Stork Prints is a global leading company in the textile and graphics printing market. Providing total system solutions: from screens, lacquers, inks and digital engraving to a broad range of rotary screen and digital printing systems. Stork’s Indian entity Stovec was established in the 70s and today it has established a strong leadership position in the Indian textile printing market. We spoke to Mr. Ashish Kaul, Managing Director of Stovec Industries Ltd. on the company’s performance in 2012 and future growth plans.
Question: How has the year 2012 been for Stovec? How many units were sold and how is the growth compared to the previous year?
Answer: The year 2012 proved very good for Stovec. It was the first year with our own sales organization for capital products, and we are very happy with the results. Compared to 2011, our sales grew up by more than 50 per cent in this product line.
Q: How was the response at India ITME? Have there been any confirmed orders generated during the show?
A: Response at the show was fabulous. The exhibition gave us an opportunity to showcase our new products and to meet most of our customers.
We could conclude a good number of orders for all the products we have exhibited, newly launched Rotary screen printing machine Stormac RDVI Gold and Stork Laser exposing machine, and also stork Laser engraving machine. We also received a good number of enquiries and generated interest among the visitors.
Q: Briefly, what were the products and technologies exhibited at your stall?
• New Stovec rotary screen printing machine Stormac RDVI Gold – the new Gold standard in Textile Printing, with best price performance ratio.
• New Stork Laser exposing machine SmartLEX – intelligent digital pre-press system for rotary screens.
• Random and Nova screens
• Digital Inks
Q: Overall, what is the market size in India for inkjet and rotary screen printing? How is the growth in the last few years?
A: We as a manufacturer and supplier of both the printing systems in India see a great future for printing in India. We are the only system supplier in the world for both the printing systems, including consumables for printing like ink, software, etc. While we anticipate a high growth rate of digital inkjet printing system, we also feel that the rotary printing will co-exist for volume printing in the future.
Q: How is Stovec’s presence in both these segments, what is your marketshare? Is there considerable growth year-on-year?
A: Stovec confirms its market and technology leadership in the rotary screen printing, and in digital we have made a good progress. As a manufacturer of high quality ink, we received good response from the premium digital printers. Yes, Stovec witnessed a considerable growth year-on-year.
Q: Can you name some of the major customers and installations in the Indian market?
A: Premier Spinning and Weaving Mills, Coimbatore, Alok Industries Ltd., Mumbai, Jay Jay Mills, Tirupur, Shivalik Prints, Delhi, Creative, Delhi, Akash Fashions, Ahmedabad, Chiripal, Ahmedabad, Bombay Rayon Fashions Ltd., Mumbai, Sri Krishna Spg. & Wvg. Mills, Bangalore, Ramkumar Mills, Bangalore, Binayak Tex Processors, Mumbai, Pradip Overseas, Ahmedabad, Raghuvir, Ahmedabad, and Printex, Tirupur.
Q: How would you compare the products and solutions offered by Stovec to those available in the market? What is the USP of Stovec machines?
A: We offer a machine with very high quality standards, long lasting and reliable performance. The machine is made in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Boxmeer in The Netherlands and Kufstein in Austria.
Stovec is a complete system supplier for textile printing – Rotary and digital; Rotary screen printing RDVI Gold – Sharper prints with combination of blade and roller squeegee; and SmartLEX – Unique system for digital screen making with the help laser
Q: In your manufacturing facility in Gujarat, what is the level of manufacturing of textile printing machines? Is it an assembly or complete manufacturing?
A: We have a world class manufacturing facility for producing the screens and a state-of-the-art plant for inspection and assembly of the printing machines. We have developed dedicated suppliers for producing the components for our printing machines, and have stringent quality control norms to ensure the quality and performance of the machines.
Q: What is the current capacity and is there a plan to make any significant investments in expanding capacity?
A: We have recently expanded the capacity forecasting the future growth in the Indian market. We are equipped with the capacity to cope up with the industry growth.
Q: Can you briefly touch upon your after-sales service and spares infrastructure?
A: We have a dedicated, trained after-sales service team with regional presence in key markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Coimbatore focussing on the customer satisfaction. We understand the importance of the after-sales service which is the backbone of our company and will continue to innovate and improve.
Q: Do you see good growth opportunity in the Indian textile printing market? What are the factors that would drive growth for your machines in India?
A: The printing industry is fashion dependent. Yes, we anticipate a drastic change in the fashion and the growing home textile market, which moves towards prints instead of dyed fabric. Also the environmental factors are forcing the trend to move towards printed fabrics. Also we expect the FDI in retail will create new opportunities in the Indian textile market, with the change in fashion, lifestyle and consumer demand.