The Innovative Printer of the Year winner (by Printweek) and the winner of the National Award for Excellence in Packaging (by AIFMP), Sai Paks diversifies its business into flexible packaging.
Sai Paks, a Pune-based packaging convertor is a pioneer in the print and packaging industry and has everything to offer under one roof. They cater to Pharma, Food, FMCG, beverage, and liquor sectors and offer printing and packaging products like cartons, mono cartons, shrink sleeves, labels, flexible packaging laminates, pouches, etc. Labels Flexibles and More visited their newly inaugurated flexible packaging plant and spoke to their managing directors, Deepan Samarth and Tejas Samarth.
Enhancing the product Portfolio
Talking about their new plant, Tejas said, “The production at our newly set-up flexible packaging plant began in November 2023. The demand for flexible packaging is enormous, and we have a new team to handle the new facility. We have a Rotograver Machine, a Slitting Machine, a Pouching Machine and a Lamination Machine at the plant. We have extended our product portfolio and have started offering flexible laminated pouches, stand-up pouches and all types of flexible packaging products. We supply in Pan India, but our priority is to provide products to existing customers and then to new ones. The machine’s width is 1300 mm, which can produce 110 tones in a month in one shift. We can also make short-run pouches, and we print a few products in flexo and laminate them in our rotogravure machine.”
“We have launched a few new innovative products in the shrink sleeves segment, like the Sand Touch, Soft Touch, Tactile Effect, and Wet Touch. Our customers highly appreciate these new products.”
The Challenges
Speaking about the hurdles in the flexible packaging business, Deepan Samarth said, “Gravure is a cylinder technology, and the flexo process is a plating technology. You need to check the cylinder’s width and circumference in rotogravure. At times, a cylinder costs more than other raw materials. Since we are relatively new in the flexible packaging manufacturing industry, buying the raw materials (like cylinders, inks and substrates) is a big challenge, as you do not get a single-day credit period. The second challenge is the development and finalisation of the artwork.”
“We have invested around 12 crores for this new rotogravure printing line, which includes a two-acre plot. We plan to install an extrusion machine and a CI flexo press in the unutilised additional space in the next 2 to 3 years. In future, we plan to get all our production facilities at one centralised place on a 5-acre plot.”
Complete Packaging Solution under One Roof
“Now we have three production lines, i.e. offset, Labels and Flexible Packaging. We offer cartons, mono cartons, shrink sleeves, labels, stickers, flexible packaging laminates, pouches, etc. We have four flexo machines, four offset machines, and one rotogravure printing line. We have a food coating line, label inspection machines, variable data printing machines, pouching machines, and slitting machines. Also, we have a unique automatic leaflet interting machine. Now, we can confidently conclude that we have a complete basket of packaging to offer, including different types of labels; we also plan to increase the production of IML and heat transfer labels. Our reputed clientele includes Britannia, Chitale, Vadilal, Sona milk, and Mapro.” said Tejas.
Sai Paks has won the National Award for Excellence in Packaging in 2023 by AIFMP for two carton products and one for label products. The company received the Innovative Printer of the Year Award from Printweek for a pharmaceutical label in 2022 and for Chitale milk bottle sleeves in 2023.
Success Mantra
“It is simple, you have to be dedicated and focused to be successful; luck only favors the brave. Dedication and hard work are the ladders of success. Ethics is of the utmost importance, and there should be no material supply flaws, such as quantity differences. Rejection (if any) should be addressed on priority. The team should be considered a family. Team handling, though, is an individual skill. In total, we have 150 employees in our team; they have come from different places of India.” Concludes Deepan Samarth.
