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The
first attempt at CtP was taken boldly by Deccan Herald and Malayala
Manorama in the Newspaper segment and their partial success - made
all the others to wait and watch. Then in 2001 Print Pack - Mr.
Venu of Vamsi offset - Hyderabad, suddenly decided to go for CtP
instead of an Imagesetter and in a true sense that was the first
commercial sale in India.
Since then, doubts on CtP have vanished, the technology has matured
and the printers have got ready to embrace the new digital way of
working. From my regular interactions with all leading and medium
size printers - almost all of them are clear that they will be investing
in CtP in the next one or two years. There are around 30 installations
in India today in the commercial segment and around 15 in the Newspaper
segment are in the process of being installed. The installation
of CtP in the commercial segment is likely to touch 100 in the next
two years.
The CtP revolution in the next two years is likely to be a huge
increase in install base of CtPs with printers and some repro houses.
I would like to divide the commercial print segment in two groups.
One group is presses that have an in-house Imagesetter and have
a decent experience in prepress. And other group is presses that
have relied primarily on repro houses for the film making and in
some cases; even the plate making is outsourced.
For the first group - the transition is likely to be comparatively
easy as they already understand pre-press and all they have to do
is invest into digital workflow and CtP. On the other hand - the
ROI for this group of printers is comparatively weaker than the
second group as they have already invested in an Imagesetter and
a film processor and they buy film rolls rather than ready to print
positives. They don't pay commercial rates for film positives.
The second group of printers does not have the in-house Imagesetter
and prepress department and lesser knowledge of digital workflows.
For them the transition and learning curve is comparatively longer.
But against the first group of printers - the ROI for this group
is very positive as they currently pay commercial rates for films
which range from Rs 2.25 per sq. inch to Rs 3 per sq. inch. They
have a much shorter pay-back period compared to the first group.
Most of the second group of printers - who have avoided the prepress
in the past and left it to the repro houses, have realized that
eventually they will have to add prepress and CtP in-house. It would
be advisable that they start taking more and more complete jobs
from their clients and outsource the job to a repro house until
they are fully equipped with a complete pre-press facility in-house.
This way they will understand the various issues involved in scanning,
pagemaking, designing, proofing, outputting etc. In the process,
it will also help them to build their clientele who is habitual
to giving a complete job to the printer.
Insight Communications - has worked out a complete package for the
second group of printers to migrate them to a 100% digital workflow
with CtP. We take care of the entire project and provide consultancy
on all aspects starting from Scanning, proofing, page designing,
pagemaking, workflow and CtP including man power planning and training
of the sales force thus making the transition as smooth as possible.
We have till date executed 5 such successful projects. This includes
CtP installations at Sudarshan Offset in Chennai, Rajkalp in Ahmedabad,
Aegean Offset and Rakesh Press in Delhi and more recently at Swapna
Printing works in Kolkata. We also have a successful install base
with the first group of Printers who already have a prepress setup.
IPP, Pragati Offset, Lovely Offset, Rajhans, J.B Khanna - fall under
the first group category.
This DRUPA may be the final DRUPA before most of the high and mid
end printers will get a chance to see the various CtP offerings
and decide. By next DRUPA - CtP will have become a common commodity.
The next challenge for Printers after CtP will be to do the finest
10 micron FM jobs on their presses, eliminating the use of spot
colors in packaging, Networked Graphics Production and ERP solutions
for the entire Press linked to Pre-Press, Press and Post-Press.
Other
Articles:
Delhi
Printers Association - in retrospect
Stora Enso
- looking to the future
Book Publishing
in India Today
Digital
- The New Business of Printing
A Strong
Friendship - A Promising Future
CtP Revolution
in India
Book Binding
Techniques
Delhi
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