REALISING BIG DREAMS
Mar,2007
?Touching life, everyday? - such is the mission of Radha Madhav Corporation Ltd. (RMCL), an upcoming packaging company. With an impressive range of packaging products and customers spread across a variety of industries, it is not surprising that RMCL indeed touches our lives every day. Aspiring to establish itself as a complete packaging solutions provider, the company has ambitious plans to take on the world of packaging...
What started off as a consolidation of three partnership firms has carved a niche for itself, in a span of two years! And, the story does not end here; in fact it is just the beginning. Expansions are going on in full swing - for capacity addition as well as for introducing new product lines?
A metamorphosis
The Daman-based Radha Madhav Corporation Ltd. (RMCL) was formed as recently as in January 2005. However, the business itself is more than 10 years old, as RMCL is the result of the metamorphosis of three firms - Mayura Industries, Radha Madhav Industries and Metro Poly Prints. The consolidated business basically offers primary packaging and secondary packaging, with an Rs.220-crore gross block.
In the more than a decade-old journey, RMCL has serviced more than 400 clients. These are spread across India and abroad, and encompass industries like FMCG, pharma, food & spices, cosmetics & personal care, confectionery, milk & milk products, infrastructure, cement, textile & garments, etc. Thus, one of its current strengths is the good relationship maintained with such a large number of clients.
?We know all our clients directly, and we know their packaging requirements, which make it easy for us to offer products or solutions according to their needs,? said Mitesh Agarwal, Managing Director & CEO, RMCL.
Agarwal, who has taken the mantle of the company from his father and founder of the company, is steering RMCL in the right direction. While embracing the latest technologies, he didn?t forget to build a team with the right attitude. ?I have a team of people, who have been with the company since its inception. So, there is the synergy required to accomplish our ambitious future plans,? added Agarwal.
Product lines
A company driven by technology, RMCL has state-of-the-art facilities for the production of primary packaging and secondary packaging. Primary packaging is again divided into flexible division and folded carton division, while secondary packaging includes products like liners, specialty thermoformable films, cartons and various profiles for different applications.
With in-house manufacturing of barrel cast and blown films, metallization arrangements, lamination, gravure coating, extrusion coating, and good printing facility; RMCL presently manufacturers surface printed barrier films, metalized films, laminates, wrappers, overwrap films and lamination films of various types. It also manufacturer?s multi colored printed mono cartons of very high quality. Calendar films of pharmaceutical packaging form a soon-to-be-added product line.
RMCL also commands leadership in secondary packaging with a product portfolio comprising stretch cast films, BOPP tapes, masking film, soft blister films, commodity liners of various materials like PE, PVC and PP.
As of now, food & beverages packaging forms the major share in RMCL?s revenue. With the new Uttaranchal unit getting ready for production, the company plans of enter pharmaceutical segment as well. ?About 60 per cent of our product will be in pharmaceutical packaging and close to 30 per cent will be in food packaging. I believe revenue is better in pharmaceutical segment, but at the same time cost is also little higher,? added Agarwal.
All under one roof
The company proudly claims itself to be capable of making any type of cast and blown polymer films - as the customer wants. Granules are bought from Reliance, IPCL, DuPont, etc. Purchasing is made in economies of scale, which controls the cost.
The laminates produced by the state-of-the-art machines are of high quality, and are less costly as compared to the competitors? products.
Solvent-based and solvent-less lamination facilities are available. One, three, five or more layered laminates can be made as per the barrier properties required by the customer. A tandem extrusion line is being installed currently. The gravure and flexo printing lines meet the customers? printing needs as well. The flexo line is a comparatively new addition, which offers better registration and cost savings for customers of flexible packaging.
A recently installed machinery makes 10-12 ? heat-shrinkable poly film called double bubble film, a replacement for PVC films. The double bubble film can be used as a secondary packaging to pack a set of bottles, for instance, in pharmaceutical packaging. This film will cost only 60 per cent of PVC film. A new pouch packing machine will be installed soon for food products.
Barrier properties of films can be enhanced by silica coating, i.e., silicon oxide and aluminum oxide coating on transparent films. These films can be used in place of aluminum foil. RMCL has silica coating facility, where the coating is continuously monitored and controlled to maintain the right thickness of 1-2 ?. There is also the facility for wax coating for soap wrappers.
RMCL has all the technology under one roof - be it flexo or gravure printing, solvent based or solvent-less lamination, etc. The choice is up to the customer, but guided by the able professionals.
In an attempt to further improve the service offered to its customers, RMCL is in the process of implementing SAP. ?It?ll go live by April 2007. SAP will enable the customer to track the progress of the order placed with us. This is being done for the first time inIndia. With this, we will be a part of the customer supply chain,? beamed Agarwal.
