Tetra Pak inaugurates Rs 700-cr plant in Chakan

Tetra Pak already owns a similar plant at Takwe in Pune, and the new plant doubles production capacity of Tetra Pak packaging material to 8.5 billion packages per year, with the potential of scaling it up to 16 billion packages.

The plant is designed to meet growing demand for Tetra Pak processing and packaging solutions across India, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The INR 700-crore facility marks a significant milestone in Tetra Pak’s increasing presence in the Indian subcontinent. An earlier announcement made by Tetra Pak in 2011, had stated that the plant was expected to be operations by Dec 2012.

Speaking on the occasion, Dennis Jönsson, Tetra Pak group president and chief executive said, “Tetra Pak started its market operations in India 26 years ago with a strong belief in the country’s growth potential. In 1997, we inaugurated our first factory here. We appreciate the trust and belief that the Indian dairy and beverage industry has in Tetra Pak. Today, India ranks among our fastest growing markets. Investing in this factory demonstrates our strong commitment to supporting our customers to meet growing consumer demand in the region.”

Kandarp Singh, Tetra Pak South Asia markets managing director added, “Today’s young urban consumer and the growing middle class are shaping and transforming the Indian food and beverage industry. Being ahead of the curve, Tetra Pak is geared to meet the growing demand for food safety and convenience. Today’s consumer looks for nutritious and healthy products in a convenient packaging format, something that Tetra Pak is well equipped to deliver.”

The new Tetra Pak plant employs the most advanced packaging material production technologies and equipment in the world. Amongst various other facilities, the new plant will have a straw production unit, a processing systems workshop, a filling machine renovation and a technical training academy. The localisation of these processes will greatly increase responsiveness to market demands.

It will also house a product development and innovation centre which will have a laboratory, a pilot processing plant and a pilot packaging plant to meet the product formulations and development needs of customers. It also hopes to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, reflecting its extremely high standards of energy efficiency, environmental performance and occupant well-being.

In addition to this, the plant is also one of the greenest. Tetra Pak is zero discharge unit plant where no waste is discharged in the environment, and also it’s a zero landfill unit. Add to it, plant is self-reliant and uses LNG for its own power generation and consumption. Solar panels are installed for PDIC unit, canteen and office for energy conservation, and battery operated vehicles are used for transportation of goods within the unit.