Tetra Pak announced its plans to build a new packaging plant in India in October 2008. The project was aimed at meeting the packaging needs of the growing dairy and beverage industries in the country and the surrounding emerging markets.
The plant was 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 plant is located 40km from the city of Pune.
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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 its announcement; however, construction began two years later in February 2011. As a result of the delay, costs escalated to €120m (Rs7bn).
The plant became operational in May 2013 becoming Tetra Pak’s fourth-biggest greenfield manufacturing facility. The plant was granted Platinum certification by the Indian Green Building Council, for its sustainable building design.
Design of Tetra Pak’s Chakan plant
The Tetra Pak plant’s design incorporated a number of sustainable features that made use of renewable and non-conventional energy and materials for production.
Heat recovery systems were installed for air-conditioning throughout the plant. A rain water harvesting system was also installed to help meet the plant’s water requirements. In addition, solar panels were installed, existing trees at the site were preserved and mulching was applied for soil erosion prevention and control.
Packaging systems
The Tetra Pak plant manufactures materials for use in the packaging of beverages.
The production mainly includes 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
In addition to modern packaging production lines and equipment, the plant has technical support facilities for customers and a development centre to focus on packaging innovation.
The Machine Rebuilding Centre built within the plant’s premises provides mechanical support services, such as start-up and renovation of machinery, to the company’s customers. It is Tetra Pak’s third such service and support centre.
The Product Development and Innovation Center, also an integral part of the site, focuses on research and development of new packaging products. It has a laboratory to research or test new packaging products and also features 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 included provision for this future expansion.
On completion of the expansion, India became the biggest production hub for the company in South and Southeast Asia. The combined capacities of the Takwe and Chakan plants 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.
