Surya Fresh Foods opts for all-purpose production facility

“We faced three problems when we outsourced the print jobs for our products, namely, piracy of our designs and packets, inconsistencies in colour and delay in the supply chain. So, we decided to establish our own print production plant. Right now, we are producing cartons for all the products of Surya Fresh Food at this facility,” said Dinesh Prasad, plant head, Surya Fresh Foods.

The plant is equipped with a six-colour KBA Rapida online coating press, Bobst Nova Cut die-cutter and Lila folder-gluer. The plant is also equipped with in-house ink kitchen and paper testing equipment. “The in-house ink kitchen and the paper testing lab give us the confidence and quality assurance,” said Prasad.

Established in December 2014, the packaging printing plant runs in a single shift of 12 hours. Now, the company is looking for outside job works to utilise the facility to its optimum. “Our present demand of cartons and boxes take just half of our production time. Hence, we are approaching other companies for job work. We would like to establish this facility as a professional print production company,” he added.

As the company is into food packaging, it is targeting the food packaging segment as its potential customer. For this, the company has started applying for ISO, BRC and other food grade and standardisation certifications. “Our next step will be to work on product development,” he said, adding, “We have an in-house flexible printing facility, which is equipped with flexo and rotogravure printing presses. We also manufacture solvent-based ink in-house.”

A new entrant to board and corrugated packaging, the company has invested around Rs 27 crore in this setup and believes that competition is good for the market because it helps you grow and helps you maintain your quality.

Currently, the print facility at Surya Foods converts around 1,60,00,00 sheets of 28x40-inches a month and has produced 1,22,000 sheets in a day. The in-house corrugation facility converts around 800 tonne of paper a month and mostly produces G-flute corrugated boxes. The company produces around 80% of corrugated and 20% mono cartons.

Surya Foods has production plants for biscuits, juices and chocolates in Noida, Jammu, Haridwar, Lucknow and Surat.

Established in 1993, Surya Group is owned and run by the Agarwal family. BP Agarwal is responsible for new projects and products. Among his three sons, Manoj Agarwal is responsible for production, Naveen Agarwal is responsible for marketing and Shekhar Agarwal is responsible for purchase. Shrey Agarwal, the third generation of the family owned business, is responsible for the juice packaging segment.

Surya Group comprises three companies – Surya Food and Agro, Surya Fresh Food (printing and packaging) and Surya Food Processor.

The company hinted that it may make a big announcement during Drupa 2016.