When Pravin Savla retired from the printing business in 2011 after successfully running his firm, JP Printers, for more than 30 years, he wanted to spend the rest of his time with his family and travel. Savla had operated JP Printers from two galas in central Mumbai’s Byculla area doing traditional commercial offset printing work. With competition in the printing industry increasing in the 2000s, workers were being poached by rival printers. Facing constant labour issues he finally decided to quit the printing business. This caused constant disruption in work. “The desire to have leisure time after decades of work was an important trigger for my decision to retire but constant labour problems hastened the move,” he says.
However, within months of retirement, he longed to get back to work as he was unable to just leisurely sit at home. Finally, after much deliberation he came out of retirement in 2014 but in a different avatar. He decided to establish a much smaller set-up and entered the short-run digital label printing segment.
From offset to digital label printing
Savla felt that the market for short-run label printing was expanding rapidly with attractive growth rate and in early 2014, he began looking for a digital labelling printing press. There were a few options but the Epson Surepress L-4033AWwaswhatfitthe bill. “There were other brands in the market as well but they were very expensive and I did not want to invest a big amount. I wanted a small set. The Surepress was what I needed,”Savla says.
After a live demo at Arrow Digital in Ahmedabad, the press was finally installedat JP Printers’ By cullaunit in January this year. The label printing set up uses only one gala while Savla has rented out his second gala. “By getting into digital label printing I have saved on labour, space and power. I employed 16 people for my offset printing business; now only five people take care of the label printing operations. In my second innings as a printer I did not want to tackle similar labour issues that I faced before,” Savla argues.
Currently, JP Printers is consuming about 25,000 metres of labelstock each month and supplying labels to the food, perfume, sweets and garment business segments. A part from the Espon Surepress, the compact unit also houses considerable finishing and converting equipment including offline punching, lamination and foiling machines. There is a slitting machine, a plotter and a pouch making machine as well.
No further investments
Not facing any major issues since installation, Savla is happy with the Epson Sure press digital label printing machine. Print quality is excellent, it’s easy to operate and Epson’s after-sales service is satisfactory, he says. However, he does not plan to add any more equipment or make further investments. “I am happy and satisfied with my current operations. I do a daily business of about 30,000 rupees which is good enough for me at this age. I will continue with this happily,” Savla concludes.
