HB Fuller India crosses the Rs 100 crore milestone
"We have crossed the Rs 100-cr mark this year since four years of starting the Indian operations," said Sandeep Garyali, H B Fuller’s country head for India. He added, that "the growth has been substantial grown and is around 43% in value and volume".
10 Dec 2013 | 6728 Views | By PrintWeek India
Garyali attributed this to the introduction of latest technology, innovative product range from all over the globe, team work and technology leadership. H B Fuller’s Advantra grades in packaging, Lunatack range in graphic arts, OptiPUR range of reactive hotmelt have met our customer’s requirements. HB Fuller is also a key supplier in SBUs like none woven-hygiene, graphic arts, converting, packaging, tapes and labels, wood work and assembly, tobacco and automotive segments.
Garyali and his team are hoping to notch another milestone of Rs 150-cr in 2014.
H B Fuller’s presence in India highlights the importance of this growing market and shows the company’s commitment to manufacturing close to its customers. Construction of the Pune facility was completed at the end Of 2012, with water-based adhesive and hot-melt adhesive products being brought on-line through the year. The plant produces a total range of adhesive solutions for the graphic arts, packaging, converting industry, and non-woven grade applications.
Fuller's Pune facility extends over 6,500 sq/m (69,965 sq/ft), with capacity designed to satisfy market requirements of the wider region until 2020. It can accommodate the forecasted growth in India and Bangladesh, in addition to the rapid expansion of the Middle Eastern market. “It is both logistically strong, with excellent infrastructure for exports via Mumbai,” said Garyali, “and it offers a comprehensive product range of adhesives resulting from our global strength.”
“The market in India is dominated by a few key manufacturers, and having a plant in India gives us direct contact with our customers,” said Garyali. “Working in partnership makes a big difference, and at Pune, we meet our customers face to face, giving them the opportunity to see the quality of the facility, as well as the ability to benefit from access to the on-site laboratories.”
The adhesive plant also plays an important role in the development of adhesive solutions across the globe and vice versa, as Garyali explained. “The Pune team works with other H B Fuller ‘Technical Centers of Excellence,’ and from here we can link-in with joint product testing and development work with leading original equipment manufacturers across the world. This means the Indian facility and the regions requirements are integral to our product development programs.”
H B Fuller India started its commercial operations in October 2009 and since then the company has rapidly grown the business by providing global standard, high performance adhesives solutions to a diverse range of MNC and domestic customers for a variety of market segments and customer applications.
“Meeting the needs of our customers is central to everything we do,” said Garyali, “and with many of the world’s leading tobacco manufacturers in the region, quality processes and products remain crucial. The plant has a fully compliant quality management system, and the same quality approach applies to personnel selection. Pune is a technologically advanced production plant requiring experienced and well-educated staff who can work in partnership with customers to offer the very best products and services to the market.”
With a degree in chemical engineering, Garyali has 15 years of experience in the adhesive industry and stresses the importance of this experience due to the complex nature of the market, which is both diverse and rapidly changing. “We have more than 55 staff members at Pune with professional team members having between five and 20 years of experience, enabling them to deliver the maximum value to our customers via a consultative approach.”
H B Fuller’s Pune plant is producing hot melt and water-based adhesives, including those for the graphic arts, paper converting, tapes and labels, bottle labelling, packaging, tobacco, non woven, wood working, automotive, filters, footwear and textile lamination. For this the company has invested US $12mn. The Pune plant is part of the firm’s expansion in the Europe, India, Middle East, and Africa (EIMEA) region, with India being a key market for the company.