Scholle IPN is opening a new manufacturing site in India that will make both bags and fitments to help satisfy growing packaging demand in that market.
The new location in Palghar includes 25 automatic bag making and injection molding machines to manufacture aseptic bag-in-box packaging.
The site builds upon the former DD Polyplast Pvt. Ltd. injection molding business that was acquired by the company around the time that Scholle Corp. and Innovative Packaging Network merged about three years ago.
Scholle IPN has been importing bags for sale in the market, but decided about 18 months ago to make the investment to combine the injection molding business with bag making operations in that country.
“When you are making packaging, there's a lot of capital there. Machines aren't cheap. You have to have a pretty large facility. You have to have an advanced workforce. At what point do you pull the lever to say this makes sense to just go in and create value for the market? For us, that was pretty recent,” said Ryan Balock, director of global marketing communications.
“It was a pretty fast build for us. We knew what we were going to do for that market. We had some machines that were in other parts of the world that we were able to repurpose for the Indian market. We sped up by relocating some assets we already had, which really helps out,” he said.
Aside from relocation of equipment from other parts of the world, Scholle IPN also moved former DD Polyplast injection molding machinery to the new location from its former nearby site.
The company estimates it has 25 machines in the new 64,600-square-foot facility, including both bag-making and injection molding equipment.
A couple of key markets for the company are tropical juices and fruits that are packaged in 220-liter drum bags as well as 2.5- to 5-gallon bags for soft drink syrups, Balock said.
