Manjushree diversifies with multi-layer shrink film plant

Vimal Kedia, managing director of the PET pre-form manufacturer Manjushree Technopack explains how the new set-up in Bidadi will increase the company's turnover by five per cent.

11 Jul 2016 | By Ramu Ramanathan

Many beverage manufacturers have moved from traditional glass bottles to PET due to its economical and sustainability benefits. Today, the demand for PET has increased exponentially. The rise in the demand for PET bottles has contributed to the need for transporting them in bulk. The bulk transportation of PET bottles was carried out in corrugated boxes. Now there is a great demand for shrink film packaging to replace the boxes. Shrink film packaging guarantees protection against moisture, dirt, dust and theft. It offers perfect stackability and maximises loading capacity.

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The shrink film packaging industry in India is growing exponentially. This has been led by several beverage majors, 50% of whom have made a shift from traditional corrugated boxes to multilayer shrink film packaging. Shrink film serves the same purpose of holding several product packs or bottles together. One of the primary reasons for this move is the considerable cost advantage - shrink film costs one-third of corrugated boxes plus there is the aesthetic appeal of transparent packaging.

Today, Manjushree being one of the largest PET preform manufacturer for leading beverage brands like Pepsi.co and Coca Cola, saw it as a natural progression to venture into shrink film packaging by becoming a 360 degree packaging solutions provider to its clients Equipped with new generation machines from Germany’s Reifenhauser, which is one of the world’s best technology for shirink film, the set-up at Manjushree is by far the most efficient in the industry.

Manjushree’s state of the art plant boasts of fully automatic new generation machines from Germany. The machines are technologically superior with a multilayer extrusion system and can be customised to the absolute capacity for shrink film. The machine features an intuitive user interface and has amazing ultra cool extruders that produce high output and high quality films at a rapid pace.

Although, Manjushree does not get involved in the wrapping of the shrink film, the company produces the film as a raw material to supply it to the beverage partners. And, the wrapping is completed at the beverage partners’ units.

With this expansion, Manjushree is keeping pace with current industry trends. The company’s fully automatic multi-layer shrink film packaging plant in Bidadi is equipped with new generation machines that can produce 12-15 tonnes of shrink film every day. The average production of the film on a monthly basis could easily be at 400 tonnes. With this plant, Manjushree Technopack will be providing multi-layer shrink film packaging solutions to most of their existing clients including beverage majors like Pepsi, as a tertiary packaging solution, to make bulk packaging lighter.

With Manjushree’s entrance into shrink film packaging, the company will not only augment its offerings to existing clients aside PET pre-forms but become the only packaging major in India that provides a complete packaging solution. This milestone in Manjshree’s growth is expected to increase Manjushree’s overall turnover by 5%.

Manjushree’s clientele belong to the beverage industry. The industry’s headway towards shrink film packaging contributed it’s progression into flexible packaging smooth. The company’s step into providing secondary / tertiary packaging material in the form of shrink film packaging along with PET bottles and pre-forms will enhance its relationship with the beverage players as, Manjushree becomes a one stop place for all packaging requirements.

Ever since PET became commercially available in 1980, more than 300 million MTs of PET has been sold and consumed globally over the last four decades. This means production of more than 15 trillion PET bottles. The consumers have had water, beverages, edible oil, liquors, juices as well as medicines in these bottles.

PET is a globally approved packaging material for pharma, foods and beverages, as PET conforms to pharma formulation packaging regulations as per BIS, US FDA, EU, PIRA, JIS, US pharmacopeia, India pharmacopeia.

Many developed and developing countries like US, UK, Spain continue to use plastic and according to a test conducted by Central Institute of Plastics and plastics Engineering and Technology in 2015 PET do not leach any chemicals into the substances that are packed.

The industry has nothing to worry about and once the judgement (this is a study conducted by government laboratories which reveal the presence of chemicals in plastic bottles used for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and Him Jagriti Manch, an NGO based in Uttarakhand, which has now petitioned the NGT seeking a ban on the use of PET bottles), is ruled in the industry’s favour, things will go back to normal.
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