but also be the completely systematic process control of the plant.
We have written in the past in Indian Printer and Publisher about TCPL’s plant in Silvassa in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli about three hours north of Mumbai. TCPL was incorporated in August 1987 and began production at Silvassa in April 1990. When we visited this plant a few years ago we were impressed not only by promoter Saket Kanoria’s art collection decorating the front office walls, but also be the completely systematic process control of the plant.
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The Silvassa plant is essentially built around the high speed and high quality of web fed board printed and converted on two Komori Chambon gravure presses that were imported brand new although it now has two manroland 6-colour plus coater presses. One of these is a full UV press, a “dream machine.” The high volume of the plant is driven by a remarkable system of quality checks during production so that quality is built into the product, and a large team of quality specialists who visit customers for quality satisfaction surveys at regular intervals. Since a considerable volume of the packaging is meant for high speed filling machines, the absolute quality of the substrates and the accuracy of the die-cutting and creasing is essential. Another highlight of this plant is the spectacular quality of gold printing on cartons using the gravure process.
Subsequently TCPL set up a packaging prepress facility in central Mumbai with a full complement of EskoArtwork software. The elegant prepress unit in the heart of the city was not only for servicing local customers but also to develop packaging prepress exports. We briefly visited this unit in February of this year.
In 2005 TCPL became a multi-location production company with its second printing and converting plant in a newly formed industrial area at Haridwar. The total cost of this project is around INR 300 million (approximately US$ 6.5 million) in a tax-free industrial estate. On our recent visit to the Haridwar plant we met Sanjay Jain, General Manager of operations at the plant. Jain explained that this plant provides packaging services primarily to TCPL’s domestic customers. The export facility remains at the Silvassa plant.
The total constructed area of this plant is around 7000 square meters. Designed by a reputed Swiss firm of industrial architects, the air-conditioned plant is made for high technology production workflow with strict quality parameters. Production at TCPL Haridwar began in November 2005 and by February 2006 the plant was accredited with its ISO 9001 2000 certification. In 2007, this plant also achieved BRC/IoP Global standard certification.
TCPL’s Hardwar plant employs two hundred skilled workers who with 24-hour production can print and convert 800 tons of board packaging a month. The plant’s annual turnover is currently around INR.60 crore (US$ 13 million).
TCPL at Haridwar is equipped with two Mitsubishi Diamond 3000 6-colouor plus coater offset presses. One of these, in fact the first machine installed at the plant, is a fully UV press, a “dream machine” equipped to print on non-absorbent substrates. The plant also contains an offline UV varnishing machine as well as gravure printing machines for enhancement of print quality including metallic gold and silver. For converting, TCPL has Bobst die-cutters and folder-gluers and ancillary equipment such as hot foil stamping machines, and window patching cum liner machines.
TCPL has installed the Code Reader Xtend series from Baumer HHS in combination with lower glue line detection which keeps a stringent check on quality parameters of cartons. Recently an automated lamination machine imported from Taiwan has been installed. This plant also has an ink matching centre set up by Siegwerk. TCPL’s clients include host of customers in segments such as FMCG, beverage, stationery, pharmaceuticals, and the airline industry. FMCG customers include Heinz, Cadbury, General Mills and Nestle in the food segment, and Colgate, Marico, Godrej, and Hindustan Unilever in the personal care category.
We recently spoke with TCPL’s CEO, Saket Kanoria about the current outlook for the packaging industry considering the global financial crisis. Saket Kanoria is a very down to earth businessman who has numbers at his fingertips and he is still optimistic — “TCPL’s plants both at Haridwar and Silvassa are not yet feeling any significant effects of a downturn. We are still hoping to cross a milestone turnover of INR 200 crore (approximately US$ 42 million) in the current financial year. However, we are preparing ourselves for any eventuality by diversifying into new product categories.”
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