Bobst Open House at Khosla Printers in Delhi-NCR

Two jobs were demonstrated during the open house – a tapered CLB and straight line carton. While the first job was for ready-to-eat food items and the second was a simple packaging box.

Sanjay Khosla of Khosla Printers said, “As we have been running the Bobst Visionfold 110 A2, I can confidently say that Bobst folder-gluers are for generations. We run the machine at the speed of 80,000 to 100,000 cartons an hour when we do the straight line pasting. For crash lock bottom pasting we are able to achieve 40,000- 50,000 cartons per hour and we paste corrugated cartons (micro-flute) at the speed of 15,000 to 20,000 cartons per hour.”

Saying that Bobst’s direct presence and production facility in India play a major role in machine efficiency, Khosla added, “We will be investing in Bobst die-cutting machine soon. Bobst machines ensure higher productivity, efficiency and ensure the quality of the output, which is the key to be competitive and remain profitable in this very challenging but growing business.”

One of the leading media companies in North which is planning to diversify into packaging also attended the open house. The above customer remarked that it was the first time in his experience that with all whom he interacted during the open house seemed very satisfied about Bobst product and services and the hand holding support they provide for the start-ups.

“Our customers and we as a packaging solution provider play a major role in value creation between the brand owners and the consumers. Every product requires packaging and the differentiator will be the uniqueness of the box which will play a key role in adding value to the brand,” Venugopal Menon of Bobst India mentioned during the seminar which was held following the open house.

Offering some statistics, he said around 2.7 million tonnes of the board are produced in India and by 2020, is expected to touch 3.4 million tonnes. The board production, as well as consumption, is growing at a CAGR of 10%. Meanwhile, around 150 to 200 converters contribute more than 50-60% of the organised sector and around 40% of the market is still unorganised. Packaging converters in the unorganised sector still depend upon manual machines and processes with very less focus on throughput and quality. 

He added that carton business in India, along with duplex and micro-flute is estimated to be 24,000-crore and it is expected to grow up to 36,000-crore by 2020. Globally and in India too, food and pharmaceuticals are the biggest segments of growth. Around 35% of the total carton business comes from these segments. 

Micro-flute carton is also growing in India with a growth rate of around 25%. Around 90,000 tonnes of the board goes into flute production. Growth factors include increasing disposable income and shift from rural to urban geography and population.

“Growing demand in emerging economies due to increase in disposable income and brand differentiation will play a major force in the growth of packaging in the coming years. India at about 3kg per capita consumption for packaging including paperboard, flexible and corrugated as compared to China at 33kg and developed economies at 60kg and above leaves a tremendous scope for packaging to sustain and grow in India,” Menon said.

About production facility of Bobst in India, Menon said, “That in 2010 Bobst started manufacturing Folder-gluers for worldwide and also local market and since 2015 we also manufacture the downstream modules for the FFG (Flexo Printer Gluer) machines for the corrugated board for the local and exports with almost 80% of the production being exported. With about 200,000 sq.ft of constructed factory area and with a world-class competence cum training centre, Bobst in India is fully equipped to support and partner our valuable customers in their journey,” said Menon on his concluding remark.