TCPL hopes to reap gains with ramp up in rigid box centre

TCPL has invested in a Komori Lithrone G640 press at its Greater Noida unit, which the company acquired in 2022. Saket Kanoria, managing director, TCPL demystifies the investment and the plans for Creative Offset

21 Apr 2024 | By Rahul Kumar

Inauguration of the Komori Lithrone G640 at Creative Offset, a unit of TCPL

This financial year has been momentous for us, says Saket Kanoria, managing director, TCPL. “A lot has happened.”

He explains, “In this fiscal, we have added four new printing lines at different locations, in Silvassa and Haridwar, as well as Creative Offset and at our flexible packaging unit. With this, we are ready to cater to the higher expected growth and demand, as our production capacity has increased.”

All these are brand-new equipment. Besides these, the company has invested in post-press infrastructure.

“Thus, the overall capability of the company has increased significantly. Four installations in one year are quite significant. All the installations are top-of-the-line products. No compromise has been made with the quality standards,” Kanoria adds.

TCPL and Creative Offset
TCPL’s tryst with the Greater Noida unit began after the acquisition of Creative Offset in 2022. On 31 January, the company inaugurated its new machine at the plant, a Komori Lithrone GL 640+C IR UV press.

The six-colour machine can print a maximum sheet size of 750x1,050-mm at a maximum speed of 16,500-sph.

Kanoria says the Greater Noida plant is small in terms of revenue but has a huge potential. That’s why the investment. “We feel there will be significant growth opportunities. And we have grown since we acquired the company. The customer base has also improved,” he says.

At the factory, the company manufactures rigid boxes for different products, such as mobiles, headphones, smartwatches, cosmetics and confectionaries.

Kanoria says as the company adds more customers, it has also added multiple product categories and application offerings, including different types of print finishes and different types of boxes.

How The Lithrone enhances TCPL’s capabilities: Jitender Rohilla of Komori India
We are delighted to welcome TCPL, a prominent and rapidly expanding packaging printing company, into our partnership. The addition of the Komori Lithrone G40, a six-colour 28x40-inch printing press, enhances TCPL’s capabilities for a wide range of packaging jobs. Notably, the Greater Noida production plant of TCPL is dedicated to rigid boxes, a critical segment in the packaging industry, and our printing press is well-equipped to cater to this specialised need.

Specialisation of the rigid box kind
Rohit Khanna built Creative Offset to be a rigid box specialist. Has the focus changed post-acquisition?
Kanoria says the factory will remain a rigid box centre. For folding cartons, it has the Haridwar unit, which is nearby. Sometimes rigid box customers also seek mono cartons, and Creative Offset can handle such demands.

Creative Offset already had an automatic rigid box manufacturing line from Lishunyuan prior to TCPL’s acquisiton of the company. Post acquisition, the company installed two new, automated lines from Zhongke.

Kanoria says, “We inherited the Lishunyuan line when we acquired the company. It’s running quite well, but it’s slightly older equipment. The Zhongke machines, on the other hand, are based on new technology. They are relatively quicker, which is its main benefit.”

Team TCPL and Team Komori

TCPL operates in five major segments, including cosmetics, healthcare, personal care and tobacco. Are there any plans to add more segments? Kanoria says the acquisition of Creative Offset has opened new opportunities for the company, especially in rigid boxes. “We always wanted to get into rigid boxes. That’s the primary reason why we identified and acquired this company,” he adds.

And there are more acquisition plans on the horizon. “We are talking to one or two companies. So, we are hopeful,” he said.

We will go a long way: Rohit Khanna
When we signed the deal with TCPL two years ago, there were a lot of questions and confusion in everyone’s mind, like what would happen. Will the new people come and take over? There were even rumours that the old staff will be replaced. But according to me, it’s not about new and old. It’s about the person, and how honest and hardworking he is. Earlier, old and obsolete techniques were being deployed, so the employees were not able to give their best. Now, after the TCPL acquisition of the company, we are using new technology and machines, the output has gone up. When I started this business, I had a dream that one day, I would purchase a Heidelberg. But I have achieved more than what I dreamed. After so much of improvements, I can say that we will go a long way.

Investing in Komori
About the decision to invest in a Komori, Kanoria says, “We have been investing in sheetfed machines from KBA. This time, our focus was on a high-output machine which is robust. We heard about the performance of the Komori machines in the market. Komori has improved a lot and the value matrix is very good. So, it made a lot of sense to invest in a Komori machine.”

Also, it helped that Creative Offset already had a Komori.

How will the machine help? “Until now, we didn’t have the capacity to handle high-quality rigid box print. But with this, everything is under one roof. So, it will help maintain quality consistency, which every customer looks for,” Kanoria says.

He adds, “Compared to packaging and commercial, rigid boxes are less forgiving. Customers consume rigid boxes for a longer time. Where you buy a mono carton of toothpaste, it’s huge volumes – and of course, consistency is important. But a rigid box is a premium product. So, the premiumness has to be justified by the quality of the box. The price of a rigid box starts from Rs 15-20 and goes up to Rs 200-300.”

Komori Lithrone G640 is an environmentally responsible press. How will it promote TCPL’s eco-friendly practices? Kanoria says as a company, TCPL has been doing much for the environment. It has a water recycling system at each plant. Also, it has set up a sewage treatment plant, where the water is being used for gardening. “We are planning to change the fuel in flexible packaging to carbon-neutral fuels, and are installing rooftop solar panels in all our units,” he adds.

The company hopes to get the return on investment (ROI) on the machine in the next three to four years.

Kanoria concludes. “So far, the experience of working on the Komori has been very good. The Komori team has been most cooperative, and we don’t have any complaints.”