Enabled by their latest Etirama Press, V.Rajapandian is confident of creating newer markets for their Labels and delivering his customers faster turnarounds at very competitive price.
Sree Labeltech, Coimbatore was founded by Mr. V.Rajapandian along with his wife as business partner in the year 1990. The company founded about a quarter of a century ago, for a couple of years, kept marketing Barcode Labels. “We were outsourcing printing of these Labels and then supplying them to our customers in Chennai, Bangalore and a few other nearby districts in Tamil Nadu,” says V.Rajapandian. They would also sell some labeling equipments bought from various sellers in North. “Since supplies from these sources were very erratic we found it very difficult to meet our customers’ demands and so in 1996 we decided to print these Labels ourselves,” says Rajapandian. This was their initiation into Label Printing. It started with a Chinese 5-colour Label Printing machine and printing Barcode and Garment Labels. After around four years, they added another Label Printing machine, a Taiwanese make, which was a high speed machine with inline die-cutting, lamination and hot stamping capabilities. With further addition of machines and expansion business, the need for own premises became imminent and they moved to their present premises in 2008.
Presently they are having three Flexo Presses including the latest acquisition which is being installed. They have chosen a 6-colour Etirama Superprint Label Press this time. On their recent possession, Rajapandian comments, “As our business grew, we wanted to install a high speed Label Press and we decided on the Etirama for its unique features.” It is a high speed, all UV rotary, 6-colour press which can ensure production of high quality Labels. “There is less wastage of inks resulting in savings on operational costs. The print quality is better than water based presses. In addition, it has two inline die-cutters and web camera for checking proper registration and quality control,” he continues.
The future of Label Printing is UV Rotary technology
The state-of-the-art setup of Sree Labeltech caters to Label demands of the retail segments like departmental stores and shops, the garment industry, packaged food industry including marine food and hosiery units etc. Marketing is done by them directly as well as online. Coimbatore is a fast developing market for Labels. “We see tremendous growth in the retail sector as well as in the garment manufacturing industries in the surrounding areas. There is 15 to 20% annual growth in these industries here. That’s a good market for Labels and promise good opportunity as well,” says Rajapandian.
He is quite upbeat about his latest Etirama press. “It will bring enormous benefits for our customers,” he says. “Being a complete Rotary UV Label Press, there is substantial savings on ink usage. Moreover, higher speed of the machine will result in more production and less lead time – customers will get fast deliveries. For our customers the tangible benefits are high quality auto dispensing labels, lesser rejections and faster delivery at very competitive price,” he explains.
So far Sree had been serving the mid and low-end market. But, with the installation of Etirama, Rajapandian intends to shift his focus on new market segments including high-end customers who look for high quality labels. Every other press he evaluated before installing his Etirama, he found them all a way bit too expensive. “All the presses we considered were very expensive. The Etirama rotary UV press that we have installed will serve all our needs and has been well within our budget,” says Rajapandian.
This is the first 6-colour UV Rotary Label Press installed by Etirama in India. The press has been supplied by M-Tech Print Solutions which is the exclusive Sales & Service Partner of Etirama, UV-Tech and Lemarou for India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. M-Tech is headed by its Director, Mr.Abu. Sree and M-Tech were already having a good relationship. M-Tech recommended Etirama to Sree. The machine was readily accepted as it answered every need of theirs. “We got a good deal. M-Tech Print Solutions is very close to us. When they saw our need for a high speed rotary UV label press, they recommended Etirama to us. We expect an ROI of four to five years, at present level of business. If we can scale up our business, the ROI can be faster too,” thinks Rajapandian.
Equipped with the Etirama Press, Rajapandian is pretty enthusiastic about the future course for Sree. “We expect to double our turnover in the next one year. Once we attain full production capacity, we will definitely look for new technologies available in the market. Only label printers with high volumes can survive and so I feel the future of Label Printing is UV Rotary technology and we are on the right track as of now,” he asserts.
Sree Labeltech is a well-known brand in the market. They were the first to start a Labeling Unit in the region. “We started marketing of labels in Coimbatore and surrounding regions. Over the years we have many loyal customers on our roll. We are confident of creating newer and newer markets for our Labels in the days to come,” concludes Rajapandian.
