How to do specialisation in four verticals – and succeed

We had a humble beginning in 1987 when we started as a commercial printing unit for FMCG companies and for marketing jobs of pharmaceutical companies. In 1989 we diversified into pre-press with imagesetters and drum scanners for the proofs. This was before the CTPs came in. In 1993, considering the cut-throat competition, Bipin Tanna (my father and founder of the company) wanted to diversify. At that time our pharmaceutical clients were seeking someone with our levels of quality to supply to their packaging needs. So that’s how Printmann forayed into the packaging. 

 

We have established ourselves as a pharmaceutical packaging specialist. We specialise in four verticals: cartons, leaflets (which includes inserts, medi-guides, and outserts for the USA market), self-adhesive labels on bottles and most recently aluminium foil which is blister and strip packs.

 

We invested in the second line of Bobst Expertfold folder-gluer with Accubraille and an inspection machine from Autoprint. Both the machines were commissioned and installed at our Rabale plant in Navi Mumbai almost three months ago. Today 70 to 80% of the pharmaceutical jobs require Braille. Since the excess jobs produced by Acme, apart from the jobs on the first line of Expertfold, were done offline; there was an increase in the WIP (work in progress) materials. With Expertfold, Braille is done inline in a single pass. After this installation, our productivity has increased by 25%.

 

The Bobst Expertfold and the inspection machines are performing well as per our expectations.

 

At Printmann, we believe in continuous improvement through the upgrading of our processes. Our strategy for the next five years is to double our revenue.

 

Customer satisfaction, supplier satisfaction, and employee satisfaction in no particular order is what keeps me going and that remains the most important aspect of our business.

 

Last quarter the pharmaceutical sector went through a rough patch and seems to be coming out of it stronger than before. When we talk about the packaging requirements in this sector, there is a lot of focus on ways to cut costs on the packaging.

 

Demonetisation was a good idea which was badly executed. The overall economy has taken this in its stride and seems to be resurfacing. I believe that successful execution of GST will take the economy to new heights.