Prakash Printers and Coaters, initially referred to as Thakur Printers, has been working within the packaging trade since 1975. Thakurdas J Shivlani, based the enterprise by buying and selling labels – buying them in Mumbai and promoting them in Ahmedabad. At this time his son, Prakash Shivlani, serves as director oversees gross sales and advertising, whereas Mayur Shivlani manages fi nance, buying and export gross sales. The converter delivers merchandise to a variety of manufacturers in various segments spanning meals, FMCG, cosmetics and industrial. The corporate is reportedly doubling its capability yearly.
L&L spoke with Mayur Shivlani, who says that when Prakash Printers and Coaters first began manufacturing in-house, it started with display printing in a 300sqft area on the primary ground of the household’s residence.
Over time, the converter upgraded its tools and now boasts seven printing traces – one Etirama put in in 2005, one Multitec Ecoflex 330 mm added in 2007 and 5 Lombardi presses with the primary Synchroline 430 mm press put in in 2017.
With our new line, manufacturing is quicker than ever
The power additionally consists of 4 coating traces for launch and specialty coatings, a hotmelt coating line that operates at 400m/min, and a number of other ending machines together with die-cutters and slitter rewinders.
‘We produce our launch paper and label inventory in-house, supplying solely printed labels as completed items. We deal with including worth to the paper we produce moderately than promoting uncooked supplies. We additionally manufacture metalized switch paper in-house,’ provides Shivlani.
Along with self-adhesive labels, the product line options PVC shrink sleeves, in-mold labels, BOPP wrap-around labels, and versatile laminates. The converter additionally performs a big quantity of confidential job work for fellow printers within the trade.
Prakash Printers and Coaters’ manufacturing facility now spans 550,000sqft, with 100,000sqft at present in use. An extra 60,000sqft is beneath development and anticipated to be accomplished by April 2025, leaving ample area for future growth.
Increasing versatile packaging manufacturing
Over the previous three years, the corporate’s focus has been on versatile packaging, which now accounts for nearly 50 p.c of its enterprise. A good portion of this includes jobs for different converters within the trade, who beforehand relied on typical gravure printing with cylinder-based methods.
‘Since our course of is cylinder-less and makes use of flexo polymer plates – costing lower than 50 p.c of conventional cylinders— fastened prices are vastly lowered. Now we have acquired quite a few inquiries for brief runs, usually with extra SKUs however smaller complete job volumes. When on the lookout for a brand new press, CI flexo was an choice. We selected to not use solvent inks attributable to environmental considerations.
Equally, gravure printing was not thought-about for a similar motive. Now we have all the time been dedicated to avoiding solvent inks to guard each the atmosphere and our employees’ well being,’ Shivlani explains.
The Invicta i2 stood out with its decrease fastened prices for printing plates and cylinders, small footprint, minimal job changeover time, minimal setup waste, pace of as much as 300 m/min, and internet width of 880mm. It additionally affords value-added enhancements resembling chilly foiling and solid and treatment.
‘Moreover, attributable to our requirement for a wider internet width, our choices had been a bit restricted. We thought-about a number of respected names, however having labored with the model on the earlier 4 installations gave Lombardi a transparent edge. They had been all the time an awesome alternative. The brand new press affords double the online dimension and double the pace, successfully quadrupling the manufacturing capability of a single press,’ Shivlani says.
The press funding was finalized in September 2023 at Labelexpo Europe 2023, and the set up was accomplished by June 2024. With the elevated output, the converter anticipates a development of 25 p.c within the first 12 months after set up.
The brand new press affords double the online dimension and double the pace, successfully quadrupling the manufacturing capability of a single press
Suggestions from the converter’s press operators has been excellent. ‘They’ve by no means seen a machine like this earlier than,’ Shivlani remarks.
Prakash Printers and Coaters can now serve its clients with a wider internet width with the brand new press. For instance, in versatile packaging, the converter beforehand might deal with as much as 2kg of versatile packages, it could actually now print as much as 30kg of versatile packaging.
‘With our new line, manufacturing is quicker than ever. We’re excited to attach with new clients who beforehand couldn’t match inside our capabilities attributable to our former printing width restrict of 530mm. Now, we will accommodate as much as 880mm,’ he notes.
This machine has been specifically designed for Prakash Printers and Coaters to fulfill its particular job necessities.
