Rishab Kohli, MD, The Printer House shares the drupa plans, product showcase, technological innovations and more highlights by one of the largest Indian exhibitors at drupa 2024.
Participating at drupa 2024, The Printer House (TPH) would highlight its range of latest machines and equipment to the international audience of world’s largest exhibition. Rishab Kohli, Director, The Printer House, briefing about their drupa showcase, says, “With one of the largest stalls of any Indian manufacturer, we at Orient are excited to pioneer the next generation of printing and packaging technologies. This year, Orient is proud to exhibit and run India’s first fully domestically manufactured 7-colour inkjet printing machine and high-speed automatic folder gluer. Besides, we will be showcasing our high-speed flexographic printing machine and printing & packaging consumables at drupa 2024.”
The Year was 1946 when K.D. Kohli, a freedom fighter and newspaperman, started The Printers House (TPH) Orient group. Since then, TPH has carved a formidable reputation as a quality conscious technology driven manufacturer of a number of products. It is a diversified group of companies that is among the leaders in the industry manufacturing and supplying a host of engineered products from India. TPH is a renowned and trusted name globally when it comes to quality manufacturing. The global standard TPH products are exported to more than 60 countries worldwide.
“All our products are produced at factories in a 20-acre campus in Delhi NCR. TPH takes pride in being a company of Indian origin, started by an enterprising freedom fighter turned Newspaperman. The TPH Orient group is now a diversified group of companies and a market leader in printing machinery, packaging machinery, printing consumables, engineering services for Defence and aerospace, solar energy, and inverters and batteries,” continues Rishab, who heads the TPH’s leadership team.
A rich history of drupa participation; three machines to run live at the show
Across all industries TPH represents, it participates in numerous exhibitions worldwide. This financial year alone it will be part of more than 15 international expo’s as a group. “Though due to various reasons, drupa couldn’t happen for almost 8 years, it is the mecca for printing and packaging technology and is one of the most important expo’s for us. Additionally, due to the scale and historic importance of this expo our team values this exhibition with just that little bit more of reverence excitement,” excitedly admits Rishab.
The Printers house, better known by its brand “Orient” has a rich history of attending drupa as a pioneer in manufacturing high speed printing machinery, shares Rishab. “A legacy of elegant engineering and the finest quality of products emanating from our vast manufacturing campus in India, is reflected in Orient’s proud participation as one of the largest exhibitors at drupa from India since 1960’s till today. We have always believed in pioneering new technologies and innovating time and time again without fail. On our road to 2024 we have seen multiple technologies and various innovations unveiled at drupa. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that 2024 is Orient’s most ambitious and technologically advanced showing at drupa in its history. Our theme for this year’s drupa is – ROI focused innovation and providing cutting edge solutions to the global market as a reputed and trusted manufacturer,” he says.
Orient stall will be in Hall 16 Stand A-11. “With one of the largest Indian stalls anywhere at drupa along with the fact that we will be displaying and running three new machines along with showing Orient’s trusted range of manufactured consumables. We are truly going all out for this exhibition!” declares Rishab. Orient is displaying and running 3 machines with the different technologies and showing an array of printing consumables. These machines include the first ever fully indigenously made 7-8 colour inkjet printing press – the first fully made-in-India, high-speed, automatic folder gluer, and the in-line flexographic printing press. “With this, Orient once again continues its hallowed legacy of bringing innovative engineered products from India to the world stage,” announces Rishab.
TPH Orient will present to drupa 2024 audience a range of products for different applications – each product serving a separate crucial customer need. One of the key highlights will be the new high speed inkjet press, which is garnering tremendous attention in the market. “The latest attention grabbing inkjet is part of our Orient Jet Division which is headed by Mr. Suprakash Mitra. Our inkjet press is a market leading printing solution providing to customers absolutely attractive and better capex and opex than other available presses in the segment today. Additionally, after years of R&D this product is gaining a huge amount of traction. Any customer printing for publishing, security, commercial, labels, and packaging can find our inkjet press as a true game changer for their production floors,” explains Rishab.
