Kamakshi Südpack's new plant launched in Ahmedabad

Equipped with extrusion, printing, coating and laminating machines

Kamakshi Südpack, a joint venture between the Germany-based Sudpack and Ahmedabad-based Kamakshi Flexiprints has commissioned its new and modern production plant near Ahmedabad on 14 October 2022 in a ceremony attended by senior officials of both companies. The plant was originally scheduled to be inaugurated in the summer of 2021. The opening ceremony was held for the new Kamakshi Südpack production site after approximately a year and a half of construction that had been delayed by the pandemic.

As Susanne Blueml wrote in June 2020, German packaging company Sudpack had just entered into a joint venture agreement with Kamakshi Flexiprints, one of the leading producers of printed flexible packaging materials in India based in Ahmedabad. Kamakshi Flexiprints was founded in 1994 and serves the food and non-food industry with high quality and innovative, flexible packaging solutions. Südpack is a manufacturer of high-performance films for the packaging of food, non-food and medical products and for use in technical applications.

The Joint Venture planned to build a new facility near Ahmedabad to cater to the maturing packaging needs of the Indian markets with a vast range of products in barrier, aesthetics and convenience flexible packaging. The well-designed infrastructure including state of the art extrusion, printing, coating and lamination capacities was scheduled for inauguration in the summer of 2021. The new facility was planned as a Green Building as per IGBC and comply with GMPs and effective international regulations and standards of the food industry, including BRC, FSMS ISO 22001, QMS ISO 9001, SMS-ISO 45001.

The new site is a key component of Südpack's internationalization strategy as well as a strategic hub for the intensified development of the growing market of the Indian subcontinent and for meeting the demand for high-quality flexible films in a broad range of industries with a comprehensive product and service portfolio. The new plant contains four blown film lines from Mamata Machinery – a 7-layer, a 5-layer and two 3-layer lines. In addition it contains two Pelican electronic line shaft (ELS) gravure presses.

India which is the second largest producer of fruit and vegetables and the larger producer of milk in the world is gaining traction as a processor and exporter. It is also considered a hub for pharmaceutical production. The joint venture is key to Südpack's strategy for growth in Asia and globally.

Südpack's managing partner Carolin Grimbacher and managing director Tharcisse Carl, and the managing directors of Kamakshi Südpack, Harish Goel and Narendra Dhupar inaugurated the new plant. Grimbacher provided an overview of the group's strategy which was followed by a presentation about Südpack's sustainability roadmap.

Carl presented the vision of Kamakshi Südpack highlighting the outstanding cooperation of the joint venture partners and others involved in the project. The new plant near Ahmedabad is equipped with extrusion, printing, coating and laminating machines for the production and finishing of high-performance films and complies with the IGBC Standards for green building. The site will also comply with future international regulations and standards for sustainable packaging, a subject that is of growing importance in India.

The new complex covers an area of approximately 47,000 square meters divided into areas for extrusion, printing, laminating and pouch production. In the past couple of months, the individual lines were commissioned to produce flexible packaging solutions of the highest quality standards.

"Our well-considered site concept is designed so we can gradually expand its capacities to meet the ever-increasing demand for multilayer films that are both innovative and sustainable for flexible packaging in the Indian subcontinent," said Carl, who was responsible for the new construction of the production site.

Harish Goel said on the occasion, "Südpack's unparalleled and long-standing expertise in coextrusion and film finishing in combination with our extensive knowledge of the market opens up opportunities for us together, that we had not been able to exploit earlier.

"Specifically, the aim is to consistently meet the growing demand for sustainable packaging solutions. The reduction of plastic waste has become a topic of increasing importance in recent years in India as well. In 2016, the Indian government recognized the problem and passed what are known as the "Plastic Waste Management Rules."

According to the WMR 2016 rules that were to some extent diluted in 2018, single-use plastic items such as simple plastic carrier bags are to no longer be produced by the end of 2022. Another step is the gradual phasing-out of multilayer laminates that are not recyclable and therefore predominantly undergo thermal recycling. In February 2022 the Indian government issued its latest version of the plastic waste management rules that establish the time frames for Extended User Responsibility regulations that are coming into force each year till 2030 for the gradual increase of recyclability of all plastic packaging.

"With our broad portfolio in the area of recyclable and particularly material-efficient high-performance films and packaging concepts, we are in an excellent position – and can therefore optimally support our Indian customers in meeting the statutory requirements in terms of sustainability," emphasized Grimbacher, whose position also includes overseeing the R&D department at Südpack.

(This article has been slightly amended by the author on 31 October 2022 with some additional information. – Editor)

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