Tetra Pak, the multi-national food packaging and processing giant whose India operations are headquartered in Gurgaon, inaugurated its new packaging material factory at Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Phase II, Village Vasuli, Taluka Khed in Chakan, near Pune.
The investment in the facility, which is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery to meet the growing demand for carton-packaged dairy beverages (such as milk and lassi) and fruit juices, is estimated to be about Rs 700 crore. The company will also offer packaging solutions for wines and spirits.
The factory's capacity is 8.5 billion packages a year, which is double that of Tetra Pak's plant at Takwe (also near Pune). The total area of the plant – which currently employs about 240 employees – is 1,80,000sq m.
Tetra Pak set up the new facility with the objective of providing packaging and processing solutions across India, South-east Asia and the Middle-East. The environment has been taken into consideration at this facility, with machinery installed for the recycling of tetra-packs.
The company has also set up a product development and innovation centre, which will have a laboratory, a pilot processing plant and a pilot packaging plant to develop product formulations and meet the development needs of customers.
The power for the factory would be generated through a 100-kVA solar power plant for non-critical power load in offices. The energy that is conserved would be utilised to run the air-conditioners at the facility.
One hundred per cent of the water utilised will be recycled, and the conservation of rain-water will take place in the in-house pool, which has the capacity to store about five million litres of rain-water. Tetra Pak's global net sales is 173 billion packages, estimated to be worth 11.2 billion euros.
Aseptic packages
Tetra Pak provides packaging and processing solutions to a number of Indian and international brands. They not only offer finished packages that are ready to be filled, but also packaging and processing machinery.
The company uses the technology for aseptic packages, which allows the food to retain its purity, naturalness and health values. This technology has been invented keeping in mind not only the food retail, but also the consumers.
The raw material used for packaging is generally domestically sourced from India. Paper constitutes about 75 per cent of the raw material. Other components, like aluminium foil, are sourced from overseas.
Tetra Brik aseptic packaging
When quizzed why Tetra Pak decided to venture into India, Kandarp Singh, managing director of the company's operation in the South Asian markets, said, “India is ranked number one in the dairy sector. It is estimated that the dairy segment would be growing at double its current rate in the next five years.”
“This is where we find a huge business opportunity in India. The tetra-pack solution will boost both Indian consumers and the company. The Tetra Brik aseptic packaging for beverages is in demand and is the company's USP as well,” he said.
Dennis Jonsson, president and chief executive officer, Tetra Pak Group, announced that the Takwe plant would be shutting down by the end of the year, and the production facility would be transferred to Pune.
“Currently, the company exports to twenty-nine countries. Vietnam and Indonesia hold the major shares of the market for Tetra Pak's offerings. India is in the list of the ten fastest-growing markets,” Jonsson added.
Jaydeep Gokhale, director, communication and environment, Tetra Pak South Asia, said, “The main intention is to provide packaging in such a way that there is no further need to preserve or refrigerate. The convenience of storage and the distribution of the product have also been kept in mind.”
