RK Jain highlights importance of innovation at Uflex

During an hour-long conversation with the PrintWeek India team at the Noida headquarters, RK Jain, the group president of Uflex, said that the company is looking forward to Drupa 2016 in order to boost the growth in its flexible packaging business. , Business

25 Apr 2016 | By Rahul Kumar

Jain is optimistic that the “growth will be at strong levels in coming quarters”. He said, “Our packaging films business has been impacted, but the overall margin of the company is expected to improve by 1-1.5% by end of FY’16 and provide for a double digit topline growth.”

Jain spoke about the importance of innovation in Uflex, which is perhaps the largest end-to-end flexible packaging solutions manufacturer in India, be it waterproof cement bags or the liquid pack project in Sanand, which can produce seven billion packs per year for products such as energy drinks, milk and juices. He said about 90% of the output from the plant will be used for the domestic market.

Also, it can be seen from the award from the Association of International Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL) in the Technical Excellence category for the Kohinoor Anti-Slip Bag.

Jain said, “In today’s competitive environment, only those who can deliver innovation for the converter and the customer will be able to profit. Not only is it imperative to innovate but also to create progressively incremental, tangible, and quantifiable value to the business of clients. This is what takes a brand to the next level. With the best in class technology at our disposal and some of the sharpest brains that understand packaging inside-out, Uflex will continue to delight its clientele globally.”

The bag, which is used for bulk retail packaging of premium rice (five kg and more) has an anti-slip device that prevents the bags from slipping over each other and off the stack when piled one over the other for unitising (stacking, palletising, stretch/shrink wrapping and secondary packaging), during transportation and during display on the shelf.

As per an Uflex press brief, “The anti-slip property in the Kohinoor Anti-Slip bag can be achieved through a special micro-embossing process on the finished laminate prior to bag-making.”

The micro embossing is registered to appear only on the central portion of the bag and is not visible when viewed normally. Therefore, it does not affect the graphics or aesthetics in any way. It is designed so that it does not physically puncture the film surface so that barrier properties remain unaffected and there is no development of micro-pores that allow mites or microorganisms to enter the package.

The micro-embossing delivers the anti-slip property by imparting to the surface a very high coefficient of friction against another embossed film surface. This prevents slippage of bags when stacked even several feet high. This system is said to work much better than using anti-slip additives, coatings, or treatment on the film that forms the outer surface of the bag.

This bag, along with other flexible packaging solutions, will be on display during Drupa in Hall 15/ Stall C51.

RK Jain: Five highlights at Uflex to look out for

1. Robotic plant for gravure cylinder production at Noida

2. Aseptic liquid packaging plant in Sanand to be completed by fourth quarter

3. Special focus on Fresnel lens due to new machines at Jammu factory

4. Thinner transparent polyester film; with a two substrate laminate for food packaging

5. Big boost and overwhelming response to hot stamping foil (HSF)

Besides flexible packaging solutions, at Drupa, Uflex will be launching an extrusion lamination machine and the electronic line shaft (ELS)-based rotogravure print machine.