01. Printing industry of Sri Lanka - an overview

-



1. History in brief 

The printing industry in Sri Lanka has a long history, going all the way back centuries. 

As the records state, the first printing press was introduced to Sri Lanka by Dutch's in 1736, about seven decades later upon capturing the maritime areas of then "Ceylon" by expelling the Portuguese. This press was active from 1737 to 1796 and used for printing religious, educational and non-educational books in Sinhala, Tamil and Dutch languages. The technology used was one of the oldest, the "Moveable type press". This technique allowed individual letters to be configured and placed together in any order and transferred to paper by pressing on.

www.wikipedia.org

A page from the first book printed in Sri Lanka
Titled "SINGALEESCH GEBEEDE-BOEK"

dailynews.lk

    From then the industry has been growing and evolving through various stages. There ware nearly 100 printing companies established in the country in the beginning of 20th century. However printing services was limited to books, newspapers and government gazettes until mid 1900s. With the rise of the film industry in 1970, printing movie posters became popular as well. After 1977,  the government policy on deregulating, privatizing and opening up the economy to international competition provided numerous potential for printing services to become a very successful job-creating and money-making industry in the country. With this new shift toward an open market economy, many new products and companies entered the market, creating competition and the need for branding, packaging, advertising, and marketing. To accommodate this new market demand, the printing industry was required to expand rapidly and remarkably.

     within the past two decades, the printing industry became highly diversified under different manufacturing segments and all types of print technologies. Specially with the development of the IT industry and modern electronics, many variations of printing have emerged. One of the biggest factors driving technological change in the printing industry is digital print technology. For a long time, traditional "press" methods dominated the printing industry; nowadays, digital has emerged as the leading printing process.

    All these new demands, trends and technological advancements have led "printing" to become a wide spread stable form of industry expanded from small scale self employed shops to multi million global scale companies. 


2. Most prominent printing technologies in Sri Lanka

(Click on the names below for a short video - YouTube )

OFFSET PRINTING

Offset lithography is the most common high volume commercial printing technology. In offset printing, the desired print image is burned onto a plate and is then transferred (or offset) from the plate to a rubber blanket, and then to the printing surface. The lithographic process is based on the repulsion of oil and water. The image to be printed gets ink from ink rollers, while the non printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the non printing areas ink-free.

This technique has been the most prominent for over a 100 years in Sri Lankan printing industry. It is used for printing on paper materials. Newspapers, magazines, brochures, stationery, books, posters and labels are some of the usual applications. In comparison to other printing technologies, offset printing is best suited for creating huge volumes of high-quality prints in a cheap and low-maintenance manner.


Flexography is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is essentially a modern version of letterpress, evolved with high speed rotary functionality, In flexography, the desired imagery or lettering is engraved in the form of tiny indentations, or cells, onto a flexible rubber plate by means of plastic-molding techniques. 

Flexographic printing is commonly used to print high volumes of labels and packaging. it can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate, including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper. These presses can achieve speeds of 500 to 2000 feet per minute.


The process is the reverse of relief printing, in which the image is raised from the surface of the plate. The printer forms the image by cutting into the plate by hand or by using acids or other chemicals to etch the plate along the lines of the desired image. The printer then covers the plate with ink and wipes the ink from the higher surface, leaving the depressions, or intaglio areas, filled with ink. Paper pressed to the plate then absorbs ink from the depressed areas. Varying the depth of the depressions provides tonal gradations in the printed image.

This method is often used to print large volumes of magazines and catalogues. 


Screen printing is the process of transferring a stenciled design onto a surface using a mesh screen, ink and a squeegee. This can be considered as a primary technique compared to other printing methods. These stencils (Screens) are created by spreading a light sensitive substance over a woven mesh fitted to a wooden or aluminum frame and exposing to a special light source. 

This method  needs less tools and equipment and a business can be initiated with a minimum capital and labor. Screen printing is can be used to print almost any material including paper, plastic, polyethene, metal, wood, rubber, leather granite and specially fabric materials.


A laser printer  manipulates static electricity to attach toner to a sheet of paper. Laser toner is a powdered ink that’s more grain-like than regular ink. The printer processes an image or document from a device. Then it uses high-voltage circuits to give electrical charges to some of its components.

Laser printers can print much faster than inkjet printers can. Most are equipped with high-capacity paper trays, so they can print more pages at a given time. They’re also built to handle the printing of thousands of pages per month without succumbing to wear-and-tear. Most of these printers are used to print high volumes of black and white documents and commonly utilized by small scale institutes like communications and type setters.

In inkjet printers, the printer processes an image or document from a device and using small nozzles (jets) which are positioned throughout the printer sprays ink droplets onto a sheet of paper as it passes by. Hundreds of nozzles release thousands of ink droplets. Inkjet printers are better at blending colors. Inkjets can also print on a variety of paper types, including glossy paper. Laser printers can’t print on any paper type that’s sensitive to heat.

Inkjet technology is used in vast range of printers. Their functions would range from simple day to day printing to high-quality fine art prints for photographers and artists.


