Vardhman Books diversifies into packaging with DGM

Aditya Jain, director, Basant Packers, said, “During the lockdown, and due to the pandemic, our stationery and books publishing business witnessed a downfall. Therefore, we decided to diversify into packaging. Since we are in the notebooks manufacturing and educational books publishing, we already have the required printing machinery. Thus, we invested in the finishing equipment to serve customers from the packaging industry.”

Jain cited multiple reasons for his decision to opt for DGM. “We have known Puneet Aggarwal of DGM for a long time and are aware of his background and commitment level. We visited the DGM India factory in Noida and discovered the company’s long-term plans for the Indian market. For a capital equipment, after-sales service is very important. We were convinced about DGM after visiting the factory,” he said. The way machine demo and explanation were handled by the DGM India team was quite impressive and convinced to join hands with DGM product and team.”                                                          

The same impression is continued after buying DGM machine by their way of handling after sales including machine loading, dispatch, installation and training. “This helped us buy the DGM folder-gluer within six months of the die-cutter installation,” he said. “We also visited DGM’s existing customer site to see the machine and was quite impressed with the satisfaction level of the existing users.

The company started the packaging plant with a basic setup and installed an India-made folder-gluer and multiple manual die-cutting machines. Gradually, it went for the fully automatic equipment from DGM. “First, we opted for the DGM Technocut 1050 die-cutter in February 2021 and later, the DGM Technofold 1100 PC folder-gluer in July 2021,” Jain added.

Established in the 1980s as an exercise books manufacturing facility, Vardhman Books International diversified into educational books publishing in 2010 when the second-generation —Anuj Jain and Aditya Jain — joined the family business. In the last two years, Vardhman has diversified into mono cartons, corrugated boxes and paper cups manufacturing.

“We have always believed in diversification. There is an ample scope for more diversification if needed. We are a least debt-worthy company, and six persons from the family are in the top management,” Jain said.

The company converts from 70-100 tonnes writing and printing paper per day on three automatic exercise notebooks manufacturing lines from Line O Matic. Vardhman also publishes books from kindergarten to class 12.

The family-owned business was established by Jain’s father, Sudhir Jain, and uncle, Anil Jain. In the next generation, elder brother Anuj is a metallurgy engineer and Aditya is a computer engineer.

“We started printing in-house in 2005 and we have been minimising outsourcing since, as printing is common in notebooks and publishing. The work increased when we started publishing. To meet the demands, we installed a pre-owned five-colour with coater Heidelberg CD. I decided on the machine keeping the packaging business in mind,” Jain said.

The company also has a setup for corrugated boxes, established in December 2020. The printing press is UV-enabled and the UV system was supplied and installed by SASG UV Solutions for special colour jobs and hybrid MetPET. It manufactures three-ply boxes, SBS boxes, and MetPET boxes, serving customers from FMCG, garments, lighting, fragrances and others.

“We are not sticking to just one segment. We always work on a slow curve because it is our hard-earned money. We can’t invest in bulk in one go. The top management has 100% direct involvement in the operation. We will diversify further as and when the opportunity arises. We are a financially stable group and have money to invest,” Jain said.