Perfect Sign
On a revolutionary road leading ahead

Namit Singhal

Quite confident and grounded for a new revolution! At the same time, it is circumspect and striving for latest trends and technologies. Here the talk is about Perfect Sign, a signage company that basically hailed from Indore and now marked new footprints in Ahmedabad city where newer prospects and opportunities loom large. In April 2009, the company took over its erstwhile establishment called Diamond Digital following the inception of Perfect Sign. “Though we are completely changed our status after shifting into Ahmedabad, one thing we’ve been sticking around is VUTEk machines in our portfolio,” says Namit Singhal of Perfect Sign adding that the company opted for VUTEk 3360 (10 feet) and VUTEk 2360 (6 feet) printers. And still the company’s portfolio consists of a new VUTEk Ultravu 3360 FC along with other high-end printers like Gerber Solara Ionx and Epson Pro System GS 6000.

“Enhancement of our infrastructure with the addition of Epson eco-solvent printer is considered to be of great importance to us,” asserts Namit while talking about the company’s prime concern over supplying finest prints to their clients. The company’s clientele who have been associated solely so far include Uninor, Reliance Communications, Vodafone, Videocon, Airtel and others in household consumable segments. “Current signage market is predominantly ruled by clients from two surging sectors viz real estate and telecommunication,” mentions Namit. He adds that Perfect Sign is always ready to provide service as per the needs of its corporate clients.

When it comes to adopting new technologies, Perfect Sign is a forerunner in the city as the company gets on whatever introduced fresh in the industry. “Regular upgrade of portfolio is the way it should be, otherwise no one could progress without innovative changes in the market,” explains Namit. However, he mentions that the company wouldn’t probably make any major changes in the infrastructure this year. “But we are very open and ready for any advanced product or technology offered in the market. Of course, popularity of UV technology in the overseas markets is tremendous now,” elucidates Namit adding that it may take sometime for the Indian market to fully take on this technology.

With a concern over the popularity of UV printing in the Indian market, Namit appreciates all those dedicated companies like Efi without whom the technology couldn’t have surged up to what it is now in India. “These companies educate clients while we (PSPs) put in practices to let people know about the technology,” mentions Namit. He agrees that it’s the demand that rules everything in the market. What the company has been planning is new stipulation of a complete end-to-end solution for its clients in the days to come. Perfection to Perfect Sign is the most up-to-date technologies/services to appease clients and boost its current annual turnover of Rs 4.5 crore to a new level.

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Sagar Plastics
Towards new horizon of innovations

S R Gupta (R) & his son

The tradition of Ahmedabad’s signage market can be ditched out of what Sagar Plastics has experienced over the decades of its business in the sector. This company first unveiled its signage shop in the year 1986 with sole engagement in acrylic sheet and vinyl cutting. “We started business with very limited machines equipped in our production unit,” recalls SR Gupta, director, Sagar Plastics. Scientific Gerber cutting plotter was the only machine that the company once had to trim stacks of materials for array of signage jobs. Then the transition in the company’s overall activities took place in 2005 after the installation of a DGI VT-92 solvent printer for large-format printing.

A sea change took place in the infrastructures of Sagar Plastics right after its entry into digital wide-format printing zone as the machine portfolio of the company expanded swiftly from the year 2009 with the addition of a series of printers including DGI Megajet, VUTEk UtraVu 3360 followed by Gerber Solara Ion (flatbed), Mimaki and Caldron (with XAAR printheads) and others. Today, such robust infrastructure strength of the company is its unique virtue to pull a number of corporate clients, such as Videocon, Idea, Aircel, Reliance, Havmor and BSNL. In addition, some leading ad agencies like Akshar Advertising Solutions and others are in the company’s client list. The company’s clients are based in different parts of Gujarat as well as other states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

“Beyond Ahmedabad or Gujarat we lend our hands for big clients like Videocon in other cities including Nashik and Mumbai,” says Gupta adding that the company not only provides prints but also responsible for installation and fabrication works for big campaigns. Also the company extensively engages in innovative UV printing on items made of ACP, glasses and other rigid materials. “Since this activity has not been very popular in Ahmedabad, we now execute 10 thousand sq ft job in this segment out of our total output of four lakh sq ft of prints per month,” says Gupta.

