Interview – Rajesh Khosla, President & CEO of AGI Glaspac
Rajesh Khosla is the president and CEO of AGI glaspac, a function of the Packaging Products Division (PPD) at HSIL. Khosla speaks nigh the packaging and glass container industry and its mail service-pandemic prospects to Packaging South asia's editor, Naresh Khanna
Packaging South asia – Volition the 2nd lockdown impact the need for glass manufacturing in India?
Rajesh Khosla – The need for glass packaging is growing exponentially. While Covid-19 has dented demand for many businesses, the glass industry, on the contrary, is working overtime to meet demand. In improver, there is an increase in demand from pharmaceutical verticals for vials, bottles, and ampoules.
Permit's speak specifically virtually the drinking glass sector. The problems that the industry may face with the second lockdown include the supply of raw materials and inputs for manufacture, the transportation of finished goods, and in some cases, the inability of employees to come to the place of work.
PSA – With uncertainty looming, how do you lot see the future of the packaging industry?
Rajesh Khosla – Fifty-fifty with the dubiety ahead, I believe the packaging industry has been doing amend during the pandemic than the other sectors in the economy. This is considering consumers are now more focused on adopting healthier lifestyles. We as well see an increase in the demand from eCommerce, pharmaceuticals, and the liquor manufacture for glass packaging.
PSA – How is the global packaging market performing in these challenging times?
Rajesh Khosla – The global packaging market is expected to reach $ane,652.28 billion past 2027 , growing at a CAGR of vii.five%. The global packaging industry is expected to abound in the coming years. Due to Covid-19, the need for pharmaceutical packaging has increased. Similarly, with the increasing eCommerce sales and increase in the food packaging and liquor manufacture market, the packaging industry volition run into new growth avenues despite the pandemic. This industry is facing a transformation, with new demographic conditions and new customer demands.
PSA – What are the learnings from the first wave, and how are you applying those to the current situation?
Rajesh Khosla – The pandemic has shown united states of america how modular and active automation is needed. Many automatic methods have historically been very brackish – deployment was expensive (in time and coin), and it is hard for them to arrange to new settings and workflows later on being deployed. During Covid-nineteen, this rigidity was a problem since installations needed to change operations and workflows to come across lower headcount and updated limits on social distance. The nigh successful deployments were those that could occur remotely and be customized to serve a facility'due south needs from day i.
At AGI glaspac, nosotros believe that technology and development will proceed to build a better future for everyone. For example, the pandemic of 2022 caused enormous disruption in almost every part of our lives, peculiarly in our supply chains. However, our technological improvements have helped decrease the shortages created by our own and our customers' broken traditional supply chains. One of the corking lessons learned is that supply chains using this technology will get more agile and robust. While still enabling responsible, more than efficient product, which is less harmful to our earth, applied science provides unparalleled digital opportunities for the electric current and time to come manufacturing challenges.
PSA – How do yous see AGI'due south performance in the by year, and what are your expansion plans?
Rajesh Khosla – While other companies are trying to consolidate themselves, AGI is in the expansion fashion. Nosotros invested in expanding the facility in Telangana to cater to the increasing demand for container glass. We as well program to invest in the eastern parts of India in the futurity.
AGI glaspac did meaning expansions last year by setting up a greenfield facility to brand specialty drinking glass at Bhongir in Telangana with an investment of Rs.220 crore raised from its parent company HSIL Limited. The unit will exist commissioned past early 2022, and it volition generate 4,000 jobs.
This year nosotros invested Rs 55 crore of the Rs 220 crore to build a new furnace of 154 tons per day with engineering science from HORN Drinking glass Industries of Federal republic of germany at the AGI Speciality Glass division. With a manufacturing capacity of 154 tons per day and five manufacturing lines spread across 15 acres, the establish will cater to high-end pharmaceuticals, including vials, and other segments such as perfumery and cosmetics. In addition, information technology will focus on exports to the United states, Australia, and a few markets in Europe.
PSA – What are the challenges faced by the glass container industry?
Rajesh Khosla – The glass container manufacturing companies faced much trouble when it came to logistics during the lockdown every bit it curbed the movement of goods in and out of the districts. Withal, the government eased our efforts past including the glass manufacturing sector nether essential services.
Limited admission to raw materials was another challenge faced by the glass industries, but most companies stored plenty raw materials beforehand to run their concern. On the other mitt, since customers cannot forecast the demand due to the uncertainty in the economy, we are too non able to plan our things normally.
PSA – What is the size and growth of the Indian glass packaging market?
Rajesh Khosla – The glass industry in India is quite old and well established, although information technology remained largely a cottage industry for a very long time. In recent years, the industry has transformed from using rudimentary mouth-diddled and paw-working processes to adopting modernistic processes and automation in a big way. However, the Indian per capita consumption for glass packaging (i.8 kilograms) is much lower than other nations. The following graph shows it.
The demand for glass packaging is expected to grow exponentially past next yr. AGI glaspac has already installed boosted chapters to meet the rise demand. The narrow cervix press and accident (NNPB) process tin produce the all-time glass bottles. The electric current tendency is towards tempering, using appealing colors and other value addition that will overcome the shortages and create a expert supply concatenation for the consumer. The industry is experiencing a surge in demand, attributable largely to the growing purchasing ability, urbanization, modern retail, and increasing awareness about wellness and hygiene amongst consumers.
Glass containers have been a direct substitute for plastic containers. With plastic phasing out in the coming years, the demand for glass bottles is expected to increase substantially. Also, it is observed that even finish consumers now prefer glass over plastic. Therefore, when information technology comes to prices – only if the raw textile cost increases, the price of the glass bottles will too be expected to ascent. Yet, information technology is also crucial to note that all these estimates were made earlier the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, information technology is a possibility that the current pandemic situation may bring unforeseen changes to these forecasts.
PSA – Thank you.
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Source: https://packagingsouthasia.com/application/fmcg/alcobev/rajesh-agi-glaspac/
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