A-Z of packaging development

Packult, established in 2021, provides complete packaging service to brands right from ideation, product research, development, design, supply chain management and execution in line with industry regulations and protocols.

 

Manish Mehta, MD of Reifenhauser and Packult’s founder, Mehta says that as a technology provider, the company was functioning behind the curtains in the packaging industry and was not in direct contact with brand owners and end-users. The start-up allows him the opportunity to be at the forefront of packaging development.

 

The new company benefits from Reifenhauser’s rich expertise in extrusion, lamination, printing, coating digital, flexo, gravure, slitting and pouching, pre-press and inspection technologies but functions

as an entirely separate entity with a separate team. Reifenhauser is the backbone of Packult.

 

Expertise

 

Packult developed its knowledge base with raw material suppliers such as Exxon Mobil, Dow, Reliance and Gail. Then it moved on to inks, adhesives and coating materials and worked on understanding the converting process.

 

Mehta says that with Reifenhauser’s technology expertise, he has been able to find ways to use technology to solve current issues in the industry. ‘For example, we sold high-end coating machines 4-5

years ago and they are still not commonly seen in the market. But we can achieve a lot by coating. You can make a polyester or BOPP film with a special coating that has very high barrier properties instead of creating multi-layer films that pose tremendous challenges in recycling.

 

‘We can challenge with alternative materials. Hence, we decided why not come out as a solution provider either to converters or brand owners. There are many small to mid-sized companies that might need our help and cannot afford independent packaging departments. During the Covid years, I realized why not come forward and supply the know-how that is missing.’

 

Start-up brands usually have to reach out to multiple suppliers for different types of packaging requirements. Packult offers the complete service in-house from design, pre-press, color and logo design to final product. 

 

The company has an in-house graphic designer and creative visualizer. Brands need only to send a PDF file to receive the final job.

 

‘Then comes process know-how. We can offer them complete packaging no matter the product’s property, including packaging machines. This provides a complete closed loop.’

 

Packult also provides consultancy services for brand owners interested in investing in new and advanced technology. They receive technical guidance along with training.

 

‘We are merging Reifenhauser and Packult’s activities in terms of knowledge sharing, experience, expertise selling,’ Mehta says.

 

Mehta describes it a passion-driven initiative. The stakeholders in the company apart from Mehta include Reifenhauser Germany, Nippon Paper Industries Japan and Comexi Spain.

 

Packult aims to offer technology support to enhance productivity and operations for converters for which it has a dedicated process control department.

 

If not maintained correctly, technology can become redundant and lose its initial productivity or capabilities. When this happens, machines might spend more energy, manpower and time. And converters might hesitate to reach out to machine manufacturers because the cost of repair and technicians becomes very high, Mehta explains.

 

 

This is another challenge that Packult will address by offering technical support to these converters and helping them regain original levels of productivity.

 

‘That’s how we combine the product mix – process control, packaging design and innovation. I feel that we were behind the curtain earlier but with this, we will come to the front. We don’t want to do standard jobs, we are more interested in design innovation,’ Mehta adds.

 

Packult will focus on establishing market presence in India and opening additional branches in the first few years. Later on, it will extend international branches in countries including the Middle East and Africa to begin with. It will also collaborate with international companies in designing and circular economy initiative R Cycle for support in sustainability.

 

Additionally, it will also cooperate with ad agencies. Currently, a team of 15 leads Packult in the same premises as Reifenhauser but is entirely independent. Mehta is heading the new entity at the moment but plans to hire someone else for the role by the end of 2022.

 

The company already has a few projects on hand and has the capacity to take on more work.

 

‘We are evolving and don’t have rigid policies. We know the goals that we want to achieve. Cooperation and collaboration are a way of life. As long as our interests are taken care of, we are allowed to

run the company, tech data and security are not touched and the decisions are taken together, we will work towards the same goal,’ Mehta concludes.