Apart from being a bona-fide PSP in the western Indian market, Sagar Plastics is a popular dealer of a wide range of media brands like LG Chem and Hi-Sign. Commenting on the current media scenario, Gupta mentions that the Indian market is now captured extensively by Chinese brands. “But when we work for corporate giants like TATA DoCoMo, Reliance Telecommunications, etc we go for the brands like MAX,” mentions Gupta signifying the room for high-end media brands in the region’s market. Now this Rs 5-6 crore company is more or less concentrating on telecom sector to gear up its business for newer verticals with plan to adopt an 8-colour VUTEk printer.

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Shivam
A house of versatile outputs

Anal Trivedi

Past five years have seen whatever achieved at Shivam, a young but robust signage player in Ahmedabad. The journey of this signage major was kick started with mere installation of a Roland cutting plotter. Then the infrastructure level surged gradually after the installation of a six-feet Infinity printer followed by another Infiniti of 10 feet in the subsequent year. “In order to meet the increasing demand for new applications in the signage market, we should keep ourselves update with new machines/technologies arriving in the industry from time to time,” asserts A Trivedi of Shivam.

Latest addition in the company’s infrastructure is a SMART printer with XAAR Proton printhead installed a few months back. A mix of printers including HP 5500 inkjet in the portfolio helps the company enable to fulfil a range of demands from clients in different industrial segments. “Clients from electronics segments are the major lot in our customers’ list,” says Trivedi. The company has constantly been doing persistent jobs of in-shop branding, displays, glow signs, installations for corporate clients like Godrej, Philips and others in electronics segment.

“Of course, we find this (signage) industry quite progressive towards new quality and innovative printing over the last few years,” remarks Trivedi. In this respect, he further mentions that the SMART printer in the company’s facility is an answer to quality. Producing around 10,000 sq ft per day, Shivam is quite versatile to cater a complete range of prints including inkjet vinyl prints, foam boards, non-adhesive vinyl, acrylic sheets, etc. “We have in-house facility for fabrication including framing and others,” mentions Trivedi.

A unique activity that makes Shivam popular in the circle of signage players in Ahmedabad is its entry into rooftop hoarding activity. More than 10 hoardings across the city are under the company’s control. But the overall works of Shivam do not confine only in Ahmedabad city as the company employs 20 trained professionals to handle any sort of jobs assigned outside the city. For all that the company has achieved, Trivedi appreciates everyone involved including Sumisha, a machine distributor for its commitments to provide on-time servicing.

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Global Engineers
A destination for perfect medias

Pranav Patel

No one in the western Indian signage market could ignore Global Engineers when it comes to searching for the finest medias. Of course, the company is an authorised distributor of 3M India, which represents two verticals of materials viz. commercial graphics and traffic safety solutions in the commercial graphics. Global Engineers delivers vinyl, flex, one-way vision medias designed for advertising and in-shop branding purposes. For traffic safety solutions, the company involves in both road signage as well as items related to road safety. “It could be reflective boards you normally find on the highways, directional signs and boards on city roads, we deliver everything,” says Pranav Patel of Global Engineers.

“Today, whenever government constructs a new national highway, signage, road directional signs and safety boards are part and parcel of the project. So, we are exclusive supplier of those end-product road signage materials or items,” mentions Pranav adding that Global Engineers is handling the western Indian market with its branch offices located in three majors cities—Ahmedabad, Indore and Mumbai. In addition, the company is tied up with other big companies like Nilkamal for distributorship of road barricades, median markers as well as others road safety items used at malls and residential colonies.

Global Engineers also deals with other materials, such as commercial graphic products like flex, vinyl, one-way vision and glass films from 3M. “Indian signage industry is now a Rs 600-crore market where sheeting (reflective) segment occupies Rs 15 crore,” reveals Pranav. Global Engineers is proven to be a preferred corner for high-end products in the region’s signage market. In this respect, Pranav remarks that the company involves only with the delivery of finest medias. “Though the market is filled with sub-standard brands, many organized sectors like telecom segment, etc are brand conscious to a great extent,” he mentions.

Keeping itself at bay from the world of sub-standard medias, 3M and other high-quality brands in the region’s contemporary signage market find their own rooms. “Almost 95 percent of the organized sectors like banking and telecommunication opt for 3M materials,” asserts Pranav. Big banking companies like HDFC, ICICI, Standard Chartered and other nationalised banks like Union Bank, Canara Banks, SBI are with Global Engineers for the reason that these companies emphasise to use 3M materials for their signages.

