Starting with fabrication of wedding albums way back in 1997, Dulari has come a long way to become a one-stop-shop for all requirements of wedding albums as well as commercial printing.

While on its transformation course, Dulari Digital, led by brothers Aman and Rahul, installed its first digital photo printing machine in 2005. Today they have an array of printing machines including Konica Minolta, Indigo, Ricoh, MGI as well as digital finishing equipment in addition to a complete manual setup for Wedding Album fabrication. With a capacity to produce about 400-500 albums per day, Dulari is one of the leaders in Wedding Album market in the region and is a name to reckon with in Punjab. Interestingly, the company has developed a site spread over three acres of sculptured land which is used not only for pre wedding photo shoots but also for music videos’ shooting by artists – a perfect add-on to the wedding album production business. The company does an annual turnover of about 10 crores with units spread over several multi-storied buildings in those typical Ludhiana alleys.

The latest addition at Dulari is the Ricoh Pro C7200X Graphic Arts Edition colour production printer capable of printing up to 85 ppm on substrates up to 360 gsm along with the prowess of duplex printing of banner sheet. Meanwhile, the fifth toner station is the icing on the cake with its fifth colour printing capability imparting an increased range of special colours including white (available in a single pass), clear, invisible red and various neon options. “The increased colour gamut along with the colour consistency of the machine along with the capability to print smooth light grounds will in all probability bring in more business for us and we expect to grow by at least 50% in the next financial year,” beams Rahul Goyal. He also feels strongly about the lethal combination of having the Ricoh printing machine and an MGI for embellishment and inquires, “Could there be anything more one needs for an album?” Obviously, it is a winning combination!

“When we installed the first Konica Minolta machine with our focus on wedding picture alone, we realised that there was a scope in the commercial printing scene and that is when we explored and invested more time and money into this segment of printing,” says Aman Goyal. In 2013, after the installation of a Konica Minolta production machine, the market in Punjab guided them to adopt commercial printing too and today they have apportioned their capacity 60:40 for wedding and commercial printing respectively. “In all probability, we are going to reverse this ratio by December 2022,” Aman adds. With the Konica & Ricoh machine at Dulari, the brothers expect to have an average of about 5 lakh copies of prints each month in 2022.

“Dulari Digital is a one-stop-shop for both wedding albums as well as commercial printing and with the capability of the brand new Ricoh C7200X to printing on substrates of upto 360gsm, they are exploring the possibilities of entering the duplex carton space too,” informs Mr.Surender Singh, RM & photo Segment head from Monotech. “We have stationed an engineer at Ludhiana for the convenience of Dulari,” he adds.

The combination of MGI, Ricoh, Indigo, Konica Minolta machines in Dulari’s arsenal along with IECHO Digital Cutter and an army of manual post press has given them a distinct edge in the market north of Delhi. The white ink printing capabilities will further help them carve their success deeper; they would now be able to tap the market which used to get their jobs done from Delhi. “To be able to print on clear plastic on the Ricoh machine is a distinct advantage and we are sure to tap the label printing market in the area,” adds Aman.

“There is no doubt that the price of the machine did play a part in our decision but I would like to underline the fact that we have been procuring machines from Monotech for the last over a decade. Our trust and faith in them has only grown deeper and firmer – not only in buying a machine but also when it comes to after sales service and support,” states Aman.

“Monotech’s demo center where we tested the products by actually printing jobs on the machine too played a part in our decision making process,” he confirms.

The Wedding Album market in Punjab is indeed competitive as it is in other parts of the country. When it comes to weddings, customers are willing to pay a premium for their choice of products and the products of choice are enabled by various value added embellishments that printers may provide. With the vast capabilities of MGI and the 5th colour of Ricoh, Dulari is well equipped and all set to answer the high-end needs of this market. Entry into commercial printing too would make a difference especially to add to their products’ basket and profitability. Enterprising ventures like the pre-wedding shooting facility will only help Dulari to further strengthen their ties with the industry. The passion to succeed and the vision to make it happen were both evidently visible during our visit to the unit. The support from the Monotech team will only help to make it happen – fast!