Expectations for an excited Rishab Kohli at drupa 2024 are high. “We are thrilled that Drupa is taking place after almost 8 years. We expect the footfall this time will be excessive. We are encouraged speaking with our clients around the world and in India and are expecting a large turnout. Being that we are showing a number of new technologies and machines we would be excited to welcome clients and cater to their needs at our booth. Our entire team will be present for any sales or pre sale discussions. For visitors looking to book machines we will be giving very special offers on all our products in Drupa,” says Rishab.
“As a company we firmly believe that innovation and bringing better technologies for our clients are the key things. Our high speed folder gluer, flexo presses, inkjet machines, and consumables will be key in shaping the printing and packaging industries in the future. Technologies that we believe will shape the future include our innovative sleeve technology in flexo presses. Additionally, inkjet machinery capable of producing market leading cost per prints on a number of different run sizes will be key for the future of printing. Also, folder gluers capable of crossing the 500 m/min mark are crucial for the growth of packaging,” underlines Rishab.
Post Covid boost in shorter runs, customized packaging
There have been both negative and positive changes post covid period for the industry. “The negative effects of covid are well known and of course for that period of time economic growth had slowed and many companies had to pivot and restructure,” says Rishab, adding, “for us, however, it was a time to reflect and really analyse and predict where the free market would move in the future. Post covid we saw a boost in shorter runs, customised packaging, and an increased demand from our clients for machines with better ROI’s. With any economic dip there definitely comes a resurgence and the Indian economy especially has shown tremendous resilience. With the sensex and high economic growth numbers in India we are very optimistic about the future of not only our business in the printing and packaging fields but all our verticals.”
‘make in India’ – Brand India to make a mark at drupa 2024
“Our presence and investment in Drupa has frankly been unprecedented in the Indian printing and packaging machine industry,” states Rishab. “We hope to leave a very serious mark at the show and most importantly pioneer Indian made equipment around the globe. As a company we have historically been able to use ‘make in India’ to democratize offset presses for the world. We now wish to do the same for folder gluers, flexo presses, inkjet presses, and printing consumables,” he reveals.
Digital printing changing the printing scenario – key technologies to look forward to
Digital printing is key for the printing and packaging industries moving forward. The pace at which the uptake of this type of machinery is moving is tremendous and very encouraging for manufacturers like Orient TPH. “In digital printing we look forward to showing our dynamic RIP technology which is one of the best RIPPING software available anywhere in the world along with our fabulous in delivery systems and head technology,” says Rishab. One type of technology that TPH Orient doesn’t make but Rishab believes would be interesting is the new head technology. “A large amount of investment is going into head technology at the moment and things are changing and growing in that department at a rapid pace. We manufacturers must incorporate these rapid advancements in our supply chain to give the best results to clients,” he recommends.
The changing needs of sustainable solutions in the industry
Sustainability in the coming years, believes Rishab, is crucial for our industry. “Being a leading manufacturer in the renewable energy field we as a group know all too well and truly value the need for sustainability in our society today. Sustainability must become a habit and an ongoing process for it to work. Things such as the use of more sustainable ink, better substrates that can be used for recycling , and a better price for these sustainable consumables must be given to the client. In order for sustainability to work it must be economically advantageous too,” he observes.
Rishab, specifying the key targets for the drupa show, says that they would be to display new technologies and innovations whilst shaping the next era of the printing and packaging industry – not only in India but around the world. “After Drupa we hope to meet with multiple clients, agents etc around the world and promote our products across the globe. We will also be doing roadshows and looking at multiple collaborations on the marketing and technical side,” he says.
Talking about the impact of drupa 2024, he foresees, “Drupa has immense historical significance and is the biggest printing and packaging show in the history of our industry. We simply expect demand to rise post drupa and we hope to bring in more collaboration and network building outside of India.”