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Neha Signs
Eminence in complete signage solution

Devang Shah

Atradition of quality is an attribute of Neha Signs whose presence in the contemporary signage market of Ahmedabad signifies through its eminence in both service and outputs. Having been around in the digital wide-format industry over the last seven years, every single year is a new phase of progression at the company. Its production unit being started with an HP 5500 inkjet printer at a very mere entry level is now a state-of-the-art production facility equipped with other printers like Infiniti (10 ft) with XAAR printheads, HP 9000 eco-solvent, Epson 6000 and Gerber Solara Ion.

Latest addition in the machine portfolio is an Infiniti printer with Spectra printheads. A broad range of printers at the company’s production facility is the vigour behind its versatile prints. “Gerber Solara Ion (flatbed) printer in our facility is for special printing on a range of items made of glass, wood and other rigid materials,” says Devang Shah of Neha Signs, adding that UV printing in India is now getting on uphill trend as the cities like Ahemdabad are quite promising for this surging new technology.

A team of 14 professionals handles the company’s overall activities, which include fabrication and installation works. Major customers in the client list of Neha Signs include Levi’s, United Colors of Benetton, Koutons and many others from the segments like sanitary wares and ceramics. These companies get complete signage solutions from Neha Signs for their pan-India outlets. “We provide them exclusive range of signage materials for in-shop branding that consist of front lit, backlit, foam sheet panels, composite panels, etc” conveys Devang.

USP of this Rs 2.5 crore company is considerably its consistency in service (product delivery) and quality maintenance. “Most of all, we are proud to be the one who could deliver a complete range of products, right from flatbed to eco-solvent prints under one roof,” asserts Devang, while mentioning about how Neha Signs is different from the typical players operating in the city’s signage market. In addition, the company is doing great in the LED signage segment. One can find the works of Neha Signs in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, etc as this company has tied up with agencies for various pan-India projects. But the direct clients of the company are predominantly confined in Ahmedabad only.

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JBM Graphics
Gearing up for perfect business model

Pawan Mittal with his son

Apart from being a young player in the region’s signage market, JBM Graphics is quite mature in its policy to take the business to new heights. This five-year-old company is a brainchild of Pawan Mittal who did business in automobile sector earlier. “It was undoubtedly a swift growth taking place in the western Indian signage market that pulled me into this industry for a new business,” he says. The company thus set up its first production facility equipped with a five-feet DGI VT-62 printer in Rajasthan. “After running three successful years in Rajasthan, we moved to Ahmedabad where the overall machine portfolio expanded to a new line comprising a fresh array of printers, such as Caldron and SMART (with XAAR Proton printheads).

Apart from automobile sector, Pawan Mittal had been extensively involved with other sectors like garments and others. So is why JBM Graphics would tap leading players like Lux and Rupa in the garment sector. In addition, the company also has other corporate clients like MTS and Airtel from sectors like telecommunications. “In the technology front, we are looking forward to adopt UV printing for new business expansion,” remarks Pawan. When asked about the availability of UV works in the region’s market, Pawan truly opines that opportunities are to be generated, not to be expected being available readymade all the time.

“We keep on receiving enquiries on UV printing. So, we are very much confident about a steep development of the technology in the region,” says Pawan. JBM Graphics is peculiar about its continuing enhancement of its infrastructure to new standard. Thus the company is considered to be one of the biggest printers in Gujarat delivering largest volume of work. “We print around five lakh sq ft of prints per month. But we are still planning to keep our production volume growing in near future,” mentiones Pawan. Strength of JBM Graphics is defined by the company’s rational business strategy as well as the commitments of 45-member working team. The team carries out printing, fabrications and installations of any sort across the state of Gujarat. In this respect, Pawan agrees with a notion that the success of a company is an outcome of efforts collectively put in by way of infrastructure parameters as well as dedicated team members.

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Black Sign Technology
Bright business expansion foreseen

Anand Pandya

He used to visit PSPs around the city of Ahmedabad to take care of newly installed digital wide-format printers, vinyl cutting machines and others. Anand Pandya is an engineer by profession and has keen technological knowledge of large-format printing machines. His 10 years of experience in the industry has transformed him as a man with the depth of graphic art segment. “Until the year 2006, I worked with some partners before the establishment of Black Sign,” says Anand, who is the main architect of this signage major (Black Sign), which recently adopted a Gongzheng printer with Spectra Polaris printheads.

