The company calls itself a customer-centric and knowledge-driven organization, where a lot of emphasis is laid on new product development, quality improvement and cost cutting methods.
N R Agarwal Industries Ltd. (NRAIL), established in 1993, is a waste paper based manufacturer of packaging board, newsprint, and W&P paper. The company has four manufacturing facilities in Vapi, Gujarat, India till June 2014, three facilities manufacture coated duplex boards and one manufactures newsprint. It started an expansion project to manufacture W&P paper with a capacity of 90,000 tonnes per annum at Sarigam, Gujarat India at a cost of Rs 3,300 millions. The project was completed in July 2014 and, after successful trials, the commercial production commenced on July 21, 2014 on the new paper machine.
The company is envisaging yet another expansion plan in the packaging segment, which is its stronghold. Quality remaining at its core of manufacturing activities, the company gives utmost stress on parameters satisfying the end user. Paper Mart recently held a brief interaction with Mr. A. K. Bansal, Group President (Technical), N R Agarwal Industries Ltd. Here are the excerpts:
Industry is changing from every aspect, be it paper manufacturing or trading or converting. What is your observation on the same? Besides share your suggestion for a healthy evolution?
The global paper and paperboard packaging market is segmented on the basis of grade, application, product type, and region. Due to increasing consumer awareness about the ill-effects of non-biodegradable materials and rising environmental concerns, consumers are increasingly opting for environment friendly packaging solutions, thus, driving growth of the overall paper and paperboard packaging market.
The current trend of light weighting is all about emphasizing on the use of virgin grade boards of higher bulk at lower grammage to reduce the weight of packaging and resultant emissions. Also, when comparing recycled to virgin boards, cross direction stiffness is the single most important consideration in substitution.
Are you planning any investment in expansion at your company? If yes please share some information about your plans.
We will be going for the expansion in the form of new plant related to packaging grades as it is our group’s forte. Other details about the project will be shared when we reach the finalization stage.
According to you, what kind of efforts do Indian paper mills make with regard to developing new products and providing paper solutions to the converting industry? How mills can better serve customers on this subject?
Paper Industry has to match the quality as per the requirements of the end user, some of the paper board qualities are pick resistance, mottle, fluff, gloss, transparency, ink transfer, roughness, smoothness, print penetration, set-off, pinholes, missing dots, etc.
Similarly, in case of kraft and test liners of different grades for different applications, one need to maintain ply bond, SCT and RCT values along with better gullibility.
To add to the above question, how NR Agarwal intend to add value for its customers & industry?
Our Group is very quality conscious and we try to maintain the said properties in our products, so that our customers remain satisfied. Sometimes, we get the specific quality requirements from our customers, which we try to develop for them.
How has been the journey so far for NR Agarwal, especially after the last expansion?
It was a hard journey for us in the beginning, but now with lot of major modifications, we are almost achieving 100 percent efficiency with the quality to the fullest satisfaction of the customers.
Efficiency is the key for any business. Have you taken any major steps in recent times in this area, especially with regard to water and energy consumption and improvising your company’s environmental footprint?
Yes. In today’s scenario, efficiency plays a big role, and our management is always working in this direction, be it utility consumption, and be it the plant efficiency. In recent times, we are able to reduce the power/water and steam consumption per ton of product, and trying to reduce further, without affecting the quality.