A tactful approach
Visibly proud of RMCL?s strong and diversified customer base, Agarwal explained the company?s strategy, ?Our strategy is to build a long-term relationship with the customers, and be flexible enough to meet their varying needs. Most of our machines are meant for smaller production runs. However, we maintain a certain production quantity to manage it economically. This gives us an edge over our competitors. We are ready to supply to anyone if the profitability is 15-16 per cent.? He proudly stated that when sourcing their packaging requirements from RMCL, the customer is not paying more, but getting more benefits.
Some fine examples
Retail packaging for food is one of the areas, where RMCL has made inroads. The recently launched Reliance retail chain uses RMCL?s poly films for its pulses, cereals, etc. The company has developed a film, where printing can be done directly on the film. This is called surfaces printing film. There is an option to laminate the film, i.e., a printed polyester film laminated to a barrier film. This film supplied to Reliance retail stores is completely recyclable, cheaper and gives the effect of laminated films. ?Currently, the volumes may not be high, but we know it will pick up in the future. By supplying according to the customers? qualitative and quantitative needs, we remain their preferred customers,? elaborated an enthusiastic Agarwal.
Another interesting packaging material developed by RMCL is in the industrial packaging sector, again for Reliance. Recron? 3s is a state-of-the-art reinforcing material from Reliance, which is used to increase strength in a variety of applications. For example, Recron? 3s acts as ?secondary reinforcement? in concrete which arrests cracks, increases resistance to impact / abrasion & greatly improves quality of construction. For Recron? 3s, RMCL has developed a paper-based packaging, where the paper dissolves in water within two rotations of the concrete mixture.
About 60 per cent of our product will be in pharmaceutical packaging and close to 30 per cent will be in food packaging - Mitesh Agarwal, managing director & CEO, RMCL.
The paper has to withstand all the pressures in the transit, sale and distribution network. At the same time, when it is thrown into the concrete mixture, it has to tear off and get dissolved in the mixture. ?The paper we developed initially had a very thin coating of PE material. But, Reliance wanted a further thin coating and we modified the material and reduced the amount of coating. We offer surface printed films and, laminates in various structures. So, as per the varying budgets and aesthetic needs, we have developed almost five products for Recron itself. And, we regularly supply these five products. The quantity per order may be small, but we value our relationship with Reliance, as with our all other customers,? explained Agarwal.
Expanding horizons
RMCL is carrying out expansion of manufacturing facilities for existing and new products. A new unit in Daman is in the final stages and it will be ready by March 2007. This until will add to the production capacity of existing product lines, i.e., BOPE high end barrier shrink film, coated films, and laminated structures / wax-coated structure / contoured and shaped pouches. The machinery has been imported from Italy and Korea, where the company has technical support to produce world-class products. BOPP films will be produced in India for the first time and the company will enjoy monopoly position in the sub-continent.
Meanwhile, the new plant in Uttaranchal will manufacture packaging for solid drugs, liquid syrups, creams and ointments of both Rx and OTC nature. This includes blister packs for tablets and capsule, collapsible tubes with PVDC coating, etc. The PVDC coating is to be offered for the first time in India by RMCL. The new plant will follow international quality standards like HACCP and GMP. Blisters will be produced in-house in hygienic conditions, right from the granules. Technically high-end calendar films will be used, on which even minute printing can be done. This is quite critical in pharmaceutical packaging. There will also be provision for label printing. The new facility will be ready by May 2007, and production is slated to start in June 2007.
?In the pharmaceutical sector, we have at least 50 existing clients. As of now, we are supplying them our other products. Now, we have started the legwork of supplying PVC blister products. Since we are already supplying to the pharmaceutical industry, we don?t expect any problem in marketing the new product?, explained Agarwal.
While talking on the new R&D project, Agarwal said, ?Earlier, major R&D work was done by our collaborator in Italy. Our in-house facility was capable to modify the quality to some extent, which was good enough so far. However, to keep up with our growth plans, a dedicated R&D centre is also being established for developing high-tech packaging products for pharmaceutical industry.
On a positive note
?We believe in offering next-generation products, while keeping in mind the price-sensitive Indian market. And, we want to position ourselves as a complete packaging solutions provider,? concluded Agarwal, while sharing his dream of RMCL to be known as more of a packaging advisor than a product manufacturer.
For further details please contact:
Khushboo Doshi
Head-Marcom
Phone: +91 2827 252701/2/3
Fax: +91 2827 252700
Email: info@rajoo.com
Website: www.rajoo.com |