Black Sign unveiled its production facility with the adoptions of a pair of DGI (Suprajet and Megajet) printers, which continued printing for sometime prior to the addition of another DGI printer with Konica printheads. Portfolio of the company thus kept on expanding to meet the increasing demands for better quality outputs in the region’s signage market. Gongzheng with Spectra Polaris printheads is the latest puechase from Mehta Cad Cam Systems Pvt Ltd in the company’s infrastructure. Over the last two years, Black Sign has been strong enough to attract big corporate clients.

Sony and Airtel are two big corporate giants for whom Black Sign churned out a huge volume of prints for few large-scale projects. “Look at the new Airtel campaigns (with new logo) carried out on national highways and streets across Gujarat, we contributed quite a large volume of works for that,” says Anand proudly. He also mentioned the company’s big fat Gold Flake outdoor displays installed at pan shops and other retail outlets all over the city of Ahmedabad.

Concerning the speed and production quality of Spectra Polaris, Anand mentions that Gongzheng is approved by many of his clients who have been associated with them for a long time. “This machine is the kind which offers balance between quality and speed,” he remarks. His appreciation of the printer is seconded by dedicated efforts of the company’s five-member team of workers. Producing one lakh sq ft of prints per month, achieving Rs one crore turnover per annum, Black Sign is eying further expansion of both its infrastructure and business.

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Panchdev Digital Image
Looking ahead for innovative shift

Rajendrasinh Chauhan (2nd from R) with colleagues

Nobody would believe that a home-based firm could come out as a leading player in the contemporary signage market of Gujarat. Origin of Panchdev Digital Image Pvt Ltd is dated back to 10-12 years as it was operating as a mere home-based designing unit. “I worked in Gujarat Samachar right after my diploma in printing technology from Ahmedabad University,” says Rajendrasinh Chauhan, director, Panchdev Digital Image Pvt Ltd. He adds that Panchdev Digital Image was operating part time only in the evening hours for delivering graphic designs to its clients across Ahmedabad. For more than a year, Rajendrasinh engaged in such hard time tussle of riding two boats at a time.

“Since our business in graphic designing did well, we decided to expand our activities covering digital wide-format printing too,” says Rajendrasinh adding that the decision eventually gave birth to Panchdev Digital Image. Though the company finds new path into flex printing, its age-old tradition of graphic designing remained unchanged in the business. The first machine installed in the company’s new production unit was a 7.5 feet DGI machine, which was followed by HP Scitex Grandjet printer. Both the printers are running trouble free in the current set up of the company.

In order to serve the increasing demands in the city’s signage market, Panchdev Digital Image opened another production facility in the proximity. Gongzheng printers with XAAR printheads and Spectra Nova 256 printheads from Mehta Cad Cam Systems Pvt Ltd added in the company’s portfolio are considered to be the vitality of the company’s success in delivering best ever quality prints to its clients. “After running with such affordable printers, we realise that there is no point of spending enormous amount on equipment to achieve the desired quality,” says Rajendrasinh adding that the company could compete with other players comfortably in the market with its existing infrastructure.

Panchdev Digital Image, with a turnover of Rs one crore, is heading towards new directions for business expansion. “UV printing is a new parameter whereupon the company wishes to get on as this technology is now considered to be one of the promising aspects in the industry,” mentions Rajendrasinh. He adds that eco-friendliness of this technology is the reason why the company aspires to adopt it. Such prospective progression of the company anticipates more clients to be rolled into the existing list comprising Tata Indicom, Idea, MTS, Kala Niketan, Muthoot Finance, Punjab National Bank, UCO Bank, among others.

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Vishal Digital Print
Planning big way production development

Ranjit Dubey (R) with a colleague

Big projects of big corporate companies at pan-India level are considerably a triumph of Vishal Digital Print, which has been associated with a number of eminent clients since its inception in 2009. This relatively young signage player is quite active in Ahmedabad when it comes to evaluating its strength to capture potential customers in a short span of establishment. “Big clients in our client list include Nirma University, Axis Bank, Bank of India and other, such as Raheja, Bodyline, Jet Blue, Kala Niketan in garment sector,” reveals Ranjit Dubey, director, Vishal Digital Print. Plast India is another big client for whom the company recently worked for a huge exhibition jobs worth Rs 12 lakhs.

