Nilpeter India on an expansion mode…!

Nilpeter India, has established itself fairly and is now looking forward for its expansion. Alan Barretto, MD of the company, who has been associated with it since its inception, narrates the details to D Ramalingam from P&P.

After crossing the Chennai Airport and taking the Pallavaram Flyover, immediately getting down to the Fast Track 200 feet road leading to Tambaram, a few minutes thereafter, one can locate the Nilpeter India elegant factory building. In fact, the MD is inspired by looking at the fast moving vehicles down the road from his cabin. Nilpeter India Pvt Ltd manufactures flexo presses with optional in-line stations for other printing processes and cold and hot foil stamping. Alan Barretto, managing director, is guiding the company on its forward path. An IITian from Delhi with Masters in Business Administration from FMS Delhi, Alan informed, “Nilpeter India Pvt Ltd was started as a joint venture with Proteck, Chennai in 2008. I have been with Proteck for about 25 years and was given the opportunity to take responsibility as MD, Nilpeter India.”

Manish Kapoor and Alan BarrettoTalking about the manufacturing activities, Alan told, “We manufacture FB3300S 13” full servo flexo press Besides the FB line presses, we also sell the FA-Line and MO-Line presses that are made in Denmark. In our factory here, we manufacture machines, ranging from 2 to 12 stations.” To mention about the maximum speed of the machine, Alan quipped, “It is 225 metre per minute.” When it was expressed that with labels in innumerable variants how they can be co-related with the rated speed of the machine, Alan with his mechanical engineering background, drew a neat diagram of a flexo machine with its ink duct, fountain roller, doctor blade, anilox roller, plate cylinder and the substrate path through impression cylinder and dryer outwards. “In flexo printing, the plate cylinder is changeable and its diameter determines the repeat length. The number of labels per repeat depends on the width of the printing and the repeat length. That way one can calculate the number of labels produced in a minute or hour at a particular speed. As an indicator, m/min makes sense,” he explained.

As for the number of machines sold from Chennai factory, Alan informed, “There is a footprint of around 30 presses in India.” Some of their major clients include UPSL and Diadem Enterprises in Chennai; Procam Graphics, Synergy Packaging in Mumbai; Ajanta Packaging, Sai Comcodes in the North, to name a few. On asking about exports, he replied, “We have already supplied a couple of machines to the Middle-East and are very hopeful of increasing our export share.” Explaining other activities at the Chennai factory, Alan told, “It houses the Technology Center, assembly area and parts warehouse as well. We train the operators on the machine running the jobs on shop floor condition. Infact, we are in a position to sell a machine along with a trained operator.”

Talking about the future road map, Alan told, “As of now, we operate on 8,000 sq ft facility, while another 8,000 sq ft facility is already constructed, where our expanded assembly operations will soon begin. We now have 32 committed employees and Nilpeter India is optimistic about growth in the coming years.” Nilpeter India Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary of Nilpeter A/S Denmark, who are pioneers in the field of narrow-web presses for almost 100 years. With this background and with its own footprints, it augurs well for Nilpeter India for its expansion mode.