“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.” – Warren G. Tracy
It was the year 1971 and the city – Kanpur up in North India, a city which has seen rise of many family entrepreneurial businesses. One such entrepreneur – Shri. Mahesh Swaroop Agarwal, was looking at setting up a Greenfield project in a new Industry. Raffia Flat tapes and woven sacks was just beginning to get an entry into the world of plastics and what then seemed like a great thing to get into. Like all great businesses, the first challenge cropped up in mid 1970’s.
“The company at that time was on the verge of closure for variety of economic reasons. The Shah of Iran had increased the oil prices by almost four times in 1974. It made plastic products totally uneconomical at that point of time”, shared Manoj Agarwal – MD, Kanpur Plastipack (left image – on the left). He further adds, “Jute mill strikes made the fortunes turn for our company. Through sheer hard work of the team, the company was a pioneer in exports by mid 1980’s.”
Over the years Kanpur Plastipack went from strength to strength, transitioning to FIBCs (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers) and Bulk bags took place in the year 1999 under able leadership of second generation family entrepreneur – Shri Manoj Agarwal. The Company Kanpur Plastipack has since then evolved into an Industrial Bulk Packaging Solution provider. From humble beginnings employing under 50 persons Kanpur Plastipack is now entering into its Fifth decade of service to the Global Bulk Packaging Industry. Acing its 45 year old legacy; it is now being successfully run by its 3rd generation of leadership, Shashank Agarwal – Dy.MD – Kanpur Plastipack (left image – on the right)
“In the expansive journey of 47 years of Kanpur Plastipack, there have been 3 major technological changes – always industry first to implement the same. This gave us an edge in the industry and helped keep us afloat”, he adds.
“The two main products are FIBC’s or Bulk bags and the second one is PP MFY’s. The former contributes to about 75% of the company’s revenue and latter pumps in the balance 25%. FIBC’s are primary products of export to developed nations, mainly US and European nations. A key differentiator for is the ability to customize our products basis the client’s need. For instance a fertilizer company would have a different specification of these bags vs a baby products manufacturer. This makes us one of the very few brands in India who provide Mass Customization.”
“Current capacity is about 10 Million bags per year or 1500 tons of FIBC’s. This has resulted in capturing a significant market share specially in contrast to Chinese manufacturers. Our industry is about quality (as it high value goods are transferred in it) and price is secondary. India is providing a perfect mix of both these due to availability of highly skilled manpower at low costs. Hence, proud to share that Kanpur Plastipack is amongst the top 5 players in the world.”
Innovation is the key to surviving competition and Kanpur Plastipack imbibes this philosophy to perfection. “In the last 30 years, we have moved from jute bags to FIBC’s. Within FIBC’s multiple innovations and further sub-product categories have developed over a these years specially due to customer demand calibration done by us. To take it further ahead, we have now developed a clone fabric which resembles jute; and stands as one of the biggest innovation in the last decade”, shares Shashank Agarwal.
Kanpur Plastipack truly believes in sustainability and hence the adoption renewable energy to minimize the carbon footprint. Shashank adds in, “We were one of the first companies to have the rooftop solar infrastructure. Over the next few years the company aims to consume more than 50% of its power consumption through renewable sources. Also we are a Zero water discharge company”.
Team Kanpur Plastipack
For the next growth decade the brand has done an investment to the tune of approx INR 100 crores. This strategic financial outlay was necessary to compete with global corporation giants. This is going to aid in develop best manufacturing practices and technological advancements as an when required. Kanpur Plastipack is now credited as a formidable name in the industry and aims to be one of the largest FIBC brand in the world.
For More Info : https://kanplas.com/
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