in India because in the past, the industry was printing labels on the sheet-fed offset machines,’ points out Patkar.

Patkar feels that the Indian market is ready for the latest technical upgrades and installations. He says, ‘Entrepreneurs are early adopters of technology.’ In the next couple of weeks in October, an eight colour EM 280 will be landing at Best Labels in Chennai. Earlier the printer had a letter press machine so it is big shift for them. ‘It is not about selling a press. It is about selling applications that the printers are looking at,’ says Patkar.

Patkar believes that the success story is complete when there are repeated installations. Super Labels already have four Gallus EM 280 installed in-house and they placed two more orders. ‘It is a technological shift for them to shift to a press that produces lesser waste and is more efficient. So it is not true that Indian players are not ahead in terms of technology,’ says Patkar.  

When asked about any plans to start manufacturing in India, he says, ‘It does not make sense to manufacture in Asia because the costs are not going to come down much. The only thing is the labour cost which is not very low anymore either. We can bring down the cost by say about 20 per cent by manufacturing in Asia but with a, say, “Made in India” tag, the customer decides that the press will be 25 per cent cheaper. However, if the press is made in Switzerland or Germany, it is considered a premium product.’ The brand perception thus came up as a one of the prominent factors. The ability to maintain press quality, skilled manpower, knowhow, and the investments in European plants done by us guarantees good quality. To achieve the same in Asia would need sometime. He adds, ‘It may not be advisable for someone to come to India with manufacturing and crash prices. Long terms sustainability by reducing prices will become serious challenges and will help no one. Organisations like us spend a lot of money on Research and Development for years to bring in innovation.  It is always easy for somebody from Asia to copy the same and offer much cheaper prices. This will not work long term.’

 He concludes as he points out that the printers are driving the chain while the manufacturers are at the end of it. He says, ‘In   a business, one needs to learn to walk away. There is enough business in the market. It’s always easy to drop the price by 5 per cent and get the market share but that will not sustain.’