Speciality packaging company Essel Propack has installed a new extrusion laminator at its plant in Vasind, Shahapur, in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The company has invested Rs390m ($5.57m) to design and co-develop the extrusion laminator in collaboration with its technology partner.

According to the company, the expansion will increase lamination capacity at the facility by 25 million square metres. The existing capacity is 55 million square metres per annum.

Essel Propack COO MR Ramaswamy said: “As a responsible manufacturer and global leader, we have designed the new laminator to not only meet quality and performance requirements of our valued customers, but to also include several features to cater to the requirements of Go Green’ and ‘Sustainability’ of our customers and all our stakeholders.”

The extrusion laminator is expected to annually produce 30% more laminate, while it will also facilitate multi-model polymers processing.

"The extrusion laminator is expected to annually produce 30% more laminate, while it will also facilitate multi-model polymers processing."

It has high-precision callipers with auto-correction features facilitating uniform thickness, stable quality and consistency in the laminate specifically for packaging non-oral care in Pharma and Food categories.

The system can identify and tag all defects on both sides of the laminate using high-speed automatic surface defect detectors.

Companies can use the data collected from this detection system to improve product quality in the next process.

Essel Propack manufactures laminated plastic tubes for the FMCG and pharma industries. It employs more than 2,852 people and operates 20 facilities in eleven countries.