Prakash invests in its second Komori

Brijendra Sharma of Prakash Industries said, “Being an existing user of Komori with good user experiences, it was an obvious choice. After-sales service, competitive and affordable price and the same family of the machine were some of the reasons to opt for the Komori press. This time, we have opted for an online coater press to cater to our playing cards production.”

Sharma said the company was still outsourcing a few of its jobs, and now, with the new machine, these jobs are being done in-house.

The company has also installed a SASG UV solution on the old press, and has installed a DGM folder-gluer as well.

Prakash Industries is known for its agarbatti brand Tiranga and playing cards brand No 222. Prakash produces 50,000 decks of playing cards per day and 12 lakh boxes of agarbatti packs per day. It converts 600 tonnes of board and duplex for both the operations. 

A new fully automatic agarbatti manufacturing unit has been established in a 3,500-sqm area with minimum labour and maximum output.

Sharma added, “Duplex conversion will be around 850 tonnes per month after the new plant is operational. We dispatch around 12 lakh boxes of agarbatti daily to pack 12 tonnes of agarbatti per day.” 

Prakash Industries has also established an in-house corrugation plant, which manufactures three, five and seven-ply corrugated boxes and E-, B- and A- flutes. The conversion of kraft is around 125 tonnes per month with Chinese and Taiwanese machines. “We have grown 20% after adding the corrugation plant,” Sharma said.

Sumit Sharma and Shobhit Sharma, the third-generation of the business, have joined the company.

Sumit Sharma said, “We cater customers from FMCG, spices, footwear and other local industries. Playing cards is around 50% of our business; agarbatti is around 40% and the remaining 10% is shoes, FMCG and export. Shoes, FMCG and export were added after we joined. We have a clear vision to make Prakash Industries a professionally-managed company compared to a family-owned business. We have seen a boom in our playing cards business during the pandemic. We were investing according to our needs, but now we need to install machines according to customers’ requirements.”

He added that the target is to convert 1,000 tonnes of substrates and to achieve turnover of Rs 500-crore. “We are focusing on 100% capacity utilisation,” he said.