The Group of Robustelli, Fortex and Epson has scaled a new peak in digital printing with their combined strengths. The latest offering is improved versions of the Monna Lisa printer, which has taken the digital printing world by storm. ?The Monna Lisa project was born many years ago, but it was the best digital printer launched first. Epson provides the head and ink and Robustelli enngineered the project. Fortex, who is the third partner, is well entrenched in traditional textile printing. These three competences joined and introduced the MONNA LISA®, which can be definitely ranked at the top of the international market of textile digital printers for production and sampling,? said Angelo Marelli, R&D Manager of FOR.TEX Srl, Italy, while speaking to the Editor of The ITJ in an informal chat.
Listing methodically the advantages of Monna Lisa, Marelli said that this was the only system, which combines all the processes in one place. ?The ink, heads and the entire chemistry for the process is supplied by us from one place. This is a big advantage because if a customer has a problem, whether it is the head or ink or system interface, the solution comes form one source. While in other systems, the various processes come from different sources,? Marelli said.
Monna Lisa is for direct printing. Said Marelli: ?The width is from 180 to 320 cm. The printer can be made as per specification of the customer and it is very customer-friendly to operate. We have already 10 units in India.
We see India as one of the fastest growing markets in the world. We have one agent in India, who is in-charge of sales, technical help and service.?
?Against 2 to 4 per cent of digital printing penetration worldwide, it is almost 60 per cent in Italy. We have almost 300 units installed in the markets worldwide, 70 per cent of which is in Italy. About 25 units have been set up in Turkey. Other places are Japan, South Korea, Spain, Brazil, Vietnam and Europe.?
Comotex of New Delhi is the agent for Epson, Robustelli and Fotex in India. Said Harish Tandon of Comotex: ?We started with some installations in the North. Mostly these companies supply woollen socks all over the world. Today, they are printing with digital printers in wool blends like wool-Modal, wool-cotton, etc. These companies have hundreds of looms. These digital machines from the group are very reliable and above all easily adaptable for all kinds of fabrics. Sharman, Syntex, Shingora are some of the customers who are not only happy with the machines, but are looking to install more.?
Monna Lisa has now entered a cost-conscious market like Surat. ?We have already three machines running there. Our association with this group has been there for 4 to 5 years. But the first machine from them was installed in 2012. We have a total of 10 machines in India, and now seeing the response at ITMA we hope to move faster now. The inflow of visitors for the machines is heavy, and everybody sees a very fast growing market in India,? said Tandon.
The Indian market, from south to north and west to east, is growing very fast. Said Tandon: ?We are very sure we will be selling more machines in the coming years. What this Italian group sells is a complete solution, and so customers prefer one-source for all their needs especially in a sophisitcated technology like digital printing.
The Group of Epson, Robustelli and Fotex is very keen to penetrate deeper into a price-sensitive market like India. ?The very fact that there are repeat orders even from a place like Surat speaks much about the price competitiveness of these digital printers. In this technology, reliability and results play a very important role. There are Chinese machines in Surat, but once they have seen the quality of final products, they are asking for Mo