Pankaj Kalra,
Xerox India
There has been a slowdown in the early part of 2011 in India. How do you rate your performance?
Xerox is one of the leading players in the digital printing segment in India and is constantly looking for opportunities to enable print providers drive new revenue streams. We at Xerox India do not see any slowing down of the business in the graphic communications domain and our performance is actually on a growth curve!
Most firms have become pan-Indian and have an out-reach across the length and breadth of India. What have you gained from your customers during your travels?
All I can say about Xerox and our customers is that ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!’
We are seeing a lot of action in the b-tier and c-tier cities in India. What are your long term goals for these cities?
Xerox has been a pioneer in bringing innovative technology solutions to the Indian market to accelerate the growth of digital printing industry. Businesses in India including those in tier II and III cities have increased their adoption of digital printing services; while this is dependent on the printing volume and requirement, the trend is picking up well. Xerox is spreading the message to tier II and III cities through a strong base of channel partners, extended team and the interface between offerings and customers.
Your plans for Pamex? What are you showcasing?
As usual, Xerox raises the bar and will be displaying print applications on the largest cut sheet size of 14.33 x 26 inch and a range of wedding photo album applications printed on our fastest selling X1000 press! Xerox will also display the newly launched Xerox DocuColor 8080; Xerox 550, 700, 4112; Xerox wide-format colour plotter 7142; and Xerox 7500 printer.
One final question. Clearly it’s difficult to predict the future, but based on your knowledge, do you think print will be around for another 100 years?
A 100 years is too long a period to predict about anything! But nevertheless, since you have asked, I think our discussion should not be limited to just printing! Print is a medium for communication and here I ask ….will we stop communicating after 100 years? The answer is a clear NO! Will we stop having milk? Will we stop eating biscuits or will we not send or receive physical gifts, clothes and accessories? No! Agree? So there will still be a lot of packaging and hence printing!! And the way a letterpress evolved to a litho and now it’s more about digital and on- demand printing, I am sure there will be some new forms of press which probably none of us can or could imagine!!
P Sajith,
Welbound Worldwide
There has been a slowdown in the early part of 2011 in India. How do you rate your performance?
The growth could have been better. The hardening interest rates are slowing down investments.
Do you see Pamex as being able to provide a boost to your fourth quarter numbers?
Exhibitions like these help in creating some general interest in the industry. These are good opportunities to meet your existing customers and network with other manufacturers.
One exciting space is digital print. Do you agree / disagree? Which other segments are exciting?
Digital print has been growing at an attractive pace in the country and hence it is exciting. However, the same may not be true for digital print finishing. The solutions available either do not deliver the expected results or are too expensive to justify the investments. Book printing is growing at a steady pace of 10%. What makes this an interesting segment is the process of conversions – from sheetfed to web, sheetfed to digital, sewing to perfect binding and so on.
Most firms have become pan-Indian and have an out-reach across the length and breadth of India. What have you gained from your customers during your travels?
India is a huge and diverse country – not just by the area. The requirement of a customer in Kolkata can be different from some one in Kozhikode. They speak different languages; different technical terms; follow different processes and business models – all resulting in the production of a well bound book. So that is the unity in diversity for us. We have 18 branches spread across the country with a team of sales and service personnel who can communicate in 16 languages.
What have you identified as areas of potential growth for the company?
We see a great potential in PUR Perfect binding. The future is "thread-less". Our recent installation of a PUR system at Pragati Offset, Hyderabad has been a highly satisfying experience for us.
One final question. Clearly it’s difficult to predict the future, but based on your knowledge, do you think print will be around for another 100 years?
I will definitely be not there for another 100 years. So will many technologies that are young and trendy today. Books could be replaced by e-books; these may be replaced by some other even faster device. That’s the velocity of evolution of technology.
Vishnu Kamat,
Advanced Graphic Systems
There has been a slowdown in the early part of 2011 in India. How do you rate your performance?
The early part of the year was good. But we have faced a slowdown in the last three months.
Do you see Pamex as being able to provide a boost to your fourth quarter numbers?
We surely hope to reach a larger range of audience who would be interested in our solutions and helps us to close orders before the financial year end. Yes, we do see Pamex as a boost for the fourth quarter.
One exciting space is digital print. Do you agree / disagree? Which other segments are exciting?
Digital is growing for sure. Based on the products that we sell, our main focus has always been the non-digital market like the offset, gravure, flexo etc.
Most firms have become pan-Indian and have an out-reach across the length and breadth of India. What have you gained from your customers during your travels?
Yes, this is a good sign for the industry that is growing and wanting to cater to newer markets and existing customers or newer markets and new customers. This need for growth also helps AGS to grow as wherever these print companies go, AGS will follow as its partner in their colour solutions.
Your plans for Pamex? What are you showcasing?
There are no special plans for Pamex. We will be showcasing colour measurements from X-Rite and InkZone with focus on packaging solutions like EasyTrax, InkZone ink presets and closed loop solution. AGS will also showcase their regular products.
Print has become a part of IT operations – and this will be the next step in the print industry’s evolution. Your views.
Over a period of time it has been seen that the print solutions have become a part of the IT solutions as it involves use of high-end computers and software solutions to run various systems like the CTP, RIP, workflow solutions etc. In spite of the print becoming a part of the IT, it should still involve people with technical competence only then the combination of IT and process know-how can make a system successful.
One final question. Clearly it’s difficult to predict the future, but based on your knowledge, do you think print will be around for another 100 years?
I certainly do believe that print is there to stay. All print forms may be converted to digital, but still one cannot beat the touch and feel effect of print. This touch and feel effect sometimes help companies sell their products.
