Central India’s leading carton and corrugated specialist Vijayshri Packaging formally inaugurated its new state-of-the-art plant on the outskirts of Indore on October 21. The unit started functioning in the first week of August and now has both carton and corrugated segments operating under one roof. The green field project, boasting a total built-up area of 2 lakh sq. ft., is the single largest printing and packaging facility in the central part of India. The factory building has an operational area of 140,000 sq. ft. divided between 80,000 sq. ft. on the ground floor and 60,000 sq. ft. on the first floor. Before moving to the new unit, Vijayshri operated from a much smaller unit in a different part of the city where the carton unit was separate from the corrugated unit as the two were distinct entities. In terms of products, Vijayshri makes monocartons, litho laminated cartons, liner cartons and pharma inserts, to name a few.
“The reason why we decided to erect the new plant was to combine the two-separate operations into one and bring the carton and corrugated operations under one roof. This was the demand of the times as carton and corrugated segments are now converging. We now expect to be able to service our customers better,” says Ayush Jain, director, Vijayshri Packaging.
Samples of packaging solutions on displayIn terms of machinery, the plant has multiple state-of-the-art equipment from leading global brands. Highlights in the press section are a 6-color Komori L640+C with coater, a 5-color Komori LS540+CX with coater, a 5-color Komori NL528+CX with coater and a 2-color Komori L240. The press section also has a 6-color Mitsubishi 1G 628+CX with coater as well as a 2-color Heidelberg SORDZ with UV attachment and a single-color Heidelberg 102E+L with coater and UV attachment. In the print finish section, it has aqueous coating machine Autoprint FC80, automatic paper lamination machine Bilhofer MHK-76, window lamination machine and laminated sheet separator.
The unit employs automatic diecutting machines Brasse’s Eterma 1050, YOCO JY10, Bobst SP900 and Maxima EXB35. It also has folder gluers from Brausse, Packtech and Acme. Cutting machines employed are from Polar and Seypa. There is a thermal CtP—Kodak Trendsetter Q-800—and laser cutting sample making machine in the prepress section.
In the corrugated division, the new plant has thin blade rotary creasing and cutting machine from Xinguang for corrugated box making. For corrugation, it has 2-ply high speed corrugation (B, C & F flute) machine with NC cutter and sheet stacker from Xinguang. It also has a single phaser corrugation machine (B & E flute) from Xinguang.
New solutions in the offing
For Vijayshri, the commissioning of the new plant will be a major booster as it will now be able to introduce new products and solutions. Jain believes his company will now be able to provide better and innovative packaging solutions to even small and medium brand owners. “We would want to offer the right advice even to small and medium brand owners so that they are also able to compete with bigger players when it comes to offering quality packaging. If you go to developed markets, the quality of packaging offered by smaller players is as good as that of bigger entities. Unfortunately, in India a large chunk of small and medium size brand owners are incorporating incorrect packaging solutions because they are not getting the right advise.”
Rapidly developing Madhya Pradesh
With Madhya Pradesh developing into an important agricultural state with focus on food processing, modern packing solution providers like Vijayshri are set to benefit greatly. The Madhya Pradesh government has been working on attracting the food processing industry to the state, which is one of the most important clients for Vijayshri. According to Jain, as the food processing industry develops in the state, demand for packaging solutions will also grow. “I expected demand for packaging in the state will see robust growth going forward as industries like food processing expand. With our new plant, we are now better prepared to leverage that growth. As of date, with the new plant in operation, Vijayshri’s converting capacity has increased to 1,200 tons per month from the earlier 500 tons; and once GST regime is in place, the pace of industrial growth in Madhya Pradesh will get a further boost. I see a great future for the packaging industry in the region.”
