Greater Noida (Delhi-NCR)-based Saurabh Printers, a division of Saku Group, has installed a new Komori Lithrone G37 sheet-fed offset press at its production facility to print covers, jackets, and related pages for the books it produces. The 37-inch press is the first machine from Komori India installed at Saurabh Printers, a book printer and producer serving publishers in domestic and international markets.
Vinod Kumar Gulati, managing director, Saurabh Printers, said, “Over the last three and a half decades of our presence in the printing and publishing market, we have been into book printing and production for publishers across the domestic as well as international markets.” The company produces both paperback and hardbound books entirely in-house, with a team of book printing and production specialists operating the facility’s machines and equipment.
Saku Group traces its origins to 1991. Saurabh Printers was launched in 1996 as the group’s new vertical in the book publishing market, named after Vinod Kumar Gulati’s son, Saurabh Gulati, who now serves as director. In 2005, Saurabh Printers became one of the few Indian companies to own a subsidiary abroad, Westman Printing in Sydney, Australia. “We are on a journey, not at a destination,” Vinod Kumar Gulati said, adding, “The year 2023 was when we first embraced the digital monochrome inkjet printing as well as colour digital production printing using an 8-color Xerox machine for POD (print-on-demand) books.”
He added that the previous year marked a milestone for the company as it expanded its monochrome book printing capabilities with the installation of JETSCI KnowzzleJet presses from Monotech Systems. “Continuous investment in technology, capacity expansion, and innovation has always been a part of our growth strategy,” he said. The company has also installed a Monotech PixelGlow UV and foiling machine, which the company said enhances its value-added print capabilities by providing UV coating and foiling effects for book covers, jackets, and other printed materials.
Vinod Kumar Gulati said the Lithrone G37 represents a further step in enhancing the company’s color printing capabilities for book covers, jackets, and other color applications. “We selected this advanced Komori sheet-fed offset press for its superior technology, exceptional print quality, and unique capabilities that set it apart from other presses in its class,” he said.
The Lithrone G37 is designed to produce A1-size finished products with a maximum sheet size of 640x940mm and can accommodate up to 16-page A4-size impositions. It handles paper thicknesses up to 0.8mm, which the company said makes it suited for high-pagination book printing as well as commercial printing and packaging graphic prints. The press operates at a maximum speed of 15,000 sheets per hour and includes an inline coater that handles stocks ranging from 0.04 mm to 0.45 mm.
Vinod Kumar Gulati said the facility previously used another sheet-fed offset press to print color book covers and jackets. “Since the day the Komori Lithrone G37 was commissioned and started running for printing colourful covers for books, we never looked back and now we look forward to adopting many such versatile and capable machines from Komori India,” he said. “After all, we are extremely happy and satisfied with the machine as well as the post-sales service support that the team Komori India provides us now and then, anytime, irrespective of time and circumstance.”
