Uflex Ltd is India’s largest flexible packaging company, and a global leader in polymer sciences. Read More about Top 10 Packaging Companies in India
Packaging Films Business
The main products of this business are BOPP films, CPP films, Polyester (BOPET) films, Metalized, AlOx Coated, Specialty films and Green films such as AsclepiusTM PCR (Post-consumer Recycled) PET films and Recyclable Mono-material films.
The Company’s OPP (Orientated Polypropylene) films comprising of BOPP (Bi-axially Oriented Polypropylene) and CPP (Cast Polypropylene) films are highly cost effective, functionally efficient and therefore have rapidly penetrated into high barrier sensitive packaging segment across the world. These films are primarily used for applications like packaging & conversion; industrial coatings; printing & lamination; encapsulation; overwraps (for CDs, cigarettes, cartons), confectionery packaging; anti-fog (for food products), textile bags; biscuit and sandwich overwrap amongst several others products.
BOPP films are known to offer better moisture barrier thus finding extensive use in manufacturing packaging material for snack food. High tensile strength, low elongation and thermal shrinkage further makes it suitable for processing on high-speed printing, coating/ laminating and other converting machines. BOPP film is known to have a combination of excellent slip and optical properties. The high gloss and excellent clarity provides good aesthetic appeal whereas controlled slop properties make it suitable to perform well on various Form Fill Seal (FFS), Overwrapping and Converting machines in order to improve or maintain high productivity.
Uflex Ltd manufactures BOPP films at its India, Egypt & Hungary plant with a cumulative capacity of 1,49,000 TPA. In the fiscal 2021-22, the company commissioned its greenfield project in Rétság in Hungary which houses a 10.4 mt wide BOPP line with a capacity of 42,000 TPA, lending the company an advantage of offering a mix of BOPP and BOPET films in the European Union region.
Even the CPP fi lm is extremely dynamic and versatile with high gloss, better transparency, good heat sealability and twisting property, superior tear and is puncture resistant. These factors pave way for its application in food wraps, packing bakery products, anti-wraps, anti-fog packaging, garment bags, retort packaging, deep freeze applications, etc. The company manufactures CPP fi lm at its India plant in Noida and overseas in Egypt plant, the former largely catering to the captive market whereas the latter serves the international market.
The cumulative capacities of its two CPP fi lm lines stand at 11,000 TPA. In the previous fi scal, the company announced the setting up of a CPP fi lm line each at it existing facility in UAE and another in Dharwad, Karnataka with a capacity of 18,000 TPA each.
BOPET (Bi-axially Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate) film is a polyester film using high quality resins and exhibits superior mechanical properties, improved resistance to chemicals, good barrier to oxygen, excellent receptivity to surface treatment & coatings and high resistance to abrasion.
These films also have excellent dielectric properties, good flatness and coefficient of friction (COF), tear resistance and puncture resistance, excellent dimensional stability over a wide range of temperature, good resistance to common solvents, moistures, oil and grease and poses excellent barrier against a wide range of atmospheric gases among other benefits. This variant, therefore, finds extensive use in metallizing, thermal lamination, lidding functions, holographic applications, pressure sensitive tapes, cable wrapping among several others.
Produced at the company’s world-class manufacturing plants at India, UAE, Egypt, Poland, Mexico, USA, Russia and Nigeria, BOPET films manufactured in the Indian plants meet domestic market requirements whereas overseas plants serve regional markets across the globe through different strategic locations. After commissioning a BOPET film line each in Poland and Russia in the previous fiscal, the company in fiscal 2021-22 commissioned 10.6 mt wide BOPET film line with a capacity of 45,000 TPA at its greenfield plant in Ogun State in Nigeria.
With the commissioning of the latest BOPET film plant, the company’s cumulative BOPET film production capacity globally stood at 3,50,000 TPA. In India, the current cumulative capacity of Packaging films line with BOPET, BOPP, CPP in Noida plant is 92,000 TPA. The Company is also coming up with a BOPET film line at Dharwad, in the state of Karnataka with a total capacity of 45,000 TPA.
Metallized films are manufactured at all film manufacturing plants of the company including the newly commissioned Hungary and Nigeria plants to provide value-added films thus taking the cumulative capacity of metallizer globally to 2,12,700 TPA. The company also manufactures high barrier metallized films that are considered as ultimate solution for packaging a wide array of products requiring extended shelf life apart from a host of applications in various industries. AlOx coated transparent ultra-high barrier films manufactured by the company finds extensive use in stand-up pouches that offer see through features to consumers at the point-of-sale (POS).