Vishal Digital Print deals with both indoor and outdoor graphics/displays. Apart from its direct clients, the company works for big corporate companies like Vodafone and Uninor through agencies located in various parts of the country. Unveiled with a 12 feet Caldron printer, the production facility of the company recently updated with the adoption of a 10.5 feet SMART machine (with XAAR Proton printheads). A team of two machine operators along with six professionals handle the overall activities of the company’s production unit.

“Retail sector is also a major domain we have been concentrating on,” says Ranjit adding that the company has done in-shop branding for Dhara and Raheja at pan-India level. Also the company’s nationwide jobs have been done in pharmaceutical sector by capturing big companies like Cadila and Torrent under annual contracts. “We provide all sort of signage (for both indoor and outdoor) including glow signs, hoarding, standies, displays, canopies, backdrops, scrollers, etc for retail outlet branding,” added Ranjit.

This Rs one-crore company employs 15 individual to carry out its day-to-day activities, but it signs up more as per the requirement in handling big pan-India projects. Now the company eyes next level growth with the adoption of another SMART printer to tackle huge workload in emergency situations. “With another new SMART printer, we can divide our big jobs into two parts. For instance, while working on 80 ft prints, two machines can take on 40-40 to speed up the production,” explains Ranjit. Such portfolio expansion plan of the company is an answer to new proposal of big projects from heavyweight firms like Mahindra Holidays.

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Capital Sign
Instant solution delivery all around

Raju (R) with one of his staff

This old signage player marked a new entry into the digital large-format printing zone just a few months back. Capital Sign has been in the industry for more than 10 years. The company engaged in a varied range of activities with a cutting plotter from Mehta Cad Cam Systems Pvt Ltd in its production facility earlier, which has been updated recently with the addition of six feet Gongzheng solvent printer for large-format printing. “In response to good service of the distributor, we further adopted another 10 feet Gongzheng printer and a laser engraving machine,” says Raju of Capital Sign adding that the latter is for mementos and other innovative items like jeans tags produced at the company’s separate production unit.

Continuing the portfolio update, Capital Sign updated its production facility with the latest addition of a new Gongzheng printer (with Spectra Polaris printheads) to gratify demands for prominent clients like JK Lakshmi Cement, JK Tyre, Apollo Tyres, among others. “Our client list will be expanded as we are in talks with companies like Vodafone,” mentions Raju adding that they plant to go out for perfect development of the company’s facility at a state-of-the-art level.

“At our best offers, we endeavour to deliver a complete signage solution to our clients located in different parts of Gujarat. We don’t mind to work for 24 hours to meet deadlines and other requirements of the clients,” tells Raju. Pepsi is one of the big players in the company’s client list for them Capital Sign provides unmatched translite works. Apart from direct clients, agencies associated with Capital Sign do bring projects of eminent companies. The next big thing to be pulled off in the company’s production facility is addition of a CNC router from Mehta Cad Cam Systems sooner than later. “We look forward to get on ACP works using CNC router,” asserts Raju.

Proud to be a signage player capable to serve its clients based in remote locations like Anandpur, Baria, Dahod, Mehsana and others in Gujarat. “Up to Vapi, we have a strong transport network. When we received any emergency orders (mails or phone calls), we immediately arranged to deliver the products within 2-3 hours,” affirms Raju. Capital Sign is proud to have completed big campaigns for TATA Nano recently in these towns.

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Aakar Signs & Prints
Biggest player for big volume with better jobs

Apurva Shah

Among those players whose footprints found in the signage market of Ahmedabad when the industry was in a nascent stage include Aakar Signs & Prints. The company’s establishment is dated back to more 25 years. It opened as a popular sign maker equipped with a router cutter. “After great popularity of vinyl in the market, we installed a Graphtec (vinyl) cutter purchased from the US in 1991,” says Apurva Shah of Aakar Signs & Prints. It was a big turning point for the company as its infrastructure kept on expanding later on with the adoption of an array of high-end digital wide-format machines, such as HP, DGI and VUTEk UltraVu printers.

Now that this signage major is known quite popularly all over Gujarat, it spreads branches in other cities like Baroda, Surat and Rajkot. All three units of the company are equipped with lines of high-end machines comprising 10 feet VUTEk UltraVu printers, HP Latex 6500, Gerber Solara Ion and HP 5000. “Collectively we have a total of 50 printers/machines including CNC routers in all three production facilities,” mentions Apurva adding that the company always keeps its eyes wide open for the latest machine/technology. It is the company’s infrastructure that has tapped an array of clients over the years. Airtel, Vodafone and TATA DoCoMo are some of the major clients from the telecommunication sector who have been associated with Aakar Signs & Prints for a long time. Also in the list of clients includes Nokia, MTS, TATA Photon, Pepsi and LG for whom the company does in-shop branding and displays. The workforce behind the outstanding works of Aakar Signs & Prints is its team of 150 strong staff who carry out odd jobs at different parts of Gujarat.

