US-based Valco Melton has been in India for many years now with its local headquarters in Bengaluru. It is a supplier of gluing and spot gluing solutions for a variety of equipment used in the packaging industry, such as end of line carton sealing, case sealing, labelling, attaching pharmaceutical leaflet outserts, Tetra Pack straw and cap applications, and several others including some of the special binding effects used by daily newspapers such as the Times of India. Not many consumers understand that many of the modern products provided by modern retail rely on spot adhesives and glues both in the product and for their packaging and logistics.
Valco Melton’s customers in India include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and consumer product companies whose packaging and logistics rely on adhesives. These include many of the global players active in the country such as Hindustan Unilever, Kimberley Clarke; Heinz, Bobst; Coca-Cola; and PepsiCo. The company’s products are experiencing fast growth in the country since it has emphasized both service and innovation since entering the market. Its innovation partners include the Times of India and Coca-Cola.
At the same time, India is a price-sensitive market. Ravi Kiran, Valco-Melton’s director for India, Middle East and Southeast Asia says, “As a US multinational it is a real challenge to offer the kind of prices that the customers expect what we do here is always win the customer’s heart and aspirations by showing the bigger picture; in other words, by giving the total cost of ownership to the customers. All our customers experience great service and good quality products, so our existing customers become our assets and spread the word.”
One of the outstanding successes of the company has been its work with Bobst globally. When Bobst moved their folder gluer manufacture to Bobst India in Pune, there were several challenges because of the sophistication this project demanded which were overcome to establish a successful partnership. Other successes in the packaging and logistics area include the work with several blue chip beverage companies on pallet stabilization, which reduces plastics which means that it is an eco-friendly and cost-saving solution.
Valco Melton has developed a new technology product called Eco Stitch All Electric hot melt system, which combines a sophisticated electric hot melt controller with the gun, gear pump and tank. “This product can save adhesive consumption by up to 70% and the life of the gun is as long as 2 billion cycles. What this does is it starts working on your return of investment right from day one and gets the pay back in as early as 4 months,” says Ravi Kiran. Eco Stitch is seen as an important innovation that the company sees as a game-changer for the Indian market.
Valco Melton has developed a hot melt inspection system called Pack Check which inspects hot melt gluing (which is not immediately possible by manual checking because of the hot chemicals) after the filling of cartons. Pack Check can give complete information and feedback such as the quantity of the glue dispensed; whether the glue was dispensed properly; uniformity as per the set matrix; and, it eliminates the bad and unglued boxes from the line. “Thus, here we are talking about less human interaction for safety, yet accuracy increased many times resulting in an increase in satisfied end customers,” says Ravi Kiran.
