Printworx, a carton specialist based in Bhiwandi, a commercial hub near Mumbai, recently integrated a state-of-the-art Bobst Novafold 80 folder gluer into its operations. This marks the company’s first acquisition of a Bobst machine, a sort of milestone for the decade-and-a-half-old enterprise. Since its establishment in 2010, Printworx has been catering to various industries, including the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food, eCommerce, and FMCG sectors.
Owner Kalpesh Loonawat explained the rationale behind the investment. “We were manually handling the folding and gluing processes for lock bottom cartons, which became a bottleneck with increasing volumes. Opting for automation with the Bobst Novafold 80 was a strategic decision for us. This machine offers versatility, with capabilities to process popcorn cartons and even the smallest cosmetic cartons.”
Since its installation in December 2023, the Bobst technology has demonstrated tangible benefits in productivity and quality, according to Loonawat.
“We have improved and increased the quality and the efficiencies in our operations. Our deliveries have become much faster, especially in the case of lock bottom cartons. We can now supply the finished cartons in one day, whereas earlier it used to take three or four days. That is a very significant improvement in deliveries. And because our deliveries have become faster, we can take more and bigger orders,” Loonawat added.
Printworx processes approximately 80 to 100 tons of paperboard monthly, serving customers primarily in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Gujarat. In its press department, the company operates a four-color Heidelberg offset press and a two-color SORMZ Heidelberg press.
Aiming for diversification and expansion
Like many packaging converting firms, Printworx has experienced robust growth in its revenue post-Covid. Presently, nearly half of its business originates from the pharmaceutical sector. However, Loonawat expressed intentions to diversify the customer base by increasing the share of industries such as FMCG, cosmetics, and eCommerce.
“Almost 50% of our business comes from the pharma industry. As a conscious decision, we want to increase the share of other segments such as FMCG, cosmetics, and e-commerce in our overall business. Cosmetics is something we are really optimistic about as growth in that segment is strong. The aim is to have a well-diversified portfolio of customers and not overwhelmingly rely on one industry. We will work in this direction going ahead,” he said.
Expansion plans and industry outlook
Printworx is poised to expand its capacities and enhance operational efficiency further.
“We are thinking of adding another press to our printing department. We plan to make our converting department even more efficient. We will add more machinery there. The Indian paper packaging industry is witnessing very strong growth and we expect this trend to continue. With the addition of the latest technologies, we hope to capture some part of this growth and provide quality products,” Loonawat said.
