07.21.21
A – 107 - 108, Sector - IV,
Noida 201301 (U.P.), India
Tel: +91 120 4012345
www.uflexltd.com
Email: enquiry@uflexltd.com
Sales: $111 million in ink sales; $1 billion sales (consolidated).
Major Products: UFlex is India’s biggest multinational flexible packaging materials and solutions company. Its Chemicals Business manufactures liquid inks (solvent & water-based); laminating adhesives (water-based, solvent- and solvent-less); ink binders and specialty coatings (UV/UV LED/EB).
Key Personnel: Rajesh Bhasin, joint president, UFlex Chemicals Business; Rajesh Srivastava, VP sales and marketing, Chemicals Business.; Anuj Arora, CFO, Chemicals Business.
No. of Employees: 950 (consolidated).Locations: Headquartered in Noida in India, UFlex has manufacturing facilities in UAE, Egypt, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Elizabethtown, KY, USA.
Comments: UFlex is India’s largest fully integrated multinational flexible packaging materials and solution provider with sales of more than $1 billion globally, with inks, part of the Chemicals Business, accounting for $111 million. Like virtually every business during COVID-19, UFlex faced numerous challenges, and the company was able to overcome them and even grow their business.
“2020 will be long remembered in the history as arguably the toughest time for all businesses on this planet,” said Rajesh Bhasin, joint president, UFlex Chemicals Business. “Every single business was impacted; most of them adversely and few favorably. We were no exception. Our demand and operations were seriously impacted and our grit and determination to produce favorable results in such circumstances were seriously challenged. “
Bhasin noted that global supply chains were seriously impacted during the height of pandemic, thereby eliminating predictability in operations.
“We are happy that our team passed the test with flying colors and performed exceedingly well during this difficult phase and improved operational efficiencies and delivered growth,” Bhasin said. “During this pandemic period, we entered new geographies, expanded product distribution network and added key clients to our portfolio.”
In terms of highlights, Bhasin noted that UFlex developed new solutions for their customers, and continued its emphasis on environmentally friendly products.
“Even in this difficult period, we successfully delivered some exciting solutions to the converting industry,” Bhasin said. “We advanced our research on environment friendly products through this period and have come close to introducing interesting solutions to the industry.”
One area that had to be overcome was raw material supply and availability.
“The supply chain challenges experienced during this period have no parallel,” Bhasin observed. “Both the raw material availability and pricing were disturbed, adversely impacting the operations of industry most seriously. Planned shutdowns and sudden breakdowns of vendors and service partners to the industry created a major imbalance in the demand and supply situation, affecting product availability and leading to exorbitant price increase issues. This, combined with shortage of shipping containers, led to shortages of imported raw materials.
“In this difficult situation, saying no to buyers was not an option and hence our research team worked diligently against time to develop alternate vendors and ensured minimal disturbance for our buyers,” he added. “Performance of our supply chain team during this period deserves special mention.
“During this period, due to higher raw material costs, pressure on inks and adhesives pricing cannot be denied. However, our approach is to minimize impact on our clients by identifying cost effective solutions through alternate raw material development and formulations. Our focus on continuously improving our operational efficiencies too has cushioned the impact,” Bhasin concluded.
UFlex’s R&D is actively working on a variety of projects, including LED inks and coatings to reduce carbon footprint; aqueous barrier coatings for films to improve barrier properties; PUD coatings for blister/HSL applications to eliminate solvent-based coatings; OGR coatings for e-commerce application to eliminate PE; and replacing solvent-based inks with aqueous inks for
gravure applications.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and it is difficult to predict the future. However, Bhasin noted that raw material availability is improving and the prices are expected to soften only in the third quarter of 2021.
“We have had a decent run in the first few months of 2021 and we are confident of delivering decent growth in the current year,” added Bhasin. “We are already witnessing high demand for our products across FMCG, Healthcare and E-commerce segments. We realize that these are challenging times but are cautiously optimistic about our future. While we calibrate and adapt ourselves to this new normal, we will like to believe that supply chain challenges are behind us and remain confident of growth in current financial year.”
