Films Business

Sushil Dhar, assistant vice-president – marketing, Films Business, Uflex, said the company provides end-to-end solutions for its clientele like Nestle, P&G, Britannia among several others. “We process end to end flexible packaging solutions for them ranging from a single ply to multilayeredstructures depending upon the barrier properties of the product to be packed. R&D is a continually evolving process for us and we often do it along with our clients at our shop floor in a very collaborative approach,” Dhar said. “We develop the films/ substrates according to the requirements of the ensuing packaging required by our client.”

The company’s entire manufacturing process is in-house. “The belief of the chairman, which is also our catchphrase, is ‘manufacturing globally and serving locally’. For example, we have a production line in Poland to serve Europe locally. We have a plant in Mexico to serve South America locally. We have film manufacturing plants at strategic nodes across the globe i.e.in India, UAE, Poland, Egypt, Mexico and the US,” he added.

Dhar said that the company’s holographic films are a rage. Many brands want holographic treatment on their packaging to stop counterfeiting and to aesthetically beautify the packaging at the point of sale, he said.

During Indiapack Pacprocess, Uflex launched thermal holographic film. This is a value-added film which enhances the image quality of printed products. This film can be used by any printer – offset, digital or photo lamination.

Uflex also offers holographic gift wrap film, which is a 25 micron BOPP film. The company has holographic film manufacturing facility at its plants in Poland, India, Dubai and Mexico and may also establish this facility in the USA depending upon the market demand.

Meanwhile, Dhar said the company is also adding a new metalliser at Noida. “We are enhancing the capacity in response to the market demand,” he said.

Engineering Business

During the exhibition, the engineering business displayed a linear Pick Fill Seal machine for pre-formed packages for liquid, powder and granular products during the show. Sandeep Kumar, marketing officer, Engineering Business, Uflex, said the company is particularly focusing on customers for oil packaging, be it edible oil, lube oil or others.

Sandeep said that the Pick Fill Seal machine is also suitable for packaging ready to eat food items.

While the linear form of the Pick Fill Seal machine for pre-formed pouches made its debut during the show around 200 machines in the rotary variant are doing exceptionally well in the market already.  

Sandeep Kumar added that the engineering business has been growing very rapidly for the last three to four years and the prospects for future are very promising. “This year, we launched ESL Aseptic Flexi-Pouch Machine for packaging milk that can extend the shelf life of the product up to 90 days. The first machine has been successfully installed,” he said, “We are now targeting clients who have operations at multiple locations.” concluded Sandeep Kumar.

Holography Business

CG Ramesh, general manager, marketing, holography business of Uflex said, “Holography plays an important role in fighting counterfeiting besides adding on to the aesthetical quotient of the packaging.” He added that the business displayed various products like labels, security material, holographic packaging films, registered holograms and stamping foils among several others at the exhibition.

Ramesh further said that Uflex’s holographic solutions are completely Made in India at its plants in Jammu and Noida. “Our customers do not need to go overseas to source brand protection solutions,” Ramesh added. “We are servicing multiple brands, converters, packagers and designers. We offer absolutely customised solutions to our clients.”

Talking about anti-counterfeiting features such as Fresnel lens, Sterling lens, and others, Ramesh said since counterfeiters are quite intelligent and abreast with technology, there is a need to upgrade anti-counterfeiting systems and measures continuously to outpace such elements. “You have to add new features every six months. Otherwise, it will be copied and body doubled. We offer absolutely impregnable brand protection solutions to our clients” he said.

“There are around 30 holography manufacturers in India, but most of them are only into security holograms. None of them has the versatility of Uflex,” Ramesh added.

Tubes Vertical

Uflex also displayed its flexi-tubes at Indiapack Pacprocess exhibition. According to Abhimanyu Singh from the international sales at the Tubes vertical of Uflex, flexi tubes give advantages of both types of tubes (laminated and co-extruded) in a single closure.

“Flexi tubes render aesthetics of co-extruded tubes and offer barriers at par with that of aluminium tubes,” Singh said. “We use gravure printing technology for our flexi-tubes which renders best graphics in half-tone, true-to-life images and others. The flexi tube is 360 degrees printed. In fact one of the biggest advantages of our flexi-tubes is the fact that its entire surface area can be utilised for printing.” added Singh.

“We can manufacture tubes with 19 to 50mm diameter with different caps and closures,” Singh added.

Singh said multiple anti-counterfeiting features are possible on flexi-tubes that other players cannot offer. “We have various lenses and different types of holographic patterns to give shelf appeal as well as impregnable security features,” he added.

Cylinder Business

Glitter printing is the new offering from Uflex’s cylinder business. “We are offering and doing glitter printing through the gravure technology” Sachin Dahake, deputy general manager (marketing), Cylinder Business, Uflex, said.

He further said that printing ink consumption is almost 25% less in case of new gravure cylinders made on our robotic laser plant where the cell structures are optimally modified as compared to conventional cylinders manufactured on electro mechanical lines. “This is possible only because of our newly installed laser engraving line.” Dahake said.

The new laser cylinder engraver’s current capacity is 80 cylinders per day and the total capacity of our business vertical is around 250 cylinders per day at Noida. The newly installed laser lines are so versatile that it could be used for printing and embossing on a multitude of surfaces like paper, flexibles, leather, leatherite, metal foil and cloth, etc.

Another new product, according to Dahake, is elastomer printing sleeves which produces joint-less printing. “In conventional flexo-plate printing, there is always a joint. The material we are using is not polymeric. It is elastomer (natural rubber). The advantage of using elastomers is that one can use any kind of printing ink. With this technology, one can get minimal dot gain. Life of elastomer plates is almost ten times more than polymer plates,” Dahake concluded.