Replika expands with third Heidelberg Speedmaster CS 92

Continuing with their Heidelberg journey, Replika Press flexes its printing muscle in Commercial Printing, Gift and Luxury Packaging with three Speedmaster presses.

Bhuvnesh Seth – MD, Sanandan Seth, Director and Vikaran Seth, Director, Replika Press, in conversation with PRESSIdeas, discuss their latest installation and plans. As part of the expansion plans, Replika Press has invested in the third Speedmaster CS 92 four colour press to continue their Heidelberg journey.

Replika Press is one of the biggest print service providers specializing in book printing, high-end commercial print production, digital printing and now in packaging as well. Operating from three units sprawling over an area of 6,46,000 sq.ft, located at Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) Kundli, Sonepat in Haryana, the company prints more than 16,000 titles per year. The company is the only unit in the country with capabilities for commercial, packaging and corrugation all under one roof. Presently, Sanandan and Vikaran Seth, the brother duo at Replika Press independently look after the publishing and packaging segment.

The range of titles comprises everything from monochrome to multi-colour, soft cover to hard cover, medical to scientific, technical to coffee table books, art books to children books, cookbooks, travel guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias and religious books etc. for reputed international publishers from USA, UK, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Russia, Africa, Brazil etc. Replika Press provides solutions to leading publishers like Penguin Random House, Hachette and Bloomsbury to name a few.

Replika entered in gift packaging and luxury packaging in 2017. They entered in mono cartons and corrugated boxes in 2018. The segment is highly challenging and Team Replika prides in providing their customer with innovations and the world class services.

L to R: Vikaran, Bhuvnesh and Sanandan

Replika handle a paper and board stock of more than 20,000 tons per annum with a production capability of printing 50,000 hard cover and 150,000 soft cover books per day with an aim to achieve a target of 200,000 books per day soon.

PRESSIdeas had visited the Replika Press facility on various occasions during the last ten years and have always invariably noticed two fascinating things – one, everything at Replika Press is almost aesthetically picture perfect and two, immaculate condition of the hardware exhibiting clean work area as well as seamlessly set up equipment.

The highly capable Heidelberg Speedmaster CS 92 is well suited for both commercial and packaging

Talking about the new Speedmaster installation at Replika Press, Deepak Walia, AGM Sales, Heidelberg India, said, “The Speedmaster CS 92 is well suited for both commercial and packaging. The press not only offers the lowest cost per sheet but also reduced maintenance, thanks to its cylinder surfaces with a high-quality finish and universal gripper systems. The Intellistart 3 shortens setup times. Besides, the semiautomatic plate changer AutoPlate works quickly and precisely at the touch of a button. The data from the press can be measured and OEE ((Overall Equipment Effectiveness) of the press can be enhanced, which makes the press available to print 5 crore impression per year.” Heidelberg Speedmaster CS 92 is built upon the Speedmaster CD 102 platform. Heidelberg Speedmaster CS 92 can accommodate a wide array of print substrates with thicknesses ranging from 0.03 mm to 0.6 mm. Boasting print speeds of up to 15,000 sheets per hour, this highend press is integrated with Heidelberg’s exclusive Prinect workflow to make operations simple and intuitive.

The MK Easymatrix die cutter from Heidelberg in the background with the operators

Deepak Walia from Heidelberg flanked by Sanandan and Vikaran Seth

Heidelberg as the obvious choice

Bhuvnesh Seth, said, “Today the market is extremely competitive, and we have to offer best to our customers and in such circumstance, the investment is very appropriate for Replika Press. The Heidelberg has been the obvious choice for Replika Press. Heidelberg is a different story altogether. Be it the built or the output quality of Heidelberg, you don’t see any deviations from the standard, be the machine from China or German plant. The sturdiness of Heidelberg’s is unmatched, and we can see it for ourselves from the merit they have earned. One of the more evident of which is their resale value.”

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been huge for Replika Press with the domestic business experiencing a fall of almost 50%. Talking about the situation,

The newest of the three plants of Replika Press at Kundli, Haryana

Sanandan & Vikaran at the console of their newest Heidelberg acquisition.

Bhuvnesh Seth, said, “The domestic business saw a steep fall with Gift and Luxury packaging. The relocation of IPL has affected the mobile business – as India’s favourite sports results in a surge in sales of smartphones. The exports though have been a saving grace.” Replika Press has been manufacturing boxes for mobile phone brands like Oppo and Vivo. The sale declined due to pandemic as well as prevailing sentiments has largely affected the business.

“Today printers in India are noticing the distinctive advantage of new printing press investment in terms of productivity advantage and resale value of machinery. Though daily output has increased, yet the pandemic has compromised the situation to an extent. We foresee higher output as the situation improves and conditions normalize,” said Bhuvnesh Seth.

He expects the business to pick up in the next financial year as the pandemic effect subsides. Replika has capacity to produce 2,20,000 gift and luxury packaging boxes per day. This prompted Replika Press to venture into mono-cartons, with the installation of the seven-colourpress. Sanandan and Vikaran Seth find the mono carton industry to be very competitive. Replika Press is on firm grounds and sees a bright future for both the publishers’ printing as well as Luxury packaging. The packaging to publisher-printer segment ratio of their turnover would be around 40:60 with an aim to gradually increase the luxury packaging in the coming years.

Replika Press has been for the last few years supporting Pragati Wheel School based in East Delhi. In its efforts to help lesser privileged children, it has been contributing towards providing Free Education and Nutrition to around 300 children belonging to poor families. It has also helped set up a Computer Lab and a Stitching Centre in the school. The children are provided free education, books, stationery, a morning snack, mid-day meal and similar things.

Ab array of awards collected over the years!

Vikaran Seth with the latest Canon digital press installed at Replika Press.