Micxhelman inaugurated its state-of-the-art packaging incubator in Mumbai on 31 January 2018. The centre was inaugurated by Steve Shifman, president and chief executive officer at Michelman and Edgard D Kagan, the US Consul General in Mumbai. The event was also attended by many material suppliers, film manufacturers, converters and distributors of Michelman coatings around the country.
The incubator, called the Michelman Innovation Centre for Coatings (MICC), is strategically designed to serve the needs of India and its surrounding markets to allow for fast and efficient development of sustainable packaging solutions using a variety of substrates with water-based coatings that can be formulated, tried and reformulated. The facility includes complete formulation ingredients, materials and application labs as well as a dual station coater-laminator from Kroenert and, most importantly, highly trained expert technical personnel. The MICC is located in the bustling business district of Andheri East.
The use of the innovation centre by film manufacturers and packaging converters to come up with new coated films and laminates will be free of charge, said Michelman India’s managing director Sailesh Nema. At the evening function organized in conjunction with the inaugural, he said, “With this investment, brand owners can walk in to our premises and come up with new structures. Similarly, converters do not need to use their assets, which are meant for production for doing their experimentation. Instead, they can use our centre to come up with prototypes, test the barrier properties and present the solutions to their customers.”
Nema added, “We are sensitive that everybody in the world wants more sustainable and greener solutions but also that no one wants to pay a high premium for these, and at times no premium at all. Hence, we are committed to meet this challenge as well, to help our partners come up with solutions of value, that meet compliances cost effectively—greener but viable solutions.”
The sentiment of openness and the need for collaboration in technical and sustainable solutions was echoed warmly by Michelman president Shifman, who said, “I am always thrilled and enthused by India for the energy that I feel every time that I come here. Our entire global team is thrilled by the entrepreneurship of the country, a great place to do business and the enthusiasm of the people here. Our purpose at Michelman is to innovate a sustainable future with expert materials.
“We have built this Michelman Innovation Centre as a hub of innovation and we want to do this with all of Michelman’s values, which include collaboration and success. We want to collaborate and create successful solutions for this marketplace together. Please take advantage of our MICC. Come and innovate with us. We have built this MICC for you. We want you to be our partners in this process. Come and innovate and if we do this successfully, we can all win and grow together!”
