Claus from Food Infotech gets alongside Mukesh Ajmani, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Worldpack Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd. in this exclusive interaction. Mukesh Ajmani spoke about the automatic labelling solutions introduced by the company for various segments within the F&B Industry, including sharing more details about their plans for growing their business in the future and much more.
Read: September Issue of Food Infotech Magazine.
Edited Excerpts Below:
Could you please begin by letting us know about your company and what kind of innovations have you introduced for the F&B Industry?
Worldpack specializes in the production of automated self-adhesive labelling machines that find their applications in food and beverage bottles. We are an active solution provider and have been serving various segments that include food and beverages, dairy, FMCG, personal care, etc. and have in recent years been developing solutions for the honey and confectionery industry too. Recently, we had devized a solution for one of your clients in the chocolate industry, wherein we had worked on removal of cellophane from the chocolate pack. We have stopped using plastic and have also automated the labelling process. Many of our customers are also satisfied with the automation aspect that we have introduced in our labelling machines.
Can you please share with us a little about your facility and your team, including your sales and service network?
Our facility is in Rabale, Navi Mumbai. Currently, around 80 people are employed directly on our payroll. We have a big team that specializes in labelling too. Our sales and service network are also spread across the country, covering all the metro cities, including many satellite towns, which has enabled us to serve our customers effectively in the market. Currently, we are exporting our machines to nearly 30 countries across the world.
How do you see the demand for your solutions both in domestic as well as export markets?
As of today, Africa has been our biggest market and there is a huge demand for our solutions in this region. We’ve also been exporting our machines in bulk quantities to this region for some time. On the one hand, while there has been a significant demand for our solutions in the Middle East region, the demand for our automatic labelling solutions has accelerated in the domestic market, especially post COVID-19. This can be primarily attributed to many businesses preferring to remain less dependent on manpower. Generally, businesses have a huge requirement for manpower for their labelling operations. However, by deploying our solutions, businesses can save on huge manpower costs. Even businesses in the tier-2 and tier-3 cities have begun to show a greater preference for automation in labelling and we are confident of achieving higher business growth in the coming days.
What solutions have you been working on currently and what problems do they address in the market?
Recently, Worldpack has developed print and apply labelling machines. These machines are finding huge applications in diverse industries, especially where there is a requirement for integration of weighing scale into the SAP environment.
Our labelling solution can easily address the problems connected to shipping, especially in cases where there arises a necessity for identification and traceability, which can be easily done by our machines.
Currently, how has the demand been for your solutions in the domestic market?
Currently, the demand for our solutions has been higher in the Northern region, as compared to other regions owing to numerous factories being established in this region in the past few years.
Can you share with us any major challenges faced by businesses in packaging?
Currently, identification of the source of the foods that are being packaged continues to pose a real challenge for businesses even today.
How are your solutions addressing the various challenges faced by manufacturers associated with production?
Many businesses have been facing considerable pressure in production. There are also many challenges faced in product dispatch, as there is heavy dependence on manpower for labelling. If labelling is not complete, the product is still not yet ready for dispatch in the market. However, by using our machines, such problems faced by businesses can be greatly minimized, which will further help them in enhancing their productivity.
We are also seeing the emergence of several solutions for the food industry in recent years. We have also worked on some solutions in the recent past, one such solution being multi-packing. Businesses that have been selling biscuits, chips, etc., have always been looking to increase their volume of sales. Even those businesses who are looking to make a single pack of four or five products require their products to be taped or bundled. This is where our bundling solutions can play a vital role in fulfilling the individual requirements of each business.
Finally, a bit about your plans for growing your business through your solutions in the coming days.
Basically, bundling is seen as an easy solution by factories and just like multi-packing, our bundling solution is also very specific, as many industries are looking to sell their products in a bundle. For instance, companies that sell products such as biscuits or chips generally offer them as part of various schemes like in a free scheme or a promo scheme in the market. In such cases, there is going to be a continuous requirement for bundling the packs. Hence, we are expecting to generate a lot of demand for our solutions in the domestic market in the days to come.
Worldpack has also been mainly targeting this bundling segment with our automated labelling machines, since manual bundling is generally a time-consuming and tedious process involving plenty of requirement of manual labour as well as consumption of space. We are also on the verge of developing more solutions in labelling in the near future and we are hopeful of convincing more businesses to adopt our solutions that can help them streamline their processes. This in turn would help boost the growth of our business as well as increase our presence in more markets in the coming years.
