Bharat Gupta of Jaipur-based Shuban Prints tells us how its BOBST NOVACUT 106 E with stripping die-cutter and BOBST VISIONFOLD 110 A2 folder-gluer help the company produce cartons more efficiently with cost-effectiveness, less wastage and less manpower.
Bharat Gupta had been using four manual die-cutters and an Indian-made folder-gluer to complete print production, especially in post-press at Shuban Prints and was looking for automatic equipment to make print production efficient and faster.
“We have a complete setup, from receiving or generating artworks to delivering the final product,” explained Mr Gupta. “As business grew, we felt that post-press is the segment where we were lacking in terms of equipment and technology. Due to slow speed and manual intervention, the quality of the cartons were not up to the mark, especially when we needed faster conversion.”
Thus, the search began for a die-cutter and a folder-gluer that could help the company produce folding cartons and flute cartons faster with less or no manual intervention.
“The quality of the cartons was very important. Ultimately, we zeroed in on BOBST in 2018 and the next year, during Printpack 2019, the deal was inked,” said Mr Gupta. “Till today we are very happy with our choice and glad we went ahead with BOBST.”
Shuban Prints bought a BOBST NOVACUT 106 E with stripping die-cutter with top speed of 8,000-sheets/hr and a BOBST VISIONFOLD 110 A2 with corrugation kit attachment folder-gluer. Both machines were installed last year.
Explaining why the company went for BOBST, Mr Gupta said, “We produce mono cartons and E-flute cartons. We were struggling with our existing India-made folder-gluer as it was not able to handle corrugated cartons. Even mono cartons were not moving well on the belt. E-flute jobs were tough for us as well.”
Now, after the installation of the BOBST equipment, Shuban has successfully overcome the earlier limitations.
“BOBST’s folder-gluer is stable. It folds and glues the sheets with perfection and efficiency,” Mr Gupta said. “Cartons run on the belt smoothly. We run the folder-gluer for one specific carton at the speed of 50,000 cartons an hour, especially for side pasting, whereas with our Indian folder-gluer we were able to convert only 10,000 cartons an hour. Thus, we can fold and glue cartons five times faster. Quicker conversion has made us more cost-competitive in the market.”
Shuban was the first in the country to get version 3.0 of the BOBST NOVACUT 106. It is equipped with push setting for die-cutting plates; corrugation and duplex can be on single side lay; pressure setting is automatic, which reduces makeready time; and clamping of dies is hydraulic/automatic.
“We are running at an average speed of 7,000 sheets an hour of duplex on our NOVACUT,” Mr Gupta added.
He said that with the NOVACUT, rejection of jobs is almost zero, piles are very well created and much less manpower is needed. “We found the BOBST post-press equipment to be the most stable and trustworthy machines in the market,” he explained. “There are economical options available in the market, but there is a big question mark about their performance, especially in the long run. Thus, consistency becomes an issue with cheaper options.”
Mr Gupta is so happy with the investment that he said for future expansion, the company will opt for BOBST only. “We are working towards opting for collection/stacking tables from BOBST. It is worth the investment, because conversion is much faster, requires lesser manual involvement and contributes to decent savings on wastage.”
With BOBST, Mr Gupta said the company’s customers’ portfolio has increased by up to 35%. “The technology and the brand of the machine really matter when you approach print buyers. Our customers show confidence in BOBST compared to other brands,” he said. “Manual intervention in the jobs is very minimal and we were able to reduce our wastage from 3¬–5% to 0.9–1.2%. BOBST also provided onsite training to our staff for smooth functioning of the machine and helped make our staff skilled.”
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