While still in school Anuj Bhargava loved good music and the
quality of sound stirred up emotions within him such that he wished to make it
better. He was in class six of New Delhi’s prominent Delhi Public School, when
he developed an amplifier and sold it to a friend. Encouraged by the deal he
went on to make almost 50 more such equipment and sold to friends and relatives
at that young age. The interest in electronics lead him join YCCE College of
engineering and pursue further studies leading to BE (Bachelor of Engineering)
in electronics. Thereafter he went to
USA to do MS in electronics. As luck would have it, after the first semester he
had a change of heart and switched to study industrial engineering. He worked
to support his education while studying in America. On completing his masters
in Industrial Engineering, Anuj took up employment in the central engineering
department of Corning Glass for display technology. His job required him to coordinate
with all Corning plants in various countries like Japan, Taiwan, Korea, etc. In
2002 itself he got posted to their plant in Japan. As luck would have it,
before he arrived the company’s packaging development engineer had left job and
Anuj was asked to replace him. Anuj whose family was in printing and packaging,
had advised him to avoid printing and packaging as a career but that is kismet!
Fate had destined him elsewhere he wished one day to be in electronics, another
day he wanted to be in the furniture business but had to give up due to the
huge investment needed, finally landed up with a job in a global company in
their packaging department for large sized glassware.
In 2006 Anuj resigned from his job and returned back home. His
father S K Bhargava was
planning to visit Ipex exhibition in Birmingham, Anuj
decided to accompany him to visit the premier show in printing and packaging.
While in college he was greatly influenced by a professor who was an expert and
consultant to aerospace industry on lean management. Lean management was a
subject Anuj always felt would be an asset to manufacturing which he would
eventually indulge in. Digital printing appealed to him and implementation of
lean manufacturing principles in the process seemed to be in synergy. Moreover
digital printing appealed to him because of instant creativity and delivering
possibilities that it offered. All through at Ipex show he kept studying
digital printing but yet again fate had other plans for him. By end of Ipex he
realized PSA labels were talk of the time. The growth that it was offering and
the possibility of success on indulgence made him decide to seriously
contemplate labels as his business. Strange as it is, destiny drove him to
labels.M K Bhargava, Chairman Kumar Printers |
Anuj is from the second generation of the Bhargava family who
scaled immense success in the printing industry in North. His uncle M K Bhagava
who has been a mentor to Anuj, is the eldest of the three brothers, initiated
his career in printing as a freelancer. He would seek orders from customers and
outsource printing form other printing companies like Delhi Press, Zodiac Printers etc. In 1964 M K Bhargava started his maiden venture Kumar Printers
with a leased single colour Dominant press, from a 200-300 square foot factory
in Doriwalan in Karol Bagh Delhi. The second brother N C Bhargava and Anuj’s father;
the youngest of the siblings, S K Bharagava who was pursuing studies at
Allahabad Print College, joined Kumar Printers soon after. In 1970 all three brothers
joined in Kumar Printers to take the business forward. M K Bhargava had gained
knowledge from having worked with established printers during his stint as a
freelance printer and it helped them establish and grow their maiden venture.
With deep commitment to human values, quality, integrity and hard work, the
family grew their business. Their mantra for themselves as also to their
generation next was that each one had to work his way up in life and nothing
would come to them served on a platter. They encouraged their second generation
to set up their own ventures. M K Bhargava ‘s son Sandeep is an alumni of IIT
Chennai, Sanjeev son of N C Bhargava is an MBA and Anuj has been described in
the opening paragraph of this article. Sandeep inherited the reigns of Kumar
Printers while his father still continues to be with him at work at an age of
83 years, Sanjeev set up his venture Premier Paper Packaging and S K Bhargava‘s
only son Anuj set up his maiden venture Kumar labels. Interesting to note that
the elder Bhargava brothers continue to be together as directors at Kumar
Printers while their second generation, have set up new businesses separately. All
three ventures are successful and continue to grow. The family businesses do
not compete amongst themselves.
