HP and Technova association for Indigo presses is now about a year old. In Conversation with Amit Khurana COO and Deepak Chawla, GM, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Technova Imaging Systems Pvt. Ltd. they shared their views on the road map for reaching out to the larger segment of the print industry through the vast network and connect of Technova with printers in the country.
Veerendra Malik, Digital Impressions (VM):The printing industry has seen an increasing demand for digital printing during Covid times, due to growing demand for shorter print runs. How do you see the market responding to your push for HP Indigo presses to a larger segment of converters who can’t afford such heavy investment?
Amit Khurana (AK): Consumer behaviour is changing. One thing that has changed post Covid that start-ups never got a connect with the market. With these digital market places coming in, today’s start-ups have got the access. Problem with those start-ups is that they don’t have the money to advertise but they still want to stand out when they are on the shelf. That becomes very important because they need a packaging to be seen next to a larger brand at a minimum cost and inventory and this is where digital will continue to grow.
Whether people can afford it, this has become a necessity now, a complimenting solution. If I have a conventional setup, I need this as well because the markets are changing so rapidly. I either cater to 70 percent of my customers or 100 percent. If I lose 30 percent of my customers by not fulfilling their demands some of the other 70 percent will also go to other convertors. There is enough awareness about digital and it is no longer like ten years back story. People have started to sell that value to the market.
Deepak Chawla (DC): : In terms of affordability it depends on the value it gives in return. Our job is to sow that value. Secondly, it is about enabling people to get that quality without paying that price of owning the machine. You will recall that earlier Technova started its Imaging Centres for NovaDom polyester plates. It was exactly the same model. We wanted people to experience the polyester plates because every small printer could not afford an imaging device. We saw that model to be very effective, works very well. As long as you are able to connect these users who do not have the where-with-all of owning a machine, they can be connected to actual owners with a win-win situation..
VM: In 1995 Pranav bhai ventured into digital arena with Benny Landa’s Indigo. It was dropped soon after. Twenty years later you entered into an arrangement with Konica Minolta and it has been a constant upward trend expanding into digital. Now that you have taken a major step with HP Indigo presses in the labels segment and as Pranav bhai mentioned once “Focus on the Present, Anticipate the Future” – how do you see Technova further expanding into digital?
AK: “Pranav bhai started the journey in 1971. In 1995 we started with Indigo, a little ahead of time. One, the markets were not ready, secondly, the technology was not ready but it was a good experience. I remember doing Digital Yatras what we are doing today. It was Pranav bhai’s vision twenty years back to get digital in India. It is very exciting now partnering with HP and to be a part of their journey in India.
For us markets are changing in a big way, being an offset player with the conventional industry growing leaps and bounds in the last four decades. As the markets are changing, we need to also evolve ourselves. We already have about 70,000 customers in India in various segments of the market. Today if we are not able to meet their future needs while our offset, flexo and conventional products continue to service their requirements, it is more important to be a part of their future journey. This is where we see digital to be a good complimenting solution to conventional. Nobody is saying conventional will not exist, it has its advantages. It has its economics of scale in a large country with 140 crore people. Its not going to turn everything to short runs but it is where the market is moving towards that segment and this is where Technova is going to become relevant in both the segments, strengthen the core which is our conventional reserve and innovate the digital
DC: It is also relevant to mention that while we brought the Indigo in 1995, after that what HP has done with that technology is superb and now we also feel very happy and privileged to be a part of this technology journey. Ofcourse we go with the famous words “What can be digital will be digital”.
VM: Your expectations of digital printing, any challenges 2023 onwards from the marketing point of view from Technova?
AK: :Markets are changing very quickly. Mass customisation, personalisation, variable data printing, they continue to drive the demand for digital. Some trends are growing fast and some require work to be done in making convertors and printers aware of the benefits of the technology. Still there are segments where cost is very vital. Having Technova’s presence in every part of the print community, with HP we see a great journey in the next five years. Our job will be that with HP we make each printer aware of this technology. There are a lot of things changing globally. I think sustainability will be one key driver in moving customers from conventional to digital as a complimenting solution. There are a lot of positive drivers in the market and there will be challenges but as more and more customers start to adopt digital technology the whole trajectory will become steeper and faster. Look at some of the segments where they have adopted digital very well.
. |
