Dubai based Al Ghurair Printing and Distribution have invested in the inkjet printer ComColor 9150 from Riso.
Explaining their reason in backing this printer from Riso, general manager, Lakshmanan Ganapathy said: “When it comes to investment in digital machinery, every printing press has its own requirements and value-adds that tilts the balance in favour of a particular machine. With all the suppliers my chief demand was cost per page should be the value-add factor.”
“Since the last one year, we were in search of a machine that can print on NCR paper, since we had a huge requirement of printing on this paper. We looked at different machines available in the market but they were not suitable since toner based technology has to fuse which requires high temperature and this paper is very thin. There are some laser compatible NCR papers, but they are very thick and when one requires a set of 4-5 papers, only the thin version is suitable. We carried the papers to various suppliers and test printed on them. The choice narrowed between Riso and another machine, but since the price of the other machine was quite high, the decision naturally fell in favour of the Riso.”
“Having said that, we are satisfied with the performance of this machine, which runs the NCR paper like any other paper. Though laser technology can produce sharper images, but this machine too produces satisfactory quality of jobs and within one month of purchasing the Riso, we were able to execute 200,000-300,000 impressions with the printer. So, yes we are satisfied with our decision and in fact, we will be investing in another Riso machine in the near future.”
Expressing his opinion on the current trends in the printing industry, Ganapathy said: “Printers should have multiple product lines and multiple markets to survive these volatile times and demand fluctuations. Also, Dubai is associated with quality, and attracting overseas business from UAE has huge advantages. Those who can leverage this popularity and brand value stand a good chance of winning orders. So, my take is that if at all print industry is stagnating or dying in the region, Dubai will die last. It may be that demand for traditional products is declining, but that can be offset by increased demand from other segments like packaging.”