Sai Com to start production in East India

The plant, covering an area of 15,000 sq ft, is expected to start production by the end of November with a 13in-wide, 10-color Nilpeter press and a Rotoflex VSI 330 inspection, slitting and rewinding machine.

Harish Gupta, Sai Com Codes Flexoprint CEO, said: ‘We intend to supplement the first press with a second one before the end of this financial year. Our policy is to be as close to our customers as possible and it is also our belief that to ensure continued growth, we have to add capacity and value for our customers. We have to grab the opportunity to grow with them and that is only possible when we set up our plants closer to their new ones to be able to match their just in time requirement.’

There is an option to double the plant capacity in the future. Another similar press from Nilpeter will be shipped to the new plant in January. A second Rotoflex VSI 330 will follow in March 2017.

The first plant in Sonepat houses four 13in Nilpeter servo presses and two Rotoflex VSI 330 slitter inspection machines. The narrow web flexo presses run at an average production speed of approximately 120m/min. The plant has the provision to add two more flexo presses in the existing space in Sonepat. ‘However, this shall depend on investment considerations keeping in mind our new plants,’ said Gupta.

Reasoning on installing only Nilpeter presses at both its plants, Gupta commented: ‘We do not try to experiment with our established suppliers unless there is a compelling reason for doing the same. Once our mother plant is based on this model, it becomes easy for us to replicate the same model on a "cut and paste" basis. In terms of presses, we are a Nilpeter house and the same press is going to be installed at our new plant.’

The company strongly supports its suppliers and credits its growth to them. Gupta said that he does not see enough reason in investing in pre-press when established suppliers have always served them well. ‘We do not find any reason for taking away business from them. This is in line with our philosophy of taking as good care of your supply chain as you take care of your customers. Your main suppliers play a major role in how you grow as do your customers. Secondly, every penny spent on investments today needs to be justified very carefully in terms of where and on what it is being spent. Our industry is getting very competitive by the day and one can ill afford to make mistakes with substantial investments. It is no longer an industry where you can operate with a mom and pop kind of operation if you want to grow. You need to invest in professionals at all levels and keep adding them as you grow,’ he said.

Though the company is focused on self adhesive labels, all presses are configured to future proof the company for the time when it decides to choose to enter either the shrink sleeves or IML markets, stated Gupta.

The company is evaluating further expansion in a different region in 2017.