Many years ago when Hanumantha Rao of Pragati Offset Printers was the president of the All India Federation of Master Printers, in an interview, he spoke of the progress Bharat (as opposed to India) is making. And that these strides were in "small offset" printing. Hanumantha Rao said that "It was the small offset entry-level machine (10x15 inch or 15x20 inch category) which was a fast growth area of the industry."

According to a rough "guesstimate", the small offset has had a significant growth rate of 15-20%. The players in this segment have succeeded in establishing an installation base of more than 40,000 machines in India.

CN Ashok, managing director of Autoprint Machinery, which manufactures mini offset presses, says: "The small offset entry-level machines with 15x10 or 15x20 category has been the growth areas for this segment. The annual growth of 15% in my personal outlook has been there for past several years and still this would witness 15%-20% growth rate in the coming few years, before seeing any slowdown due to various reasons of technology becoming obsolete, impact of new media on the printing demands and option of new digital technologies among others."

The sector for mini offsets is a dark horse in its contribution to the growth of Indian print. There would be 40,000 printing presses in India which have mini offset presses on their shopfloor consuming approaximately 48,000-crore A4 sheets of paper on an average per month.

So, then what are the reasons which are driving the growth of mini offset presses?

The process used in mini offset printing is simple – water and ink are added to a cylinder, which then transfers the image to a second cylinder, called the "offset" cylinder. The "offset" cylinder is made of rubber, which allows for a smooth transfer of the ink onto whatever medium is being used. This method of printing gives the final product a crisp clear appearance.

One of the impressive things about mini offset printing is that there are a variety of mediums onto which you can transfer images. Paper is just one of the many materials that can be used. Other materials that are often used in mini offset printing include rubber, fabric, and wood. Quality images can even be applied to leather and metal using mini offset printing.

The other reason is: first-time entrepreneurs, screen printers, DTP houses are able to dream "print".
Small businesses, including publishers and offices, depend on the consistent reliability of mini offset printing. This method is even more impressive when combined with new advances in lithographic techniques. Although four-colour print jobs are challenging as it demands perfect registration. The only real threat to its continued dominance in the printing industry is the development of digital technology.

Besides its presence in the small cities and towns, small offset presses can be seen in action in Mumbai too. The Fort area in Mumbai has a lane which is known for the paper traders, stationery suppliers and printers. The stationery shops have allied business of printing and they deploy a small offset press to print jobs in single- and multi-colour. In Mumbai’s space-starved environment, the main advantage is the size of small offset press. It can be installed in any nook and corner and requires only one person to operate. You can walk-in, place your order and collect the job in a couple of hours. The Cottenpet area in Bengaluru was once a thriving hub for the business of agarbattis and every second house on the street had a mini offset doing printing for agarbatti boxes. Today some of these small business have scaled to a bigger shopfloor or pre-press service bureaus.

The trends have witnessed people entering with small offset machines right from first time entrepreneurs to screen printers wishing to upgrade and even DTP houses expanding their activities with a combination of offset digital segment. The success and experience with the marketing model adopted by the small offset manufacturers has helped them to leapfrog and spread their wings in the international markets and notched some good numbers there as well.

There are many Indian manufacturers who manufacture small offset presses. This include names like Autoprint, Fair Deal Engineers, Fieldstar Fuser, Gallantic Machinery, Prakash Offset, Patel, Patil Offset, Rajyog, Speedograph, Seven Star Graphics, Sahil Graphics and Swifts Offset.

Autoprint
With a credence to the fact that Autoprint has installed at least one of its machines in every district in the country, repeat order for Autoprint at robust order rate of 39% per year proving thereby that the small printers are expanding.

Four-colour Dion inquiries from the existing sheetfed offset is encouraging.

Previously, in 2010 in the small offset segment alone we sold 374 machines. Taken at 300 working days in an year, it averages to a sale of 1.25 machines per day for us, which is quite encouraging.

In 2011, the company has plans to boost the sales figures to 600 machines. On the export side, Indonesia seems to be having a huge potential for single-colour machines. Autoprint has received encouraging response from the region. Besides this, Autoprint exports its machine to 50 countries.

In the small offset segment since the past three years, offset printers with ten years experience and above have upgraded themselves to digital printing business with an investment in the range of Rs 25–lakh to Rs 75-lakh. Having succeeded in the digital space, for further expansion in the A3 sizes and above, they are looking for four-colour machine options from Autoprint. This trend is also witnessing a push from the rise in CTP machines in the B-tier and C-tier cities, where the job is getting complemented with a print mix-and-match of digital and small offset, offering a great value to the small and medium commercial offset and digital print shop owners.