When destiny appeared to have lead him to labels, AnujBhargava on return from the Ipex trip in 2006 decided to evaluate a life in
labels. In the process he did a feasibility study, met prospective customers
and wrote a business plan. He spoke to many label printers and was surprised
that most people suggested that he invest in a Mark Andy rotary flexo press, a
very popular brand those days. Anuj was not impulsively indulgent, the as he
researched, he came to the conclusion that major end user customers had now started
to demand short runs on a regular basis. He saw the gap in that segment and
decided to go for an intermittent Letterpress label machine instead of a rotary
press that was suited for larger volumes as he saw a demand for short runs growing
and smaller run supplies from rotary flexo printers coming hesitantly. Before
investing in a press, he ordered a plate making machine. With negatives and
plates he left for Korea and Taiwan. Using the same plates he got samples
printed on various presses that included Iwasaki, Shiki, Bangsung, STR, Dolphin,
Mida and Orthotec to do a decision analysis. While in Corning glass, he had
learnt about Kepener Tregoe problem solving and decision
making tool. This tool is used by all aerospace companies. Since he had been
trained to use this tool he used it to make comparison and evaluation of the
printed samples. On completion of analysis, Bangsung won with the highest
numbers and the decision was made. The order was finally placed with Bangsung.
As luck would have Anuj got a nod from PNB for machine loan based on which he
placed order for the machine. However at the very last moment PNB declined and
within 15 days Anuj obtained funding from SIDBI (Small Industries Bank of
India).
It all started in 2007 with the arrival of his first label
press, an intermittent Bangsung at a
1740 square feet rented factory in Okhla
Industrial Area, New Delhi. Two years later in 2009, Anuj bought another
identical Bangsung press and the shop floor space in Okhla fell short. In 2011
he shifted his factory to an 18000 square feet rented factory in Sector 83
NOIDA, on the outskirts of Delhi. He also added an inspection machine and a
screen printing equipment. With space at his disposal and business growing, the
outgoing entrepreneur in Anuj became unstoppable. In 2012 he added two Multitecflexo rotary label presses. One was installed in January 2012 and another in
June 2012. In the same year Anuj started his own captive machine division to
build semi rotary intermittent registered die cutting machine. He showcased
this equipment initially at Labelexpo India 2012 and later at Labelexpo Europe
in Brussels in 2013 and 2015. Till date he has sold 16 machines and all are
working well. He is proud to say repeat orders came from export markets of Poland
and Korea. In 2013 Anuj decided to integrate backwards and started to produce
silicon release papers and self adhesive labelstocks for his captive
consumption.
The die cutting machine developed by Anuj |
The Gallus at Kumar Labels |
By this time in 2013 not only was the space in the factory
getting crowded but the lease was expiring and the landlord also was not
willing to renew. Anuj, took the bold step of buying a plot of land admeasuring
1750 square Meters in Greater Noida. In 2014 he started construction, finished
it in a record time of 48 days due to pressure of vacating the previous
premises and moved into the new 25000 square foot factory in September 2014.
Once operational in their owned new factory, Anuj bought another screen
printing machine, a Gallus label press, and many ancillary equipment. For his
label sock manufacturing he added equipment to produce label materials with
special effects and textures. In the same year he filed two patents. A year on
in 2015 Anuj bought the adjacent 1800 square Meters of land for further
expansion.
Kumar labels is Anuj Bhargava ‘s sole proprietorship company,
reminiscing his earliest days
when he started printing labels he mentions his
first customer that was his big break,
was Bausch & Laumb. They gave him a complicated label with a very tight
registration to print. However much they tried they were not getting it right.
That night he himself stood on the machine and kept on trying and finally got
it right at 3am in the morning. He took the materials in his car and supplied
to the customer some 80 Kms away and returned home at 5.30 am. Anuj has active
support from his wife Somya, a Bangalore girl he married after his first year
in labels. They have two children a daughter aged 6 and a son aged 4. Somya is
an engineer with MBA and looks after Finance, procurement and HR and comes to
work Mondays to Fridays. Kumar labels, is presently working with 9 label
presses, 105 employees and a shop floor 25000 square feet in size. They have
additional land next door for expansion. Anuj believes in continuously training
employees so that they are not left stranded when some employees quit. He
proudly states that he has trained over 300 persons in label conversion but is
not comfortable with the fact that in this industry skilled employee retention
is a problem. This so, at a time when competition is getting to be intense and
reverse auctions making life very uneasy. He plans to shortly start a special
technical training program under the aegis of Government of India SkillDevelopment Program.
Anuj Bhargava with Harveer Sahni |
As for future Anuj wishes to concentrate on art of print and
create innovations in labels. He wishes his enterprise to be a front runner in
decoration of labels for leading brands where quality and innovation will
matter and not just volumes. He wants and is committed to make his business
grow 15% per annum not just in top line but in the bottom lines so that with
added profitability he can invest more in creativity. Digital printing does
catch his interest and the indulgence may happen soon when his plans and ideas
for it fall into place. He is also in the process of developing a process to
reduce waste in self adhesive labels by almost 50% but for that he says, “I
will divulge later when ready”.
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director,Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India May 2017
The article was first printed in Printweek India.
No comments:
Post a Comment