“KISS is the Mantra : Keep it straight and simple”

What are the products you produce for printing ink industry? Its application in other industry eg Paint or any coating industry?

We are like a one-stop-shop for printing ink industry for their requirement for resins and oils.

We make alkyd resins, rosin modified phenolic resin, ester gums, rosin modified maleic resins, polyamide resin, polyurethane resins uv curable oligomers and monomers, ink oils for zero voc inks, vegetable oils like refined linseed oil and refined soyabean oils.

What new products has your company recently launched and what kind of inks do they produce?

We have recently launched polyurethane resin used in manufacturing of gravure inks.

 Are you seeing any difference/change in the buying pattern from Ink industry?

Industry is getting highly competitive and people are moving from cheap products to products which are better in quality so they have an edge in the market.

 What are the constraints of manufacturing/supplying raw materials?

The market has opened up and there is great demand for international quality products, fortunately even the raw materials used to produce these products are easily available, which was difficult in the past.

Raw materials continue to be among the top cost pressures for small and mid-sized manufacturers, and the ability to manage these costs remains a top sourcing concern. How should the procuring company address this critical supply concern?

Raw material availability is no longer a problem. Internationally suppliers are more responsive to our needs as they know India is a big and growing market. We in India are able to procure most of our raw materials at internationally competitive rates.

How are you impacted by the Government initiatives on FTA agreement with other countries in terms of exports or imports of your products or your raw materials?

Generally there’s a feeling that FTA will have negative impact on the Industry but we must understand that FTA is bilateral and gives the industry also opportunity to export goods to these countries. There is always a small negative impact for the local producing industry due to FTA etc but we have to be more lucrative to our customers by offering them good quality, timely supplies and better services.

The print industry has been witness a change in the way print is being demanded. The structure of the traditional process (offset) which is associated with long-runs is being challenged by growing demand for short-runs, now fast getting recognised with digital printing. What do you make out of this development?

We as manufacturing sector must see this change happening and try to change our product mix to keep us competitive in market. This kind is a pattern for any industry, change is unavoidable and we have to keep ourselves informed of these changes and strategise our future plans. In our company we have introduced UV curable oligomers and monomers which the market is expected to grow in future. We at MPD think of change as opportunity.

As supply chains become more complex and exposed to global risks, what’s the best approach to reduce the vulnerability of this operating environment?

KISS is the Mantra : Keep it straight and simple. Have fewer products, have better control over these products. Being aware of the changing international environment will make us more robust and reduce our vulnerability.

Has quality been sacrificed by specifying inferior, alternative materials or components? Are inkmakers approaching product design in a different way?

Infact it is just the opposite, due to highly technical printing machine being used by the printers , they have to give very good inks to run on those , in turn they have to use good raw materials to produce these inks. The costs of very good raw materials (resins) as compared to cheap raw materials is not very much and it actually does not affect their final finished goods prices to that extent. They have understood that they can capture more market by giving good product at slightly lower margins than to less market by having good margins by using cheap products.

What other factors, beyond price, should ink makers consider when choosing suppliers?

Consistency of product, ability of supplier to meet increased demand, batch sizes of the product supplied, legal compliances, and delivery lead time.

Customers of printing ink manufacturer are looking for greener technologies, who in turn would demand raw material which will help them produce such products. How is your company meeting those needs?

We already have various products to meet the needs of green technology of ink industry like we are supplying zero VOC ink oil used for green inks. We are manufacturing UV curable oligomers and monomers used to manufacture UV inks and coatings which are zero VOC products.

China has managed to dislodge the global players in technology, volumes and economies. What has stopped Indian multinationals or the large Indian companies or otherwise from creating the same kind of scaling operations?

Indian companies’ vision has generally been local and not global, hence we have not planned our facilities accordingly. But all is not lost yet. China has also become quite expensive with appreciation of Yuan currency and many international ink manufacturers are looking at India to be their base for supply worldwide.

 What areas are your R&D efforts focusing on for the future?

Our R & D focus is customer-driven. We try to develop products with participation of our customers and develop products as per their needs.

Would you like to highlight on any of your R&D initiatives?

Very recently we have been able to do an import substitution for CD bonding glue used by one of the world’s largest CD manufacturing company.

Do you have any further expansion plan?

Expansion is an ongoing process at MPD. We have been increasing our capacities regularly to meet the growing demand of the industry.

Future plans? Does this include diversion into other segments of print i.e. manufacturing of printing inks?

No we do not want to venture in manufacturing of printing inks, we want to concentrate on our core competency of manufacturing of products for the industry.

The article has been compiled by Noel D'cunha and was first published in Ink News

 

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