TCPL celebrates silver jubilee with a plant in Guwahati

Speaking to PrintWeek India, Kanoria said, “It’s a big year. We hope to hit Rs 500 crore. It took 17 years for us to get to Rs 100 crore and then it has been seven years we hope to get to 500 crores. The big picture is that we would like to broaden the segments in which we operate. We would like to grow at 20% sustainably and to expand our product range.”

Today, TCPL Packaging operates out of its six manufacturing units: three in Silvassa, two in Haridwar, and one in Goa.

Kanoria added, “In the current year, we are setting up a new plant in Guwahati. We expect it to start production by December 2014. It is a complete line, so we will be able to produce mono cartons and micro fluted cartons. It’s a beautifully designed plant and it will be a benchmark for the industry.”

The Guwahati unit will house a seven-colour plus coater KBA Rapida 106. The ancillary equipment such as die-cutters and folder-gluers are from Bobst. This is the third Rapida at TCPL. Its first KBA Rapida 106 with a corona unit is installed at the Haridwar facility. The second Rapida 106 with automatic pile logistics system is at Silvassa.

All the three KBAs are combi presses which are suitable for both UV and conventional inks on paper and metallised board. The KBAs are recognised for their high-speed prowess: 18,000 sph speed, 24/7.

Aditya Surana, managing director at Indo Polygraph Machinery (IPM), which represents KBA in India, said, “TCPL is topping our charts in quality as well as quantity. They have high production machines and they maintain the equipment in an excellent manner. I think they are the ideal partners to work with.”

Surana added, “TCPL goes into lot of details with regards to optional features and accessories they require such as logistics, online quality checks etc. And they make use of all the features very efficiently. They use all the automation to remain highly productive. They are our key account. KBA reentered in Indian packaging space when TCPL invested in it in 2010 and since then we have been able to establish a strong foothold in India.”

According to Surana, even though the last two years saw a slowdown, the folding carton market is poised to grow. Surana sees, "a great opportunity in this segment."

For the financial year ended 31 March 2014, TCPL's revenue was Rs 412.43 crores  (USD 69 million) registering a CAGR in excess of 16% over the past five years.