At the Tiruna stand at IndiaCorr Expo 2017, Packaging South Asia met Vikas Gupta, who represents the company that markets Tiruna’s products in India, and Javier Sanchez Sesma, technical manager, Tiruna for a discussion on the company’s exhibits at the show as well as its plans in India. Talking about the corrugation rolls on display, Gupta said, “We’re displaying corrugation rolls which we’re importing from Spain. Tiruna is one of the leaders in corrugating rolls with just one or two serious competitors in the world. The company began operations in India about a decade ago and has a fairly good knowledge of the corrugation rolls market in the country. There are more than 2,500 corrugation plants with automatic machines in India, which we’re confident of penetrating.”
Gupta is a former managing director of Modinagar Rolls, one of the leading manufacturers of industrial rolls with applications across different industries including the paper industry, which is a main area of focus for the company. He said that ever since he quit Modinagar Rolls in June 2016, he has been in contact with several corrugators in the country. It is during these interactions that came to realize the problems they faced in terms of engineering, automation and several other aspects of production. They were importing most of the components from China and were not getting any meaningful support within the country. Thereafter, he set up a partnership with Tiruna and became their agent in India.
“We’re marketing Tiruna’s products in India and we are aware that it will take some time for the business to pick up pace. This exhibition is a good platform for us and we’ve met over a hundred corrugators already. People already know Tiruna as a brand; it wasn’t me who was introducing Javier (from Tiruna) to the visitors but Javier who was introducing them to me,” added Gupta in a lighter mood. “There were also many corrugators whom I knew personally. We’re beginning operations with around twelve people initially and then we will increase our team strength gradually as we set up a manufacturing base here.”
Tiruna is based in Pamplona, Spain where it has huge manufacturing operations; it also has manufacturing plants in the US and China. The company will have its next big overseas manufacturing unit in India as it considers this to be the right time for expansion in the Indian market. Tiruna has specialized in the manufacture and repair of metal parts for various industries since the very beginning and got into the manufacture of corrugating rolls almost four decades ago, on the basis of its strong relationship with the paper industry. Initially, it produced corrugating rolls and pressure rolls for the corrugation industry but gradually introduced products on several kinds of carton making machines.
Tiruna has a specialized agent network, which enables it to sell its rolls in over 60 countries to customers who value the quality of its products, services and know-how. In addition to corrugation rolls, the company also produces glue and doctor rolls besides marketing many other related accessories. Sesma said that the Indian market needs to shift from the weight-based use of paper to measurement-based use as that implies better and more economical use of paper. He cited the example of Mexico which had faced the same problem but with more exposure to better technology, realized before long that measurement-based use of paper is the best option for the corrugation industry. He believes the Indian market will mature even faster as better and more sophisticated technologies arrive in the market.
