Sai Security Printers: Capturing label's glitter and growth

Sai Security Printers has been working upon a dual-facility operational model since the last few years. With two printing facilities in Faridabad and Bengaluru, the company has been tapping the growth opportunities of wet glue and pressure sensitive label market.

 

“We were primarily doing paper and wet glue labels on narrow web flexographic technology but recently, we started producing pressure sensitive (PS) labels as well,” shares Priyata Raghavan, director, Sai Security. “Currently, we are doing around 100 tonnes of labels each month. The ratio of net production of wet glue to PS labels stands at 75:25. We are trying to decrease our wet glue label production to 40% of the total production, and instead focus on increasing the PS label production up to 60%,” she adds

 

Currently, the Bengaluru plant, demarcated to serve the PS label printing works, contributes 60% to the net PS label production. The firm, which had initiated a greenfield expansion project a couple of years ago to construct its 1.5 lakh sq/ft Faridabad facility, is now gearing-up to double its production capacity and triple its turnover in the next four years.

 

According to the Raghavan, this is not a far-fetched dream to accomplish. “The current industry growth rate is around 12% CAGR. With Sai Security expanding both organically and inorganically, we expect to grow with a steady CAGR of 30%. Once the FDI regulations get implemented, I believe the industry should touch a growth rate of 18%, and probably, we will grow around 40% annually,” claims a confident Raghavan. To achieve this target, Sai Security plans to install another Gallus press in the next three months at its Faridabad unit.

 

In addition, Sai Packaging also commissioned India’s first Epson SurePress L-4033AW for its Bengaluru printing facility. Epson Sure digital printing press is aimed at high-quality labels production with key features such as white ink for short-run label printing; white ink for solid, and opaque white printing on clear film and metallic substrates. The AQ ink-set includes green and orange for a wide colour gamut and offers improved colour matching capabilities.

 

Kaizen, standardisation and foreign collaborations

To support the growth plans, Arvind Sekhar, director at Sai Security and head of operations, devised a new modus operandi for Sai Security and adopted the Kaizen 4 model of lean manufacturing. “Sekhar had in-depth knowledge of Kaizen and he implemented it in the company. It is a lean management philosophy, under which you try to eliminate waste at every stage,” Raghavan says.

 

Priyata Raghavan feels that the UGRA certification of the Bengaluru unit helps to meet international standards and increase the productivity. “How do you arrive at a result with least efforts and less time, and how can you repeat the same result? The answer is, print process standardisation.”

Recently, Sai Packaging was accorded with a BRC Global Standards Certification for Packaging. The certification has been conferred on the Faridabad plant after an extensive audit by Intertek Moody International Certification and has been awarded the “A” grade category – the highest possible standard. Used by suppliers and global retailers throughout the world by over 17,000 certificated suppliers in 90 countries through a network of over 80 accredited and BRC recognised certification bodies, it facilitates standardisation of quality, safety, operational criteria, and manufacturers’ fulfilment of legal obligations. They also help provide protection to the consumer.

 

“As far as the paperboard converting industry is concerned, the BRC standard is very relevant to manufacturers like us producing packaging materials for food and consumer products. The standard is designed to assist packaging manufacturers and converters to adopt sound manufacturing practices and robust quality management systems to develop and manufacture safe, legal packaging materials meeting their customer’s quality requirements,” Priyata says.  

 

“BRC is focussed on food safety, one of the most exacting standards for exporting to food industry in UK and other European countries. The new facility at Faridabad has been designed keeping in mind the exacting requirement of this standard. It took us almost six months of hard work to meet the stringent audit requirements and we are delighted by the outcome, which is a vindication of Sai’s own internal quality standards,” she continues. 

 

She seems unperturbed by possibility of multinational players making inroads to the Indian industry. "Multinationals acquiring Indian companies will continue and in fact, grow in the future. However, their presence will not make any difference to us. I see consolidation as positive and it will happen in a big way. It is also an opportunity for Sai Security, as well as, the industry,” she claims.

 

“I feel that a foreign partner makes an Indian partner more productive. This is good. India is being a very different market, these international bigwigs need Indian partners as it is not easy for them to succeed independently,” she says.