Sterling Print House Bets on its Trust on Mitsubishi

//Sterling Print House Bets on its Trust on Mitsubishi
Printing press in Kerala

Print Miracle-The Official Journal of Kerala Master Printers’ Association, Vol. xix no.4 July-August 2015
RNI REG.NO. 65957/96

Venugopal (c): “We are expecting that our ROI will be completed in three years.”
Venugopal (c): “We are expecting that our ROI will be completed in three years.”

Cochin, Kerala-based Sterling Print House recently invested in a Ryobi MHI Graphic Technology (RMGT) 924, a four-colour printing press was installed at the end of August 2015. On cards are other investment plans, which the commercial printing firm, established in 1984, will decide postDrupa 2016.

Meanwhile, G Venugopal, executive director, Sterling Print House, offered three reasons for betting on Ryobi. First, Venugopal said, the company was confident of Ryobi and its association with Mitsubishi. “We are extremely satisfied with our Mitsubishi Diamond 2000. Integration of Mitsubishi technology in Ryobi MHI 924 press makes this press more versatile and operator-friendly,” he said.

The second reason he cited was the service support by Provin Technos, the Indian representatives of Ryobi MHI. “Whenever we have a problem in our Mitsubishi press, the Provin team is always behind us,” he adds. “I don’t remember that since its installation, the machine is not in operation due to service or spare support.”

The third reason Venugopal said was that the machine itself, Ryobi MHI 920, is versatile one with all the automation required. “One USP of this press is that it consumes less power compared to similar sized machine from other manufacturers,” he said.

The print firm already has a Heidelberg, a Mitsubishi and a Solana in its stable. “The Ryobi MHI 920 will replace our old Heidelberg. We have done our homework on technical fronts before taking the decision to go for the new machine. We compared A37 with the 920 and found that the 920 is superior in terms of its features. In my view, Ryobi MHI 924 is a value for money press,” Venugopal, who has a degree in industrial engineering, said.

The Ryobi 924-Type ‘A’ A1 multi-colour offset press comes with all the automation like SAPC, programme inking with smart print and AI function, paper and impress preset and many more. “We can print all types of jobs on our new Ryobi MHI 924 A press, including bookwork, brochures, posters coffee-table book and board. Our new press is capable of handling subtracts from 40 to 450gsm,” he said.

Venugopal said the company had earlier the double crown Mitsubishi press, and double demy printing was outsourced. “Now, we can do all the jobs in-house, with better quality control. Definitely, now, with two different sizes of presses, we can deliver jobs much faster without compromising on quality,” he said.

The company has three persons in managerial positions and three technical staffs. Following the new investment, the company is expecting to grow at the rate of 35%. “As I said earlier, this is a value for money press. We are expecting that our ROI will be completed in three years,” Venugopal added.

He said, as a business philosophy, Sterling Print House always believed that today’s correct step is the plinth for the future. “Our first new press investment in Mitsubishi D 2000 in 2010 was our first right step. Then we invested in a web press in 2014 and this year, we invested in the Ryobi press, from which we are getting good responses. Our cliental is increasing. The next step would be a systematic investment in post-press, which is a bottleneck for us,” he explained.

In all, the company has three four-colour and two single-colour presses housed in a 15,000 sq/ft shop floor, with around 100 workers. The company has acquired the ISO 9001-2008 certification. In all, the company has four sheetfed offset printing machines, one web offset printing machine, three cutting machines, two lamination machines, binding machine, punching machine, creasing machine and so on.