Kerala Master Printers Association Organised Roundtable in Kochi

Printers from Kochi, Kollam and Thrissur attended the roundtable organised by PrintWeek India and Kerala Master Printers Association (KMPA) in Kochi.O Venugopal of Anaswara Offset, said, “It is the first time when we (printers) are discussing our pain points in such an organised and closed-door platform.

Since everyone aware is that collective efforts work better as compare to individual efforts.” High raw material cost, availability of skilled labour, cut-throat competition, digital print for low volume, failure of collective effort were raised by the members of the printing fraternity during the roundtable. G Venugopal of Sterling Print House said, “Printers need to improve their communication with the community.

The more conversation goes on between printers and society, the more we can keep taking things forwards,” he spoke out various initiatives which Sterling did that pretty much ensured greater excitement for print applications.S Saji of Sujilee Color Printers, felt this is important, since “A printer is under-estimated. People don’t understand the power of print. Or at least that’s what some would have you believe. They feel buying a BMW is much more important than a Rs 3.5 crore printing press.

The print industry has to communicate that the reality, however, is quite different.” Both he and Venugopal felt we have to show the world how a printer can produce their own books, brochures, bills using the nifty easy-to-use system plus heavy duty presses. Benito Jos of Jaan Offset Printing who has made investments in a Mitsubishi and Bobst said, “Keeping pace with technological innovations is a must for printers. We live in an age where highly automated machines are imperative.

But despite hitting new heights of sophistication, the latest generations of machines are not infallible. We need skilled workers.”S Mahesh of ST Reddiar said, “What makes print exciting is the many meetings over the possibilities on a press, the late nights spent discussing the finer points of colour calibration – or creating a print job which was next to impossible. At ST Reddiar we have managed incredible feat of staying besotted with print despite the stresses of running a business.”The session has moderated by Ramu Ramanathan, editor, PrintWeek India.

One message that came through loud and clear was, the print CEOs are feeling decidedly bullish. The discussion was attended by a group of 20 printers and dealers from the region at the Hotel Grand, Ernakulam. In the past one year, PrintWeek India has organised roundtables in cities like Ahmedabad; Bengaluru (two); Coimbatore; Faridabad; Jaipur; Ludhiana, Pune; etc. There are many more roundtables that have been scheduled.