To ensure consistent supply of raw materials to the films plant, the Company has also decided to invest in Polyester Chips plant at Panipat, in the State of Haryana.
Flexible Packaging Business
Uflex Ltd main products of this business are laminates made of various combinations of Polyester, BOPP, Poly, Metalized & Holographic films and others in roll form or various preformed pouches & bags of several sizes and profiles and laminated tubes.
With the most expansive product offering that includes 3D, 4D, innolock or stand-up pouches with re-closable options, gusseted bags and hygiene films for baby and hygiene segments, big bags for pet food or hot-fill pouches for baby food, premium shower-proof bags for cement, block bottom bags for chemicals and fertilizers, FlexFreshTM modified atmospheric packs for fresh produce, blister packs for medicines, easy-tear sachets to pack sanitizer and ketchup, laminated tubes Flexi Tubes and many more, its offering goes beyond the conventional use of flexible packaging. Six layered cotton N95 masks were added to the company’s portfolio since the onset of pandemic.
UFlex offers flexible packaging solutions for a variety of products such as snack foods, candy and confectionery, sugar, rice & other cereals, beverages, tea & coffee, desert mixes, noodles, wheat flour, soaps and detergents, shampoos & conditioners, vegetable oil, spices, marinades & pastes, cheese & dairy products, frozen food, sea food, meat, anti-fog, pet food, pharmaceuticals, contraceptives, cement and other building materials, garden fertilizers and plant nutrients, motor oil and lubricants, automotive and engineering components among several others.
Thus, the company offers flexible packaging solutions for the entire spectrum of product types which includes solids, semi-solids, powders, granular materials, viscous fluids, pastes and gels. With the foray of UFlex into Aseptic Packaging Material manufacturing in 2016, it has been offering packaging solutions for non-aerated liquid products as well, enabling the company to boost its entire bouquet of product offerings. To summarize, the company offers end-to-end packaging solutions for:
- Solid Products/ Granular material/ Powder (10 grams to 40 kg)
- Semi Liquid Products (10 ml to 200 ml)
- Non-aerated liquid products (65 ml to 1000 ml) through aseptic packaging
Also, aligned with the core business of Flexible Packaging are allied activities involving manufacturing of packaging and converting machines; rotogravure printing cylinders, flexo-printing press, flexo-polymer plates, elastomers & sleeves; printing inks & laminating adhesives, specialty coatings, ink binders and polyol; and anti-counterfeiting and brand enhancement value enabler products via holographic materials and solutions- all of which makes the company a fully vertically integrated company.
The company has the technical ability and innovative skills to engineer flexible packaging solutions with optimized barrier properties, superior aesthetics, enhanced functionalities, high eco-friendliness and infallible brand protection features. UFlex is one of the global leaders producing bespoke world-class flexible packaging solutions. The guiding vectors of the company’s business strategy are:
- Innovation to create value-added differentiation;
- Proximity to customers;
- Speed–to-market reach for reaping the first mover advantage;
- Ability to off er end-to-end solutions across the entire flexible packaging spectrum;
- Ability to execute any quantum of order and ensuring just-in-time deliveries anywhere across the globe.
Given the evolving requirements of the consumer packaged goods industry, the value proposition that drives flexible packaging innovations are ‘Sustainability, Brand Protection & Innovation’ that has enabled brand owners to make a mark with their off erings to consumers.
The Printing Cylinder Business traverses the complete life-cycle from design to print to offer infallible printing consistency and eco-friendly products to its converting customers.
With a wide range of product offering- Electromechanical Engraved Printing Rotogravure Cylinders, Robotic Laser Engraved Rotogravure Cylinders, Embossing Rotogravure Cylinders, Specialised Rotogravure Cylinders (High & Low GSM Coating and Anilox Rollers), Flexographic Printing Plates (Esko CDI Crystal Imager & Kodak Flexcel NX System) and Flexo Elastomer Plates and Sleevesthe business that has plants in Noida and Jammu assures quality while ensuring time-bound deliveries.
Its Noida plant is equipped with a fully automatic Robotic Laser Engraving line for manufacturing of Rotogravure
Cylinders. Underscoring its commitment to produce sustainable flexible packaging without compromising on quality, the
Printing Cylinders Business in FY2021-22 installed a Kodak Flexcel NX 4260 system to manufacture the very popular Flexo KodakNX printing plates thus facilitating conversion of jobs from gravure to flexo and minimizing
wastage.
