Surat-based Klick Digital Press is a printing industry success story. The digital printing company was established in 2009 when the owners of Klick Digital Imaging, a digital photo lab powered with Noritsu and Kodak equipment, decided to venture into the digital photo album market.
“We have been in the business of photography since 1993. Initially as Pratibimb Colour Lab with silver halide technology and then as Klick Digital Imaging since 2001,” explains Bhavan Navapara, director of Klick, adding, “Later, we became Klick Digital Press with the acquisition of HP Indigo 5500 in 2009. We have put together what we feel is the best company in the photobook space with over two decades of experience of dealing with photographs.”
With this Indigo investment, Klick was able to establish itself as a key player in the burgeoning market in less than two years. All was well at Klick until a fire gutted its factory in July 2012.
The Indigo was gone.
“It was a tough time for us. We were losing business every day. We couldn’t wait for the insurance procedures to get through. HP bailed us out when they agreed to supply new equipment and loosened the payment terms,” recalls Navapara. Without much ado, the fire-stuck firm brought in a new HP Indigo 5600 in October and re-build the business. In 2013, it added a Scodix.
But the move was made in 2015.
Klick purchased the Indigo 10000 press. The machine was installed in December 2015. “It was a well-planned decision. With the Indigo, we had focused on photo albums. However, there was an entire textile market right in the city, which was totally untapped. We were already late,” says Navapara.
For Klick, a larger digital sheet size meant being able to do short-run saree catalogues and posters for the textile market, in addition to the bigger photo albums.
Navapara cites saree catalogues as an example of work from “an untapped space.”
He says, “These are 24- or 32-page catalogues printed on offset in the sizes of 11×16-inch and 14×20-inch. However, when it comes to printing less than 500 copies, digital is cost-effective. We could have done 11×16-inch catalogues on our Indigo 5600. However, the machine is always occupied with photobook work. In addition, we are also benefitting from the white ink of 10000 for UV coated poster jobs.”
Klick is working on converting the demand of 12×18-inch sized photobooks to 14×20-inch. “In the first year, we are confident of 30% conversion,” he adds.
The Indigo 10000 will be deployed for catalogues and posters for textile market. “To start with, 50% of the 10000’s work is catalogues, 20% is posters and 30% is photobooks, since we will take some time to create the market for 14×20-inch photobooks. Having Indigo 10000 is an advantage here. We are competitive in price, quality and service. HP Indigo 10000 gives us a great option for affordable shorter runs with very fast turnaround times,” he explains.
Navapara is impressed with HP’s service support. He says, in case of critical issues, the maximum downtime that he has suffered has never been more than one day. “Recently, they placed a service engineer in Surat, so it’s a matter of two-four hours before my machine is up and running again,” he says.
Now he waits. As Klick hopes to preside over an unprecedented roster of fortunes in Surat.