Harish Gupta, Managing Director of Sai Com Codes Flexo Print
Pvt. Ltd. Rai, Sonepat has registered amazing growth in self-adhesive labels
industry in India. Born and brought up in the North Indian city Jammu, a city
on the banks of river Tawi, the winter capital of the Union Territory of Jammu
& Kashmir. Three generations of his family have lived in Jammu, his father
R D Gupta has been a banker most of his life. He retired as General Manager of
the J&K Bank and later took responsibility as Chairman of State Cooperative
Bank. Harish, his only son besides two daughters, finished his schooling in
Jammu and followed it up with a B. Tech in electronics plus MBA in marketing
from Pune University. He got his first job for selling metal containers as a part
of campus placement, but Harish was envisioning bigger avenues, so in just two
months he quit that job and came to Delhi. He wanted to set up his own venture.
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| Mark Andy Scout |
encouragement and motivation came from his father. He had no knowledge about flexographic printing or the presses, but since he was decided on the project, he extensively searched the internet. Learnt about flexo printing by surfing the internet, he even purchased his first flexo press without even seeing the press but by only seeing it online and studying the catalogues.
The first one and half year after installing the label press
was extremely challenging to run due to lack of knowledge of flexo printing
process and experience in the field. Biggest challenge was, getting trained
manpower as there were few people available in 2005-2006. Even good quality
plates were not accessible locally. Most of the first year was spent studying
the flexographic printing technology on his own. As he believes that to be successful,
he needs to acquire the knowledge himself. He was hardly selling during the
learning process as they did not know how to run the press properly. It looked
like a big mess such that Harish got fed up and started contemplating how to
get rid of the setup. One day in pensive thoughts at home, he reminded himself
of the phrase, “Nothing is impossible” he again started training himself from
internet programs. He undertook a seven-day course to learn flexo printing, he
started first to learn printing and then being an electronic engineer, he then
began to understand the machine operation and its nuances. Those days the
machines only used hot air for drying the print, there was challenges in
reproducibility and consistency as
viscosity of inks would change during printing resulting in variations in shades
of print. UV inks offering instant crosslinking and drying came later. Due to
the issues and hardships faced in initial years, 2007 to 2010 was a period of very slow progress.
He still reminisces that in 2006 he ran into a big fiasco in printing. They had gotten an order for printing on PE film, the order quantity was six thousand square meters. They printed the entire quantity and when they started slitting, they realized that the ink was rubbing off, when touched by hand. It was then they realized that they needed to print with UV inks and not water-based inks. Plus, there was necessity for Corona treatment and top coatings for getting the printing right on filmic substrates. The entire quantity went waste as they could not supply the defective material and the order got cancelled. This was difficult learning. They understood at that time that with the present equipment they could only print paper labels, so started advising customers who wanted filmic labels to opt for laminated paper labels. By 2009 they did get support from an ink supplier to print PE labels with water-based inks, but they needed to cure the labels for longer periods, but then delays in supplies and lack of perfection in manufacturing process is not the right situation for rapid growth. This was at a time when the industry was evolving and moving towards “just in time” deliveries with reduced inventories. By 2010 Harish had become sufficiently adept in flexo printing and it was time to move ahead and invest in equipment the way he understood the technology. Presently they did not have equipment to support their foray into filmic and other specialized labels.
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| Ringing the bell on buying Nilpeter at Labelexpo |
In 2011 Harish bought his first Nilpeter eight colour, all UV
label press. Thereafter the first big job order
came to them from Patanjali Ayurved Limited, whom they had started
supplying in small quantities from 2006. Being an ardent follower of Sai Baba,
at this time he changed the company’s name from Com Codes to Sai Com Codes
Flexo Print Pvt Ltd. This was their take off point and there was no looking
back, whereafter he started buying a new press each year. Initially they
started by focusing themselves to the agrochemicals industry and by the end of
that year they became the most prominent label manufacturer in that segment
with Harish having personally indulged and motivated these customers to switch
over to self-adhesive labels from wet glue labels. As business grew and their
customers were setting up units in various locations, they proposed for Sai Com
Codes to also set up units at these locations near their new manufacturing
facilities. This was a pressing need considering better coordination, better
inventory control and being at the customers’ doorstep for faster response time
giving better service, ensuring business
continuity and growth.
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| Harish with his HP Indigo |
Talking about the impact of the pandemic, Harish mentions
that during Covid they also suffered like all, in terms of materials shortage, workforce
migration, lockdowns, management challenges, movement of goods, etc. However, investment
in Digital capabilities came to their
rescue as they could produce without the need for flexo inks, plates and many
operators. It will take some time for the bulk of label industry to return to
regular functioning like in pre-covid times. That is why it is now felt that a
future without digital capabilities will be a shortcoming. On the onset of
covid, inventories were already there but replenishments were lacking or
missing. Those days many units kept on working so the impact was there but
still manageable, once the impact had somewhat subsided and businesses started opening,
by April or May 2021, label industry faced shortages, increased prices, imports
became difficult due to container shortages, all this has put extreme pressures
on the label manufacturers in the current fiscal year. As per Harish this
situation will prevail until December 2021 or until all covid related
restrictions are lifted and people are back to jobs, free to visit markets,
schools and colleges are opened and travel, both domestic and international,
becomes unrestricted. This is so because all industries are somehow
interconnected.
Harish’s wife Pooja is a home maker they have a son and a
daughter. His daughter Jayini is studying to be a doctor and presently pursuing
MBBS 3rd year. Their 13 years old son Tejas is still in school and a
sports enthusiast.
Speaking about sustainability Harish agrees that it is a
major concern for which they must adopt a system to manage waste. They are considering
diverse options that would aid recycling. Linerless should come as it is a
necessity which will decrease the tonnage going to landfills, it must be
convenient and user friendly. Once they are convinced on the production and
usability of linerless labels, they would definitely consider investing in the
technology, as they are concerned about environment being safe for generations
that follow.
