On the occasion of Printer's Day which is celebrated on 24 February, Mumbai Mudrak Sangh (MMS) will felicitate Ramesh Kejriwal of Parksons Packaging with Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution towards the print and packaging fraternity.
The commemoration volume which includes special articles will be released while conferring the Award to Kejriwal. The Award will be presented by Deepak Ghaisas, chairman, and chief mentor, Gencoval Group.
In a tete-a -tete with the Anand Limaye and Tushar Dhote of MMS and the PrintWeek India team, Kejriwal shared his personal journey and the key contributors to his success. He said, "We began our packaging journey in 1994 from commercial printing. Plus setting up a greenfield packaging factory in Daman was a massive learning process. "
Kejriwal informed, "Before investing in packaging, we did an in-depth study of the market. We asked Arthur Andersen and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) to carry out a survey to understand its potential. When they gave us a positive feedback, which reinforced our belief.”
According to Kejriwal, the gamechanger for taking Parksons Packaging to the next level was when private equity player ChrysCapital India picked up a 21% stake in Parksons in 2006.
Sharing his success mantra, Kejriwal said, "Innovation and technology are the key differentiators. At Parksons we have always been vigilant and have invested in the latest technology to be ahead of the game."
He said, "Inventory plays a huge role in cost's involved in packaging. So it is important to take this into account plus space required to store it. It is also important to keep your debt-equity ratio in check."
In Parksons success, Kejriwal attributes the success to his parents from whom he learned the ropes of business along with being honest and humble. "This has also been the culture at Parksons too."
The Mumbai-headquartered firm bagged the PrintWeek India Printing Company of the Year, the ultimate accolade a printing company in India for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017.
Last year, the company forayed into South India by establishing its fifth plant in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh on a 10-acre plot with an initial outlay of Rs 70-crore. This was followed by factory number six in Guwahati.
The company's immediate goal is to reach Rs 1000-crore mark, but the company has bigger plans. During the inauguration, Kejriwal had said, “At Parksons Packaging, we aspire to become a Rs 5,000-crore company in the next ten years.”
Today, the company’s six plants have 20 top-end multicolour printing machines, 30 automatic die-cutters, 30 folder-gluers and all other value-added machines. It endorses the company’s focus to expand the geographical reach and to be closer to its customers and serve them at all their sites with consistently high quality.
Ramesh Kejriwal's checklist for a packaging firm
Use right technology for the target industry segment
Optimum use of capacity of the key assets
Right quality tools to check consistency and minimum wastage of material
Keep your debt-equity balance healthy
Keep healthy balance between standard products and value-added products
Keep your overheads under control
Specialise product quality or industry segment
Watch your Capex to turnover ratio