The term "Digital printing" is slightly misleading. In Sri Lanka, solvent based inkjet printers are commonly known as digital printers. This technology firstly introduced in Sri Lanka in the early 2000s, and it quickly spread throughout the country as a new segment of the printing industry. 

Solvent ink are an oil-based solution that holds pigment and resin. When the solvent evaporates by heating, pigment is left behind. Solvent ink can last for up to five years, making it a great solution for long-term outdoor graphics. Banners, Backlit light boxes, Vehicle wraps and decorative stickers are some common applications of solvent based printing. 


UV or Ultraviolet printing is the most resent one of the printing technologies. These printers use a variation of ink that can instantly be cured by  UV rays and has the ability to print directly on many types of surfaces. 


3. Categorizing the types of printing business

At present around 4000 printing establishments are operating around the country. Over 40,000 people are directly employed by these establishments, and a fair proportion are employed in supporting services. The printing industry, like any other, consists of small scale personnel businesses to well-established factories with multiple machinery and a considerable number of staff. In recent years, The Sri Lankan printing sector has invested adequately in modern technology, resulting in increased capacity and vastly improved quality to keep up with international standards and latest trends.

There isn't a clear categorizing of the types of businesses in Sri Lankan Printing industry.  Some companies may utilize more than one type of printing technologies. Therefore the most reasonable way of categorizing them is by capacity and services they offer.

    By Capacity

  • Communication centers and type setters 
  • Small scale stationary printers
  • Small scale digital printers
  • Medium scale all in one printing companies
     By Services
  • Book Publishers and printed media firms
  • Packaging and branding companies
  • Advertising and signage making companies
  • Photo printing and album making companies
Within these categories this blog is focused about the ongoing HR issues in following four.

Small scale stationary printers

These are one of the most widespread type of printing businesses. Their main services are printing stationeries such as invoice books, letterheads, business cards and leaflets for other local businesses. usually consists of one or 2 offset printing machines and a few other supporting machinery. Number of staff is regularly between 3 to 8 

Small scale digital printers

Structured and operated as same as the stationary printers, a few machines and a few employees. This type of firms undertake jobs like banners, indoor and outdoor signage, cutouts and  backdrops. These can be considered a low-investment businesses that are renowned for providing their customers with reasonably priced and low time consuming advertising solutions. 

Medium scale all in one printing companies

these type of companies offer widest range of printing solutions under one roof. Most of these are equipped with both offset and digital type printing machines along with the supporting machines like die cutting and laminating. usually employees more than 20 personals. these medium scale printers specialize in producing larger quantities of prints and products in a shorter period of time and ready to provide services to both regular walk-in consumers and the cooperative sector costumers.

Photo printing and album making companies

These companies generally use expensive cutting-edge technologies and machinery to generate high-quality, long-lasting prints. The majority of them employ 5 to 20 people. 




References:


KULARATNE, TILAK. (1995) “Introduction of printing to Sri Lanka (ceylon). The Dutch Press in Ceylon (1736–1796),” Libri, 45(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/libr.1995.45.2.65.

Hemapala, N.E. (2004) Origin of Sinhala printing, Online edition of Daily News - features. Available at: http://archives.dailynews.lk/2004/09/18/fea04.html (Accessed: November 27, 2022).




Comments

  1. shash909 December 2022 at 19:58

    Ramesh, really printing sector is also another a main industry in our country.it cleary describes the types of printing & methods.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RAMESH UBHAYARATHNA12 December 2022 at 00:36

      yes Shash, The printing industry is one of the most significant in the world. It generates numerous business and employment opportunities. It is also constantly evolving with new technology and cost-effective methods. However, it is a business sector in Sri Lanka that is frequently overlooked by both job seekers and entrepreneurs.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

05. Impacts of high employee turnover on the industry.

-
Image
     In my previous articles i have discussed deeply about employee turnover rates and some of the factors that can increase them, The following article is about the impact of employee turnover on businesses, and whether it is a serious problem.           High employee turnover is disadvantageous for a variety of reasons. These reasons can range from short-term, visible effects to long-term, subtle effects that develop over time.      Departing employees create recruitment and retention gaps in the short term, and recruitment costs definitely increase. In the long run, a high staff turnover rate within the company may indicate to existing employees and potential employees that your company has a problematic company culture or is not a great place to work. Although employee turnover may not be the result of internal issues, it can still have a negative impact on your business.` Effects of  high employee turnover. Decreased ...
Read more

03. Shortage of skilled labor in Sri Lankan Printing industry.

-
Image
     Printing industry of Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a considerable shortage of "Skilled labor". Specially as a field with jobs that requires manual labor  as well as a lot of  practical and theoretical knowledge.  Finding the right people with enough creativity, sense of technology and passion is challenging. Careers related to printing industry  and their responsibilities. Figure 1 Identifying  the reasons for skill shortage. Figure 2 Not enough places to get knowledge ?           Most people believe that there are not enough places for getting knowledge and improving skills on printing related jobs.  The general perception in the industry and society is that the only way to go into a print-related career is to join a printing company as a trainee and progress from there.       However a further study on the matter proved otherwise. On the job...
Read more