Fineflexo has installed a brand-new Gallus Labelmaster flexo press at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Fineflexo is a joint venture of the Medi Sales and Bhavani groups, specializing in the extended supply chain of pharmaceutical business and logistics.
Director – Fineflexo
Ritesh Shetty, director at Fineflexo, said, “Fineflexo embodies ultimate excellence, adaptability, and service. We are endlessly working to nurture and upgrade the standard of the whole self-adhesive market in the country with premium quality, performance, and JIT deliveries in our product segment. We focus on developing a robust product portfolio for our clients and fostering trust and customer satisfaction.”
In 1989, Narendra Srisrimal formed the Medi Sales Group and strengthened the operation with Bhavani Group, which Balakrishna Shetty formed in 1979. The Fineflexo joint venture extends their cooperation in business.
Founder – Bhavani Group
Aayush Srisrimal, director at Fineflexo, said, “We are dedicated to distributing sustainable, efficient, competitively priced products that a print buyer needs. We serve the clients with our knowledge and expertise by analyzing how their product should look so that we can prepare the best suitable labels for it and make a ‘Brand Appeal’ and enhance it.” In the past, Fineflexo used to outsource the printing work, and subsequently decided to install a Gallus Labelmaster 440 after examining the technical advantages of the press, such as diverse substrate handling, 200 meters a minute production speed with registration accuracy, and user-friendly operation. Additional features on the label press can add more value to its labels, tube laminates, and aluminum foil printing.
Finepet & Caps is a sister concern company in the group, and the largest converter for aluminum and tin stock in India for metal printing, pet bottles, and ROPP caps. As the Medi Sales Group is one of the fastest-growing integrated pharmaceutical supply chains, it offers a complete pharmaceutical business and logistics system that includes modern warehousing, C&F, distribution, and wholesale operations.
Gallus Labelmaster – part of the backward integration process
Elaborating on the group’s business verticals and explaining the need for the press, Shetty says, “Our core business is manufacturing roll on pilfer proof cap, pet bottles, and metal printing. The manufacturing units for the above products are at Rabale in Navi Mumbai and Baddi in Himachal.”
He added, “We have been into metal printing for the last four decades. However, the metal printing venture was a backward integration for caps printing. In 2009, we started manufacturing pet bottles in Baddi. Currently, we are manufacturing approximately two million bottles daily for the pharmaceutical segment, in bottle sizes that vary from 10 ml to 1 liter. In 2017, we ventured into the manufacturing of tube laminates. The reason to acquire the Gallus Labelmaster 440 is to print labels for pharma bottles, tube laminates, and aluminum foils.”
Gallus Labelmaster 440 – performance
Talking about Gallus Labelmaster 440, Shetty, says, “The Gallus is a robust machine that gives us speed with stability. We saw the live press demonstration of the Labelmaster 440 at the Avery Dennison Innovation & Knowledge Centre in Pune. We did examine different brands of label presses, but eventually finalized the Gallus Labelmaster because of Heidelberg’s reliable service support. Stable printing on composite substrates like aluminum-based laminates and plastic-based laminates at high speed, faster job changes, and quick setup times gave us confidence. For consistent quality, it is better to have in-house production facilities and with this press, we can achieve it with significant waste reduction controls and JIT deliveries with the right finish and print quality.”
“The Labelmaster is designed to print on everything that we require. With it, we print on supported and unsupported labels, aluminum foils, light cardboard, tube laminates, shrink sleeves, and IML materials. It can handle a wide range of materials with different micron calipers, and we got everything we expected from Gallus,” said Shetty.
Director – Fineflexo
On the company’s development plan, Aayush Srisrimal, adds, “Fineflexo is working towards being the leading supplier of labels in India. We focus on developing a robust product portfolio for our clients and fostering trust and customer satisfaction. We create art with a scientific approach and top-notch technology. We believe that a label makes a product’s first impression and is a significant factor in consumer decision making.”
Diversification plan for complete pharma packaging foils
The packaging for tablets and capsules requires different types of foils and laminates. A new division started by the Fineflexo group called ‘Finepharmapack’ allows them to add aluminum-based films and foils to its product offering.
Founder – Medi Sales Group
This includes a 1300 mm wide coater and laminator from Italy capable of producing 12,000 metric tons per annum. Shetty says, “We have an ambitious project to manufacture all kinds of foils needed for pharmaceutical packaging, like blister foils, including 90 varieties of cold-form foils, child-resistant, senior-friendly, peel-push, suppository/tropical, and adhesive laminates.”
The project is planned for completion by the second quarter of 2023. After its completion, the group can provide a one-stop solution for all pharmaceutical needs. Narendra Kulkarni, Regional Product manager for Gallus in Asia, says, “The versatile Gallus Labelmaster assists the user in reduction of cost per label. An extremely short web path of just 1.4 meters between printing units and a material reduction with the ‘Labelmaster r-2 platform’ reduces production wastage.”