Triumph of Aakar Signs & Prints could be seen in its works achieved at pan-India level. The company has involved closely in fabrication of quite a large number of KFC, Pizzahut and other multinational restaurants in various south and western Indian cities. “In Bengaluru, we have done 20 KFC outlets, in Hyderabad 10 KFC outlets and 70 outlets of Pizza Hut in other cities like Cochin, Chennai, Mumbai among others,” mentions Apurva. There is nothing to be doubtful to the fact that this Rs 18 crore company is the player who delivers the largest volume of jobs in Gujarat.

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Yoti Art
Old experience for new trend

Bharat

Dedicated comprehensively in sign making business for a long time, footprints of Jyoti Art have traced across the industry since last 40 years. The company initially engaged in painting of hoarding and murals in many cities in west India. “My father established Jyoti Art in a way that it should upgrade in accordance with the new trends developed in the industry,” says Bharat. Near about 40 well-trained professionals in the company carried out hand-painted signage works across Mumbai, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Dynamism of Jyoti Art thus brings in phases of changes in the company’s business. The company reincarnated into new avatar around three years back by opening its flex printing facility equipped with an Infiniti XJ 3216. Then the infrastructure level recently boosted to a new standard after adding Infiniti VK Jet 3200 and Infiniti XJ 3216 printers. Taping a number of pan masala companies based in the states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, the company is also an exclusive caterer of a gamut of prints to local clients.

“Jhatpat, Rajshree and Pan Bahar are some of our clients who have been associated with us for a long time,” mentions Bharat. He adds that the company is one such stop where many local clients just walk in for on-demand jobs of 10-12 prints or more. Even some graphic designers around the city of Ahmedabad are regular clients rushing constantly to Jyoti Art.

The company’s activities include fabrication, installation and others exclusively handled by an experienced team of 10 professionals. When it comes to working for the clients based outside Ahmedabad, the company has its own team to handle overall activities. For instance, Jyoti Art assigns a team of workers based in Agra for any assignments turning up in Uttar Pradesh.

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Bhavesh Sign
Hoping high to hit the road to big business

Bhavesh Rawat

Just a Jaguar cutting plotter was what the company adopted first for its business started around four years back. Activities of the company were all-in-all revolved around acrylic jobs for signboards and LED letters. But the robust growth surging in the city’s signage segment inspired the company to get into the domain of digital large-format printing. For the purpose, Bhavesh Sign installed Infiniti printers with Spectra Polaris and XAAR Proton prinheads and Wit Color with XAAR 128 printheads.

“As of now, we are more or less engaged in the job works only through agencies,” says Bhavesh Ravat of Bhavesh Sign adding that the company’s current volume of prints is 40,000 sq ft a month. With its aim to go for a big expansion in near future, Bhavesh Sign is looking forward to equip a new printer with Hitachi printheads. “Also, our vision is to include eco-solvent printers in our portfolio as this technology has broader scope in the current market,” mentions Bhavesh. He points out that in-shop displays occupy tremendous volume of business in the current signage market.

Of course, the company’s job works are now set to convert into direct marketing business. “We are going to set up a marketing team for undertaking direct jobs from clients,” asserts Bhavesh. Hope this Rs 30-lakh company is now pitching to surge ahead for a new stance in the region’s signage segment following the adoption of new technology and new marketing strategy.

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Ad Digital World
Small corner for big corporate players

Firoz S Shaikh (R) with an Infinity executive

Two years of the company’s robust business have roped in a number of corporate clients from different industrial segments. Aircel, Sony Ericsson, Honda, Bislery and others are some of the leading corporate companies in the company’s current client list. Delivering the finest ever quality to its customers, machine portfolio of Ad Digital World is competent as it is equipped with an Infiniti printers (with XAAR and Spectra printheads). Commenting on the efficiency in outputs, Firoz S Shaikh of Ad Digital World says that the company’s success is an outcome of our robust line of machine portfolio.

