Adding innovation to expectation Uflex

adding innovation to expectation

Uflex is a global phenomenon in the world of flexible packaging. Since it was founded in 1983 it has grown to become a multi-billion dollar global player. The development of recent major advances in aseptic (sterile) liquid packaging and recyclable barrier packaging for edible oils are just two of its many recent innovative break-throughs, as Philip Yorke reports.

Following the company’s pioneering development of products for the flexible packaging industry, Uflex has achieved an unrivalled leadership position in the global marketplace. Its international client base includes countless blue-chip household name brands such as P&G, PepsiCo, L’Oreal, GSK, Nestle, Kimberly Clark, Tata Global and Johnson & Johnson among many others. With consumers benefiting from its packaging expertise across the world, Uflex enjoys unsurpassed global reach. Its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities are not only located in India but also in the USA, Mexico, Dubai, Egypt and Poland. Fully certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, Uflex has also gained FDA and BGA approvals and forms part of the prestigious global D&B database.

In addition, Uflex is also the winner of many prestigious international awards, including an accolade for top exporter of BOPP & BOPET films and the Worldstar award for packaging excellence. Among its portfolio specialities are value-added packaging materials that include holograms, metallised papers, laminates, printing inks and lamination adhesives, as well as rotogravure cylinders, stamping foils and packaging converting machines.

Banking on success

In a recent major development, Uflex has been approved by the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) as a security printer for the production of MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) instruments for its banks. This operation requires overt and covert features for bank cheques, legal tenders and a variety of other negotiable security documents. Since Uflex possesses all the relevant systems technologies and infrastructure required, the IBA had no hesitation in awarding Uflex the latest coveted contract.

Expressing his delight over this achievement, Ashok Chatervedi, Chairman and MD of Uflex Limited said, “We have been at the vanguard of the global fight against counterfeiting by offering top of the line brand protection solutions to our clients in the flexible packaging field, and preventing them from being ‘body-doubled’.

“Acknowledging our capabilities in developing world-class anticounterfeiting solutions for brands, academic qualification degrees, and mark sheets etc., the IBA has given us the opportunity to securely print MICR instruments which is a big honour and responsibility in itself. Through immaculate R&D, we remain committed to raising the bar of technology in the security printing and brand protection sector.”

multi-layered innovation

In 2017 another milestone was added to the Uflex ‘Hall of Fame’ list of achievements. This was the long-awaited unveiling of the company’s Asepto™ brand, which revolutionised the formulations and processes for the optimisation of sterile liquid packaging. Uflex’s unique, state-of-the-art Aseptic Liquid Packaging plant is already commercially operational and is in line with the Indian Government’s ethos, ‘Make in India’.

The company’s new Aseptic packaging lines ensure that food and liquids remain free from bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms for a period of at least eight months under constant room temperature. Uflex’s special aseptic packages are made by laminating polyethylene with paperboard and aluminium foil. This unique multilayered construction enables the carton to protect the contents from various contaminants responsible for spoilage, thereby preserving the product’s freshness and value.

These components work together with the aluminium foil layer to provide a strong barrier for O2 and light. The innermost layer makes it possible to ‘seal-through’ the pack. In addition, the paper layer provides stiffness, making it possible for the cartons to form a brick-shape, which in turn offers maximum utilisation of storage and transportation space. Currently the Indian aseptic liquid packaging market is growing by almost 20 per cent per annum and the market is expected to double in the next five years to reach around 20 billion packs per annum.

Rasna International is one of India’s largest manufacturers and exporters of beverages, and is also one of the first to take advantage of Uflex’s latest packaging breakthrough innovations. On this occasion Rasna tasked Uflex to provide a unique packaging solution,

and what Uflex came up with took the brand to the next level of customer satisfaction. The company developed an all-new spouted profile stand-up pouch with a side handle for carrying the Rasna Fruit Powder concentrate, which has proved a great success on shelves throughout India and overseas.

Fruit powder concentrate is extremely hygroscopic and therefore must be completely protected from outside elements and especially from the ingress of moisture. Thus Uflex created a four-tier profiled packaging structure comprising polyester, aluminium foil, polyester and polythene components.

Geared for greener packaging

For many years Uflex has been dedicated to the protection of the environment, with sustainability at the heart of its greener packaging policy from the outset. When interviewed for a recent cover story for the packaging industry, Ashok Chaturvedi, Uflex’s Chairman and MD, said, “I have been reiterating time and time again that flexible packaging and plastics have a definitive, alternate end-of-life use, hence they are 100 per cent sustainable. At the end of its life, the post-consumer product can be easily converted into alternative, non-critical and nonfood contact materials, for utilities such as chairs, boom barriers, road dividers and for many more items. In addition, energy can be recovered from waste multi-layer flexible packaging and plastics in the form of usable heat, electricity or fuel through a variety of processes including combustion, gasification, pyrolisation, anaerobic digestion and land-fill gas recovery.”

Commenting on the company’s major breakthrough in the area of sustainable, flexible packaging, joint president and new product development director at Uflex, Jeevaraj Pillai, said, “Edible oil needs to be carefully protected from oxygen which makes it rancid. Currently, barrier properties in a co-extruded film for edible oil packaging are imparted by nylon and/or EVOH. However, it is the presence of these two elements that makes the packaging of edible oil non-reprocessable. We at Uflex have developed a specialised formulation that renders barrier packaging for edible oil fully reprocessable despite the presence of Nylon or EVOH.” New honours bestowed upon uflex founder

In recognition of his commitment and dedicated entrepreneurial contribution to the remarkable success of Uflex Limited, Mr Ashok Chatervedi, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of one of the world’s largest multinational flexible packaging materials companies, has been honoured with the Economic Times Polymers Lifetime Achievement Award 2018. Mr Chatervedi is a first generation entrepreneur and founder of the Uflex Group.

Under his dynamic leadership the group has evolved to become India’s largest fully integrated flexible packaging materials and solutions company. With his continuing stewardship and move to become the biggest packaging supplier to the pharmaceuticals industry, the future for Uflex looks very bright indeed. n

For further details of Uflex’s latest innovative products and services visit: www.uflex.com