Our view is that, small offset industry is not yet flat or devoid of growth, still it will have an upward trend of few years before becoming stale, giving way to a base of four-colour dominated presses.

Swift
Vasant Marathe, managing director at Swift says: "There have been innumerable enquiries at PrintPack 2011; and we’ve booked more than 40 orders and to date we have an install base of more than 2,500 machines."

Swift’s launched the new VDP-1520 aimed at addressing variable data printing (VDP) segment. The machine is capable of doing numbering, bar coding, mail addressing, VDP for courier slips, application forms, personalised cheque, challans, examination forms, hall tickets, bus tickets and lottery ticket printing

Swift, which has a manufacturing plant in Nasik, says that in the past years, the company’s exports to Latin America were based on the legacy of their dealers, the US-manufactured Multiliths.

Besides VDP-1520, Swift has its most popular machine Multilith-1250 with chute delivery. It is capable of printing small cards to sheets up to 11.7 inch x 17 inch. It can give 7500 impressions per hour. It has features which include independent control of ink and water systems; and a special system for ink and moisture in the machine allows use of wide range of inks that match the need of the job and the plate.

Sahil Graphics
Faridabad-based Sahil Graphics is a manufacturer of mini offset printing machines and poly offset printing machines. The company manufactures Sahil-1116, Sahil-1520 and Sahil Poly Offset.
Sahil -1116 is a low height machine which is designed from the human engineering point of view. It is a single-colour three cylinder small offset with suction feeder, which can print variety of jobs using direct polyester master or a conventional plate. The compact design of mini offset machine, the sensible arrangement of all control elements within an easy reach of operator and its operation make it easy to operate. This mini offset printing machine provides an excellent value for money to printers entering into offset printing field with low budget.

This entry-level mini offset press can cater to the urgent printing jobs like invitations cards, wedding cards, office stationery, letter pads, envelops, question papers, sticker sheet, instruction manual and leaflets.

The Sahil-1520 uses plate or poly-masters. It also provides facility to use double poly-masters for printing at the same time. The machine is popular among DTP centers, photo-copying centres and those who divert from letterpress printing. It is sleek, compact and easy to operate press.

Today, Sahil Graphics has installed more than 500 machines in the domestic and international market. The press manufacturer exports its machine to more than 15 countries.

Gallantic Print Machines
Rajkot-based Gallantic Print Machines is the manufacturer of small offset presses. The company is among few to introduce auto dampening system in its small offset printing machines which was a technological advancement in terms of printing quality. With its A3 portrait format size, totally different from other manufactures, boosts its use with other technological equipments which are daily used by printers are laser printers, digital proofers, master medias and metal plates.

Gallantic 1217 CD is equipped with seven features which include single-lever control, AC frequency controlled drive, double-sheet detector with eliminator, sleek design, metallurgy and fast job make ready.

Gallantic has installed more than 400 machines in India and other countries like Africa, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka and UAE.

Fair Deal Engineers
Established in 1997, Faridabad-based Fair Deal Engineers is the manufacturer of the small offset which is branded as Fairprint. These are available in different sizes which consist of 10x15, 11x17, 15x20 and 16x22inch.

Om Arora, executive director at Fair Deal Engineers, says: "The market is on the maturity stage. There is volume and the right approach will be in favour of the small offset printers. We are witnessing a shift from traditional screen or letterpress printing towards small offset. This is a good sign for us."

Aora added: "The small offset presses which are imported are low cost as compared to the brand-new and hence many print firms opt for the second-hand machines."

Fair Deal Engineers Fairprint Little Master small offset is compact, easy to run and highly productive. The 14 rollers inking units distributes ink for the most demanding printing tasks. Oscillating and rider rollers are copper coated, providing maximum ink grinding. The system is equipped with screws for fine control of ink. The drop away facility is provided for easy cleaning without setting of rollers or the fountain.

According to the company, this machine is recognised for its high quality, reliability, efficiency and economy in India. The company has installed more than 2,000 machines since 1997.

The small offset is far too labour intense and it is getting harder to find a pressman to run the press. Unfortunately the small press will have to keep running as it is the foundation upon which the Indian print industry has built it’s future.