“No doubt, Infiniti is a big help to us as without them we couldn’t have achieved what we are today,” asserts Firoz adding that Spectra printheads are the reason behind the quality that the company has been delivering to its clients aggressively. Firoz further mentions that all that appraisals about the company’s works are quite good so far. Hoarding, glow signboards, backlit signs and others are what the company extensively delivers to its clients.

More than 30 experienced staff of the Ad Digital World handles the company’s overall printing, fabrication and installation activities. “We have in-house facility of producing whatever our clients require,” mentions Firoz.

Since its entry into the industry over the last few years, Ad Digital World has developed its signage world across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and other parts of India. But they are now in a mode to expand further as the company plans to add another new Infiniti printer with Hitachi printheads.

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Gopi Enterprise
Collection of complete range of materials

Narendra Khiani and his son Manish

The role of Gopi Enterprise is quite vital in the signage market of Ahmedabad. This media dealer is an authentic supplier of a broad range of materials for a number of PSPs in the city and other parts of Gujarat. Established in 1994 as an exclusive dealer of ‘just’ acrylic sheets, Gopi Enterprise keeps on adding new materials in its product line. Today, the company’s product shelves are compact with an array of inks, PVC and acrylic sheets, etc. “We primarily deal with Starlite inks and flex materials along with other brands supplied to a number of PSPs in and around Ahmedabad,” says Narendra Khiani of Gopi Enterprise.

“The signage market of Ahmedabad is considered to be one of the biggest in India. Still the market is expanding to bring in bigger prospects in near future,” remarks Narendra. He further mentions that the volume of consumption of medias and inks in the market is tremendous. “Around 10,000 litres of inks can be sold in a month all across Gujarat,” he adds. Of course, homing around 400 PSPs, Gujarat is fairly a proficient market in terms of its volume of consumption. Also, Gopi Enterprise boasts of delivering two containers of flex media every month.

Gopi Enterprise is optimistic about its further business expansion. “We are very forward to expand our business in what we are engaging now,” says Narendra who has not yet decided to diversify into other services like printing, fabrication and installations. But the company is very much sure about its strategic entry into the trading of LED components. “LED market in Ahmedabad is seemed to be expanding in innovative and ever lasting aspects,” mentions Narendra.

A team of 15 staff works on dispatching and delivery of materials to the company’s customers extensively based in several cities and towns of Gujarat. Around 80 percent of the company’s business is pivoted around Ahmedabad city whereas the rest dispersed across other parts of the state. It’s apparent that Gopi Enterprise is now moving ahead to boost its Rs five-crore turnover to a new height.

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Target
Where innovations find its success path

Mahesh Patel

Your own photograph on carry bags, calendars, coffee mugs, mouse pads, T-shirts, pillow covers, name plates… these are quite an interesting creation through dye-sublimation printing for youngsters! Not only for younger horde, dye-sublimation technology churns out a gamut of other display items meant for trade expos, road shows, self-promotion, etc. Target in Ahmedabad is where one can just drop in for all these creative concepts, whether it could be printers, consumables and concepts used in dye-sublimation printing production process.

“We provide training of this new technology to our customers who are primarily photo studios, gift shops and more particularly sign makers,” says Mahesh Patel, managing director, Target adding that the company just introduced Habit, a one-stop showroom designed to stock/demonstrate all customised items/products. “This kind of (showroom) facility is first of its kind in the Indian market,” he adds.

Epson printers with Piezo printheads (not thermal printheads) are the chosen machines for dye-sublimation printing. “Printing could be up to 3 - 4 feet as it prints on T-shirts, curtains, pillows, etc in a very customised manner,” explains Mahesh. He further elucidates, “This dye-sublimation technology would develop in such a way that it could totally customise your personal room too.” Of course, table tops, bed sheets, wall images, etc could be tailor-print using this transfer technology in which graphics are printed (in mirror image) on a special paper using dye sublimation inks. The graphics are then transferred on the surface of different products,” describes Mahesh.

Customisation of a gift/display item may cost 30-40 percent of the original price of the product. Now, Target is targeting to expand the footprints of Habit all over Gujarat in the next six months. “We also have plan to cover all over India later on,” says Mahesh revealing that the company has so far roped in 15 customers (technology buyers) who are now actively engaged in this dye-sublimation business in Ahmedabad. “Since customised gift items popular in the market have been predominantly just diaries and calendars, we are now revolutionising this segment with dye-sublimation printing technology compatible with more than 500 items,” asserts Mahesh. He proudly remarks that India has a customised gift market of Rs 800-crore.