Tetra Pak Packaging Materials Plant, Chakan, India

Tetra Pak announced its plan to build a new packaging plant in India in October 2008. The project aims to meet the packaging needs of the growing dairy and beverage industries in the country and the surrounding emerging markets.

The new plant is being built on a 45 acre greenfield site located in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's Phase II industrial development in Chakan, a town in the district of Pune. The site is located 40km from the city of Pune.

Tetra Pak owns a similar plant at Takwe in Pune. The Takwe plant has a capacity of five billion packages per year and is running almost at full capacity. Tetra Pak decided to expand its manufacturing activity in the country in order to cater to the surplus demand in Indian and other Asian markets.

The project was estimated to cost €88m at the time of the project's announcement; however, construction began two years later in February 2011. As a result of the delay, costs escalated to €100m (Rs6bn).

The plant is expected to be operational by December 2012. On completion, it will be Tetra Pak's fourth-largest greenfield manufacturing facility.

Design of Tetra Pak's Chakan plant

The Tetra Pak plant's design incorporates a number of sustainable features, making use of renewable and non-conventional energy and materials for production.

Heat recovery systems will be installed for air-conditioning throughout the plant. A rain water harvesting system will help meet the plant's water requirements.

Packaging systems

The Tetra Pak plant will manufacture materials for use in the packaging of beverages.

The production will mainly include materials for the company's top selling carton packaging brands including Tetra Brik® Aseptic, Tetra Fino® Aseptic and Tetra Classic® Aseptic.

Equipment / facilities at Tetra Pak's Chakan plant

As well as modern packaging production lines and equipment, the plant will also have technical support facilities for customers and a development centre to focus on packaging innovation.

The Machine Rebuilding Centre being built within the plant's premises will provide mechanical support services, such as start-up and renovation of machinery, to the company's customers. It will be Tetra Pak's third such service and support centre.

The Product Development and Innovation Center, which will also be an integral part of the site, will focus on research and development of new packaging products. It will have a laboratory to research or test new packaging products and it will also feature a pilot processing plant and a pilot packaging plant to develop and produce new products based on customers' needs.

Benefits

Tetra Pak sees a significant opportunity for packaging business from India's dairy beverage sector, with the country being one of the largest milk consumers in the world.

Moreover, the growth in the Indian market for fruit-based beverages and juices, nectars and still drinks has attracted Tetra Pak to expand its production activity in the country.

Future plans

Tetra Pak plans to almost double the plant's capacity to 16 billion packages per year. The plant's design makes provision for this future expansion.

On completion of the expansion, India will become the biggest production hub for the company in South and Southeast Asia. The combined capacities of the Takwe and Chakan plants will place Pune among Tetra Pak's top five manufacturing locations.

Tetra Pak plans to invest in expanding the manufacturing bases in emerging markets. According to the company's analysis, emerging markets promise a higher growth in the demand for beverage packaging products compared with the European markets.

The company has also invested in expanding its manufacturing base in China, Pakistan, Russia and Brazil.