Mumbai-based Jicon Industries manufactures pharmaceutical packaging machinery mainly for the export market in its 3,000 square foot plant in Andheri East. Jicon makes automatic and semi-automatic blister packaging machines, capsule filling machines, automatic and semi-automatic tube filling machines, automatic and semi-automatic container filling machines, cap sealing machine, strip packing machine and alualu blister packing machine. Vivek Zanj, production head at Jicon, with the tube filling machine at Pharma Pro & Pack Expo 2015
Founded in 1984, the company derives 70 to 75% of its business from exports while the rest comes from the domestic market. Emerging markets such as Iran, Nigeria, Belarus and Algeria are its major export destinations.
Jicon displayed two flagship models at the recent Pharma Pro & Pack Expo 2015 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre. The first machine on display was the Blistrip blister packing machine and the second machine was the Filltube automatic tube filling and sealing machine. Blistrip comes in two variants with speeds of 150 packs a minute and 250 packs a minute. Both have a maximum web speed of 5 metres a minute.
The Filltube automatic tube filling and sealing machine can be used to fill pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and food pastes in aluminium, plastic and lami-tubes. The machine can be used for filling of cream, ointment, gel, paste, balm and other similar viscous products by means of a volumetric dosing system. The machine has a speed of 2,400 tubes an hour for lamitubes and 3,000 tubes an hour for alualu tubes.
Talking about the response received at the Pharma Pro & Pack event, Vivek Zanj, production head at Jicon, said that it was good with a majority of the visitors being domestic companies. “Since our operations are focused mainly on exports, the fact that there were not many foreign visitors was a bit disappointing but we still had good interactions with some domestic pharma companies and also generated a few serious leads. All in all the event turned out to be good for us,” Zanj said.
Two new products in the offing
Zanj disclosed that the company is in the process of developing two new machines which are expected to hit the market within a year. Under development are a cartoning machine and a high-speed alualu blister packing machine. “There is good demand from customers to have a cartoning machine linked to the main machine, so we are planning to fulfil that demand,” Zanj said.
The new machines will be developed at the company’s under construction manufacturing unit at Bhiwandi. The 7,000 square foot plant will be commissioned around September or October 2015. “The current Andheri unit is small for increased manufacturing activities so we will be shifting to a much larger place in Bhiwandi and the two new products will be manufactured there,” Zanj concluded