Noida 201301 (U.P.), India
Tel: +91 120 4012345
www.uflexltd.com
Email: enquiry@uflexltd.com
Sales: $111 million in ink sales; $1 billion sales (consolidated).
Major Products: UFlex is India’s biggest multinational flexible packaging materials and solutions company. Its Chemicals Business manufactures liquid inks (solvent & water-based); laminating adhesives (water-based, solvent- and solvent-less); ink binders and specialty coatings (UV/UV LED/EB).
Key Personnel: Rajesh Bhasin, joint president, UFlex Chemicals Business; Rajesh Srivastava, VP sales and marketing, Chemicals Business.; Anuj Arora, CFO, Chemicals Business.
No. of Employees: 950 (consolidated).Locations: Headquartered in Noida in India, UFlex has manufacturing facilities in UAE, Egypt, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Elizabethtown, KY, USA.
Comments: UFlex is India’s largest fully integrated multinational flexible packaging materials and solution provider with sales of more than $1 billion globally, with inks, part of the Chemicals Business, accounting for $111 million. Like virtually every business during COVID-19, UFlex faced numerous challenges, and the company was able to overcome them and even grow their business.
“2020 will be long remembered in the history as arguably the toughest time for all businesses on this planet,” said Rajesh Bhasin, joint president, UFlex Chemicals Business. “Every single business was impacted; most of them adversely and few favorably. We were no exception. Our demand and operations were seriously impacted and our grit and determination to produce favorable results in such circumstances were seriously challenged. “
Bhasin noted that global supply chains were seriously impacted during the height of pandemic, thereby eliminating predictability in operations.
“We are happy that our team passed the test with flying colors and performed exceedingly well during this difficult phase and improved operational efficiencies and delivered growth,” Bhasin said. “During this pandemic period, we entered new geographies, expanded product distribution network and added key clients to our portfolio.”
In terms of highlights, Bhasin noted that UFlex developed new solutions for their customers, and continued its emphasis on environmentally friendly products.
“Even in this difficult period, we successfully delivered some exciting solutions to the converting industry,” Bhasin said. “We advanced our research on environment friendly products through this period and have come close to introducing interesting solutions to the industry.”
One area that had to be overcome was raw material supply and availability.
“The supply chain challenges experienced during this period have no parallel,” Bhasin observed. “Both the raw material availability and pricing were disturbed, adversely impacting the operations of industry most seriously. Planned shutdowns and sudden breakdowns of vendors and service partners to the industry created a major imbalance in the demand and supply situation, affecting product availability and leading to exorbitant price increase issues. This, combined with shortage of shipping containers, led to shortages of imported raw materials.
“In this difficult situation, saying no to buyers was not an option and hence our research team worked diligently against time to develop alternate vendors and ensured minimal disturbance for our buyers,” he added. “Performance of our supply chain team during this period deserves special mention.
“During this period, due to higher raw material costs, pressure on inks and adhesives pricing cannot be denied. However, our approach is to minimize impact on our clients by identifying cost effective solutions through alternate raw material development and formulations. Our focus on continuously improving our operational efficiencies too has cushioned the impact,” Bhasin concluded.
UFlex’s R&D is actively working on a variety of projects, including LED inks and coatings to reduce carbon footprint; aqueous barrier coatings for films to improve barrier properties; PUD coatings for blister/HSL applications to eliminate solvent-based coatings; OGR coatings for e-commerce application to eliminate PE; and replacing solvent-based inks with aqueous inks for
gravure applications.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and it is difficult to predict the future. However, Bhasin noted that raw material availability is improving and the prices are expected to soften only in the third quarter of 2021.
“We have had a decent run in the first few months of 2021 and we are confident of delivering decent growth in the current year,” added Bhasin. “We are already witnessing high demand for our products across FMCG, Healthcare and E-commerce segments. We realize that these are challenging times but are cautiously optimistic about our future. While we calibrate and adapt ourselves to this new normal, we will like to believe that supply chain challenges are behind us and remain confident of growth in current financial year.”