‘The Invicta i2 represents the head of Lombardi Changing Equipment’s dedication to offering cutting-edge versatile packaging options,’ provides Nicola Lombardi, advertising supervisor at Lombardi Changing Equipment. ‘Lombardi Changing Equipment is able to providing options for all ranges of printing wants, from labels to versatile packaging, with print widths starting from 330 to 1100mm.’
In February 2024 the Italian producer established a pace document working the Invicta i2 at 300m/min.
‘The machine achieved the pace effortlessly with good register accuracy, printing seven colours on 12-micron thickness PE materials, working at 300mmin,’ provides Nicola Lombardi. ‘Our journey to develop the Invicta i2 was pushed by our success with the absolutely servo-driven Synchroline mannequin, which has been an excellent platform for the slim internet market. With the Invicta i2, we aimed to create a wholly new platform to handle the precise calls for of the mid-web printing market.
‘In an trade the place some unsupported movie jobs are sometimes run utilizing digital printing expertise, we believed that fashionable flexo printing might be extremely aggressive. The Invicta i2 offers excellent print high quality at decrease prices, making it notably advantageous for longer runs.’
Provides Shivlani, ‘Lombardi has all the time been extremely supportive, and all the Vinsak and Lombardi group has been enthusiastic and devoted to delivering excellence on each venture. A key determine in all our offers has been Ranesh Bajaj from Vinsak. Our development has been supported by Ranesh Bajaj, Mohan Pailwan, vp of Vinsak, and all the Vinsak group. They’ve persistently been our expertise companions in each set up, and we look ahead to many extra profitable collaborations sooner or later. Trying forward, after the i2, the subsequent step will seemingly be round 1,100mm with the newest technological developments.’
He provides that this set up marks the start of a brand new period within the Indian printing and packaging trade, particularly by way of in-line flexo printing. ‘A decade in the past, label presses had been by no means huge internet, and versatile packaging jobs had been primarily printed on gravure machines.’
Massimo Lombardi, normal supervisor of Lombardi Changing Equipment in Italy, says India has all the time been a key market with a particular focus, and Prakash Printers is the corporate’s key buyer, persistently driving innovation.
‘Lombardi’s dedication to growing new expertise is the response to the evolving wants of consumers resembling Prakash Printers.’
Mohan Pailwan, vp of Vinsak India, provides: ‘Prakash Printers maintain a really particular place in our firm’s coronary heart. They frequently problem us with new changing options they require, propelling us to innovate quicker and keep forward of the curve. This drive to search out cost-effective and sustainable options for them is what fuels our partnership.’
The converter has an entire new set of product traces within the pipeline, with discussions underway with main provider teams.
Vinsak Group acquires Rotatek Spain
Vinsak Group has acquired Rotatek Spain, a Europe-based producer of printing internet presses for labels, fl exible packaging, folding cartons, safety printing, business printing and pharmaceutical inserts. The acquisition was accomplished in July 2023. The acquired firm is now referred to as Rotatek Printing & Packaging Applied sciences SL and is run out of Vinsak’s Dubai operation.
The Vinsak Group was related to Rotatek from 1996 to 2013 for India, the Center East and Africa after which once more from 2020 onwards. Vinsak has bought greater than 100 Rotatek presses together with sophisticated configurations.
Ranesh Bajaj, director of Vinsak, says: ‘As an illustration, we bought a machine with 17 models which included offset, flexo, digital, display printing, die-cutting and sheeting models multi functional line to provide high-security merchandise. This press was 120ft lengthy and improved the productiveness by 5 occasions and lowered manufacturing prices of the product by 40 p.c.’
Round 50 of the Rotatek machines bought by Vinsak are nonetheless operational in India.
In 2023, Rotatek was owned by a PE agency from Spain that was capable of run it commercially however not put money into R&D, new software program and manufacturing strategies. In July 2023, the Vinsak Group acquired the manufacturing unit, the patents, technical information and the group of Rotatek.
Bajaj provides: ‘We’re proud that we absorbed all the staff and didn’t make even one individual redundant. We’re delighted that the core technical group of Rotatek is unbroken providing their expertise and technical information to the world.
They’re additionally efficiently supporting greater than 1800 machines all over the world together with some that are as much as 30 years outdated.’
Since then, Vinsak has been working to combine the corporate into the group’s enterprise insurance policies, ethics and ethos.
