A Common Facility Centre for printing presses with state-of-the-art printing and packaging machines will come up soon at Perumalpalayam near Thuraiyur in Tiruchi district.
The brainchild of a group of about 10 printers from Thuraiyur, situated about 45 km from Tiruchi, the facility is being established with the support of the State and Central governments.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV), Thuraiyur Print Forum, has been floated already for establishing the facility. The forum has purchased at l.25 acre site at Perumalpalayam, about six km away from Thuraiyur, and construction of a building for housing the machines is under way.
The centre is being established under the Micro Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP) of the Union government at a cost of ₹29.93 crore, which would go towards purchase and erection of machines. About ₹20.95 crore is expected to come by way of a grant under the programme while the State government would contribute about ₹4.44 crore.
While the State government announced the project in the Assembly recently, the final approval for the project from the Union MSME Ministry is expected shortly.
“The facility will benefit hundreds of printers, especially micro and small units, situated in Tiruchi, Perambalur, Namakkal, and Karur districts. Thuraiyur is centrally located to these districts and easily accessible. Printers can avail the facilities at a reasonable cost; the forum members will get some concession,” said R. Tholkappian, one of the directors of Thuraiyur Print Forum. The SPV has about 70 members. “We have a couple of members from even Salem and enquiries are coming from Chennai too,” he added.
Advanced facilities
The facility would have advanced AI-based, digital, offset, lamination, and packaging machines, including a hi-tech six-colour offset printing machine with coater. “We will have high capacity/speed machines. Many small units cannot get big orders because they cannot afford to purchase such machines. Now, they can use our machines to execute large and high quality orders,” he added and explained the rationale behind setting up the facility.
“We started our research way back in 2019 and made several exposure visits and studies. We signed a MoU with the State government during the Global Investors Meet 2024. SIDCO, the nodal agency and the District Industries Centre, have been very supportive of our initiative and guided us right through,” Mr.Tholkappian said.
The facility would generate direct employment to about 100 persons and indirect employment/benefit to thousands. The forum expects to start operations at the facility by July. The centre would feature a 200 kW solar power system to meet a major part of its power requirement of about 300 kW, Mr. Tholkappian said.
The common facility would provide access to latest technological advances to a large number of small printing units, said M. Ramalingam, general manager, District Industries Centre (DIC), Tiruchi. The DIC, he said, was working on promoting various other clusters too in the district. “There is a need for such facilities among various clusters, including the fabrication and food processing industries, in the district,” he said.
Published – April 15, 2025 09:06 pm IST
