The steady return of Manroland Sheetfed into the Indian packaging market in the last several years is bearing fruit as the company has considerably lifted its game in the past year. As the pandemic and the lockdowns ended, the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary in India, Manroland Sheetfed India became bolder and went beyond talking to its considerable installed footprint in the Indian monocarton industry.

This has paid off, as the industry returns to structured capacity building with several converters who have held off investments in the past two or three years purchasing highly automated 7-color plus coater automated B1 presses. The Manroland Evolution series are thus recognized by the Indian packaging converters as one of the modern automated options that have to be evaluated when looking at capacity expansion.

Recently, Manroland Sheetfed Evolution 700 presses were purchased by two monocarton companies in the Delhi NCR – Sain Packaging and Galaxy Offset. The presses are similar but not identical. Both are 7-color coater UV presses with full auto-plate loading with interdeck and end-of-press UV cassettes besides the standard IR and hot air dryers. The Sain Packaging press will be installed at its plant north of the city in Sonipat, while Galaxy’s Evolution will come to its new plant built south of Manesar. The two Evolution presses will be shipped in the coming months and installed within the financial year that ends on 31 March 2022.

The return of Manroland Sheetfed to the ranks of global suppliers selling new 7-color coater UV presses with automation into the Indian market marks a welcome and successful renewal of intensity by the third German offset sheetfed press manufacturer. It has been an uphill climb, but the re-establishment of the company with its persistence in supplying spares, service, and technical support services has led to the multiple sales of new and used presses. Its active participation provides significant options for the fast-growing and maturing Indian carton industry.

The Indian and South Asian carton printers and converters are now relatively well versed in the technicalities and details of purchasing a sophisticated automated press. They are more than able to sort through the levels of features, options, and ‘innovations’– looking for high performance and reliability not only from the machines but also from the Indian subsidiaries and distributors of the five global manufacturers.

Engineering service and back office support are a given in this highly technical and competitive market, as are improved inputs and consumables. The carton manufacturers are looking for industrial strength reliability – they have put in place the infrastructure to use these presses to higher specification work and quality at rated speeds for performance, productivity, and return on investment. They are mindful of the benefits of automation to the skilled human resources and the talent in the press room. The presses commissioned in this market in the current financial year are no less sophisticated or automated than those anywhere in the world.