He said the company decided to opt for the 440 model, as the automated pre-setting functions help operators with a short setup time while the register accuracy of the Gallus Labelmaster is particularly striking.

“The printing cylinders and anilox rollers are gearless and driven by servo drives, enabling us to deliver precise and stable register accuracy across all printing speeds. The machine also offers flexibility to print on a wide range of substrates, and has built-in reliability,” Bhagwat said.

He added that the Gallus team has been supportive by providing basic and specific training to fit the requirements. “We have worked with Gallus earlier. So, it was not so difficult for us to go for it again. We believe in the value derived from cutting-edge technology,” Bhagwat said.

In addition to the Gallus Lablemaster, the company has also installed a cold-foil unit, a specialised unit used to print on the adhesive part of labels and a few more units as well. In addition to label stock, the company also prints shrink labels on this machine.

Huhtamaki caters to segments, such as FMCG, pharma, liquor and agro businesses, and counts all major brands as its customers.

The company has over three thousand employees across all its locations in India.

“We constantly update and adopt new technologies to innovate and deliver in line with our customer requirements. We work closely with our technology partners to design customised training sessions for the teams to enable them to understand technical processes as well as operational controls of any new technology we adopt. Moreover, we also provide need-based technical programmes to upskill and empower our teams,” Bhagwat said.

He added that the company has been witnessing a steady surge in labels in recent times. “The pandemic has surged the demand for the pharma and hygiene care segments, further fostering the growth of our labels business,” he said.

Bhagwat said meeting timelines and quick turnaround of a customer’s order is the key to success in the labels business. “At Huhtamaki, we are agile with our approach and deliver within short deadlines. This is possible because of building a robust supply chain that enables us to seek timely support from our suppliers. However, during the first wave of the pandemic, the industry faced supply chain challenges and disruption due to national and local lockdown and restrictions by authorities, thus resulting in delays. Over time, our team stayed resilient and we were able to overcome hurdles effectively,” he said.

With the new investment, the Huhtamaki has achieved a double-digit improvement in terms of efficiency.

Bhagwat said, “Quality has always been a key value proponent of our offering, and the reliability of this machine has been important to us. With quality being maintained as desired, we have been successful in exceeding our customer expectations. Moreover, the efficiency we have been able to achieve with this machine has also helped us to improve the throughput, meeting the expectations we had set before installing this equipment,” he said.

For the future, Bhagwat said, the company is looking at replacing some of its older technology machines with state-of-the-art machines that can offer differentiated print and graphics with special embellishments to cater to security aspects, in addition to the visual and tactile aspects. “Digitalisation and sustainability are our key focus areas and we are constantly on the lookout for equipment suitable for both aspects to offer value to our customers,” he concluded.