Pune-based Zaware Creative Enterprises has embarked on a multi-crore investment drive in its packaging division with a new plant, two new DGM converting machines, E&F flute corrugation lines, a testing lab and other ancillary equipment – adding 12 machines in this phase of expansion.
“We have always focused on quality and are known to deliver the best service. Keeping this in mind, we have undertaken a new investment drive. We have bought a number of machines, including a DGM folder gluer and a DGM die cutter. All this makes us ready for the next growth phase,” says Rahul Zaware, executive director, Zaware Creative Enterprises.
The two DGM machines –a Technocut 1050 die-cutter and a Smartfold 1100 SL folder-gluer – were booked during Printpack 2022 held in Greater Noida earlier this year. These two machines were installed at the Zaware Creative plant a few months ago.
Zaware Creative was started in 1999 by Rahul Zaware as a commercial printing firm. It ventured into carton printing and converting in 2016. Initially, the company was printing and converting small quantities of cartons but its volumes grew consistently over the years.
“The reason for going for the DGM converting solutions was to cut dependence on manual labor. Our pasting operation was manual, which was a bottleneck. If we have to effortlessly scale up our operations and convert lakhs and lakhs of monocartons and corrugated cartons every day, we have to go for the top converting technology,” Zaware argues.
Some other machines that the company has bought recently include lamination machines, an Anicolor addition to its 2-color Heidelberg SORZ press, a knurling machine, among others. Zaware has a Heidelberg SM-74 4-color press that it bought a few years ago.
State-of-the-art plant
Zaware Creative’s new plant is state of the art, which services customers in a radius of 200 kilometers.
“Ours is not an average plant. We may not have the scale of some big players, but our plant is fully compliant just like the best in the industry. We have green building certification, the sewage and effluent are treated in-house. The plant has been built like an industrial set up and not as just a printing and packaging plant that we often see in the industry,” Zaware says.
The plant has been built in a way so that it clears the most stringent audits, such as pharma clients.
“If I set my benchmark for the pharma industry, then any other audit will be a cakewalk. The most stringent compliance norms are set by the pharma industry. We hired a very senior consultant while designing the plant,” he says.
Zaware’s Future plans
Zaware Creative is extremely bullish about the future of the packaging industry in India, which is backed by the company’s mega investment drive. The company is planning further investments as well.
“Our key focus is packaging but we will continue to do commercial print jobs because we have a long-term relation with such customers. We have been working with them for years. However, our new investments will be mostly driven by the needs of our packaging business. So, in the next six to eight months, we will bring in a new 6-color press with UV. In the medium term, we plan to explore flexo printing technology so that we can provide other packaging solutions as well. We have enough space at our new plant to house these technologies,” Zaware concludes.