Engineering Business
The Engineering Business has been has been manufacturing high-end machines in the segments of converting and packaging, like CIFlexo Printing, Rotogravure Printing, Laminators (Solvent-less, Solventbase & Combi), Form-Fill-Seal, Pick-Fill-Seal, Wrapping, Pouch-making, Slitters to complete the gamut of packaging (liquid, aseptic, solid, granular), Special-purpose coating, doctoring & inspection machines. This business supplies these machines to domestic as well as export markets and takes great pride in engineering customized mechanisms with quality services not just at point of sale but also after sales.
To tackle the challenge of recycling multi-layer mixed plastic waste, the business designed ReLAM 250, an advanced multi-layer recycling machine meeting European standards, which turns mixed plastic waste into granulated product called pellet, without the need for separation of layers, thus dispelling the myth that multilayer plastic cannot be recycled. Pellets formed out of this machine can be used to make various useful moulding products like dustbin, outdoor bench, paver tiles and more.
The business works on new innovations & product developments after ascertaining customer and market forecasts. With the demand for packed beverages like juice, dairy products and alcohol burgeoning, in the fiscal 2021-22 the engineering team developed servo powered liquid filling machine ‘Flexpress 10000’ with a capacity to pack 10,000 aseptic liquid packs in an hour. This machine allows brands and convertors to manage multiple volume range and quick change-over time.
Chemicals Business of UFlex
Chemicals Business of UFlex manufactures liquid inks (solvent & water-based); laminating adhesives (water-based, solvent and solvent-less); ink binders, polyols and specialty coatings (UV/UV-LED/EB) for flexible packaging, mono-cartons & graphic arts, labels and paper board segments of the packaging industry.
In the fiscal 2021-22, the business fared distinctively well despite volatile demand emanating from severe market disturbances in the eco-system. It continued to garner newer clients across regions and expanded its product distribution network to feed newer geographies. Resultantly, it strengthened its position further as a preferred supplier in the Asian, Middle East and Eastern European Markets.
The business also witnessed quite a transformation ranging from new products and revolutionary initiatives, especially in the space of sustainability. It has been successfully conducting advanced research on green chemistry and focusing on
introducing sustainability-led solutions with VOC (low volatile organic compound) content focusing on waterbased and LED/UV based technology. Driven by the aim to reduce water consumption and its pollution, Chemicals production unit in Noida became a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) facility. The plant has proactively adopted this technology thus saving close to 20 kiloliters of water every day.
The Holography Business of UFlex has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to off ering cuttingedge anti-counterfeiting solutions with unique security features and brand enhancement value enabler products to its customers.
Its client range includes Pharmaceutical, Automotive, FMCG, Consumer Electronics, F&B, Textiles and more to whom the business off ers an array of holographic solutions that help brands stand out on the retail shelves, distinguish their products from the fakes, authenticate legitimate transactions and returns, thus promoting safe business practices. Its innovative off erings help private brands, government departments and educational institutions by way of providing superior brand protection solutions. UFlex is also a certifi ed printer by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for the printing of MICR instruments for leading banks.
The business demonstrated steady, sustainable and consistent growth in the fiscal 2021-22 winning business from many new customers and even saw the return of old customers. With COVID retreating gradually, brands turned to control losses that happened due to counterfeiting incidents reported during the pandemic and towards this, the Company was offering the range of innovative solutions.
Aseptic Liquid Packaging Business
AseptoTM the Aseptic Liquid Packaging Business brand from the house of UFlex caters to segments viz., Juices, Non-aerated Alcoholic Beverages and highly perishable liquid consumables like milk and other dairy products.
With its strong backward integration business solution capabilities, it has been able to offer unique formats of pack combined with an experience of rare aesthetics and brand protection achieved via neverseen-before captivating effects like foil stamping, holography, and 3D lens under the categories Asepto Spark, Premium, and Eye. Leading brands have partnered Asepto incorporating these innovations in their packaging strategies in order to differentiate their brands and packs on the retail shelves and attract new-age consumers.
Asepto caters to over 120 customers in the domestic market and exports to over 35 countries worldwide. Asepto has become the world’s fastest growing brand and in the fi scal 2021-22, it doubled its annual capacity from 3.5 billion to 7 billion packs at its plant in Sanand, Gujarat.
To bring a sustainable change to its fold, Asepto envisioned the project of setting up India’s fi rst and world’s fastest line for U-shaped paper straws. The said line is being set up at its existing aseptic liquid packaging plant in Sanand where they will be manufactured in sizes 145mm and 165mm. Asepto has partnered Dutch
Genuinely informative from an investors point of view. Thanks.