Taking note of the customers’ expectations increases our appetite to innovate even better solutions - UFlex

Over the last three decades, UFlex has been defining the contours of the packaging industry in India and overseas. Since its inception in 1985, it has turned into an over billion-dollar turnover company with a 9000+ workforce focusing on trust, value creation for customers, quality innovation, and customer satisfaction.

Introducing the company and its products, Sanjay Malik Sabharwal, executive vice president, and chief operating officer, PAM marketing – Engineering Business, Uflex says, “The engineering business of UFlex has proved its mettle in developing a wide range of packaging as well as converting machines for its clientele spread across the world. Its packaging machines include Form Fill & Seal machines, wrapping machines, and special purpose application machines, used by brands to pack final products for consumption by the consumers.”

Integrated within its core business profile of Flexible Packaging & Packaging Films are allied businesses like Aseptic Liquid Packaging, Engineering, Cylinders, Holography, and Chemicals which further gives UFlex a superior edge over the competition. It has a vast production capacity for Biaxially Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate (BOPET), Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films, Cast Polypropylene (CPP) films, facilities for Printing & Coating Inks, adhesives, Holography, Metallization & PVDC coating, Gravure Printing Cylinders, Gravure Printing, Lamination, and Pouch formation.

Developing cutting-edge marvels

Sabharwal said that the Engineering business of UFlex has a strong focus on research to develop cutting-edge marvels that help brands and converters achieve new milestones. He added that with its well-established and technically advanced R&D unit, UFlex offers unparalleled competencies to develop printing and packaging machines for a wide range of products.

He proudly says, “Our research team includes mechanical & electrical engineers, seasoned designers, and data analysts that constitute to form the brain behind engineering brilliance. The R&D team is in perfect synergy with the production & quality team, sales & marketing team, and service teams besides regular consulting professionals & experts from the core fields.”

Talking about how UFlex is different from the competitors, he says, “Unlike other machine manufacturers who focus on developing machines on a single concept, the R&D wing of UFlex Engineering business develops machines on multiple concepts.”

Impact of the pandemic on F&B industry trends

Sharing his opinion on the impact of the pandemic on the F&B industry, Sabharwal pointed out that the global economies slowed down tremendously, however, despite the unrest, hygiene, and safe consumption practices witnessed a northward trend triggering the need for safe packaging across the value chain.

He adds, “As the pandemic started to recede, the need for sustainability got further impetus and was only set to become the megatrend going further. A study by research & markets indicates the global sustainable packaging market to register a CAGR of 7.55% during 2022-2027.”

UFlex on participating in ANUTEC/PackEx

Speaking about their upcoming participation at ANUTEC/Pack India, India’s largest international fair for food and drink technology in September 2022, Sabharwal says, “Expositions such as ANUTEC/PackEx have been one of the potential platforms for the Engineering business of UFlex. We get a chance to exhibit our technologies at the most prominent location.”

At the event, UFlex will be displaying 3 packaging machines which are as under

1) Collar-type Machine - For packaging lightweight items such as chips, wafers, namkeens, and others.

2) CT-120 Form Fill Seal (FFS) Machine- Completely servo driven with an operator-friendly human interface, it facilitates efficient vacuum pulling, and smooth-motion cross & vertical seal technology that delivers superior quality seals with high seal integrity. It has been developed locally with experienced cross-functional development teams on the lines of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

3) Pick Fill & Seal Machine – PFS8 is a fully automatic intermittent motion machine with 8 station rotary indexing, filling, and sealing mechanism to pack granules snacks in pre-formed pouches like four side seals, center-seal pouch, stand-up pouch, and zipper pouch. PFS8 can pack bigger pouches required for family packs, 1.5 kg packs, etc. It is useful for packaging products such as pesticides, pet food, snacks, detergent, agricultural seeds, etc.

He believes that ANUTEC/PackEx is a platform where they generate a lot of business interest and more queries about their technologies that inspire them to put their best foot forward. He adds, “Taking note of the customers’ expectations increases our appetite to innovate even better solutions that rub shoulders with the changing business landscape while bringing value to the entire value chain.”

Aspiring to surpass its own milestones

The engineering business of UFlex aspires to surpass its own milestones and develop better machines that benefit all the strata of the packaging ecosystem. Talking about the company’s future efforts, Sabharwal tells us, “Being in the background of packaging, we are determined to deliver nothing but the best, that yields maximum value and leaves no or least impact on the environment. The product development cell envisions the development of new products and shortlists new technologies to create an unmatched permutation between customers’ requirements and technological possibilities. At present, many such developments are underway and will be unveiled once they are thoroughly tested.”

Meet the UFlex team at the BEC, Mumbai at booth number C30 from 14 to 16 September 2022.

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