Kumar Labels | 79Kumar Labels expands and diversifies Kumar Labels has expanded with three new plants in Noida, Indore and Goa since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The company plans to localize production to offer better service to customers. Kumar Labels has also diversifed in the FCMG label segment. Akanksha Meena reportsuring the Covid-19 pandemic, Anuj Bhargava, founder of “Women are usually not encouraged Kumar Labels, realized how important it is to be closer to customers. Dto work with machines in India. I am ‘Smaller units are more agile, responsive and offer better service to customers,’ Bhargava says. ‘Proximity helps in logistics. proud to say that I can work with That prompted us to set up the frst unit in Goa during Covid. Those were interesting times. There were travel restrictions machines just as well as my male imposed in Goa. Anyone entering the state required permission. colleagues. I am happy about the So, we hired local contractors and electricians to set up the factory from a bare shed.’ fact that I will be able to progress in The unit was fnished within 50 days and was operational in August 2020. More recently, the converter has added a new camera the trade that I chose as my career”inspection and a screen print machine in the Goa factory. The facility is now equipped with a 10-color fexo machine, two off-line screen print machines, camera inspection and hot foiling equipment FMCG is relatively simple. ‘It is mostly about cost saving, fast and along with ancillary machines. reliable deliveries,’ he says. ‘Covid was an awakening call. We had all our eggs in one basket As the company added FMCG to its portfolio, labels could not in Greater Noida. Working from one factory is quite risky, but be produced with emulsion adhesive labelstock. It needed hot working from multiple locations really helped us in mitigating risks melt adhesive. during lockdowns,’ explains Bhargava. Kumar started producing labelstock in-house in early 2012. It has The next plan was to set up a unit in Nepal in 2021. Kumar a water-based coater for pure acrylics and a water-based adhesive. Labels is one of the largest liquor label suppliers in Nepal. The In 2022, Bhargava added a hot melt line at his Noida plant. company even rented premises but canceled that plan due to the The new plant houses a water-based coater and the new economic situation in the region. hot melt line. Both lines are soon to be equipped with NDC However, Bhargava noticed that customers in the Indore contactless adhesive measurement system. The large warehouse region had been expanding and immediately diverted the Nepal stores materials like release liners. The plant also has the provision investment to Indore and set up a unit. to add a metallizer soon. Currently, Kumar manufactures 8 million At the same time, he set up a second plant in Greater Noida next sqm of labelstock. The total manufacturing capacity stands at 18 to the old unit. million sqm. ‘Another thing we learned during Covid was that we were dependent on the liquor industry for supplying labels,’ he says. Sustainability initiatives ‘Pre-Covid, 80 percent of our supplies went to liquor companies. Kumar has recently employed LED UV inks from Siegwerk on all its During Covid, liquor stores were closed for a good three months. We fexo presses to become one of the lowest energy-consuming label realized that depending on one industry was not a good idea. We printers in India. diversifed into FMCG labels. Our focus remains on liquor because it It has also developed a labelstock that enables easy removal of requires high-value innovation.’ pressure-sensitive labels from market-returnable bottles. Bhargava Bhargava observes that, unlike liquor labels that require value says that removing labels from used liquor bottles is diffcult during addition in terms of different papers, textures, and embellishments, the bottle recycling process. Gallus EM280 fexo label press at Kumar Labels’ Noida factory Finished labels at Kumar LabelsOct - Dec 2022