With India fast becoming a manufacturing hub in automotive, electrical and electronics, Indian small and medium enterprises in the polymer industry should equip themselves with advanced plastic technology and solution, in order to make the best of the opportunities arising from this changing scenario, said Varun Gupta, Director, Calco Poly Technik, in an exclusive interview with SME Times.

Excerpts of the interview…

Please tell our readers about the entrepreneurial journey of Calco Poly Technik?
Varun Gupta: We started at a small factory focusing on Calcium Carbonate filled Masterbatches. From single location-single machine, we started catering to the Packaging Industry. Understanding the growing expectations of the Consumers and High Performance of conventional Polymers, we forayed into Color and Additive Concentrates. For the first decade, Calco defined Industry average and grew strongly to an installed capacity of 10KTPA and color formulations of over 5000+ shades. Since then, our organization has constantly ensured to adhere to key strategic principals of 'Innovation', 'Sustainability' and 'Continual Growth'.

Our constant endeavor is to innovate with niche solutions kept pushing us to different market verticals. We were the First Company in India to give scratch resistance solutions to Dash Boards in the Automobile Industry. In 2010, as a part of our commitment to Environment, we acquired rights to Green Plastic Technology. It is India's only Patented Technology successfully commercialized to fight menace of Waste Management and Disposal.

Next year, we expanded with Calco Poly Technik, catering to High Performance Engineering Plastic focusing on providing Efficient and Innovative Solutions in specialty domain. Since then both the Business Units are running independently, complementing each other's strength. We at Calco, represent a unique blend of experience with New Age Technologies, which are World Class in Performance and Service.

What are the products offered by you and for whom?
Varun Gupta: Our Product Range covers diversified products in Conventional as well as New Technology space. Our PiCAN range of Polymer covers all aesthetic product range like Switches. For Switchgears, we have CiLON range of products to develop High Performance Flame Retardants. We have also developed a new product range to help replace CFL with LEDs. Our range of ZiLITE products for LED Housing exhibits excellent resistivity to Thermal Heat to ensure long term performance. We have also introduced a New Diffuser range in PiCAN which meets optimum diffusion/transmittance for varied applications in Bulbs and Tubes.

Currently we have more than 500 Customers across various Industry segments and 90% of our total sales are powered by the Automotive and Electrical-Electronics segment.

How Indian SMEs can benefit from your products? Please share your views on the current scenario of the plastic industry in India.
Varun Gupta: India is a relatively smaller market in the $67- Billion Global High Performance Polymer Industry and is fast becoming manufacturing hub for major industries in Automotive, Electrical and Electronics. With recent push for 'Make in India' it is encouraging huge investments from global Corporates for indigenous production facilities in India, all thanks to additional import duties when importing directly.

Directly and indirectly it creates huge opportunities for SME industries in processing and assemblies. For example, Mobile phone will now be manufactured locally in India with in-house PCB assembly units and manufacturing of mobile bodies, chargers and accessories. With newer market access, SME needs availability of local R&D and technical support to create/mould these products. Our technical experts with the help of designers give them access to plastic technology and create right solutions that can be used by the SME industry to mould in desired form with targeted specifications.

Do you provide sustainable development and eco-friendly solutions? How important is this?
Varun Gupta: With increasing demand of performance and reducing size of components, it is pushing every industry in upstream and downstream to manage Thermal and Electrical Conductivity. Like for LEDs, we are developing High Thermal Conductive plastics that can replace Aluminum and increase productivity. Similarly, we are innovating with UL approved grades for different High Temperature Applications. In Flame Retardant applications, we are Innovating with ROHS compliant range of materials that are lighter in weight with no heavy metals. These materials have the potential to replace all existing systems with Halogen & Phosphorous free materials. Effectively we call them Sustainable Plastics.

You have set up a second plant in Haryana. Please tell our readers about this.
Varun Gupta: Yes, we plan to start our second plant at Sonepat in Haryana by the last quarter of 2018 with a production capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year. This will be one of the biggest capacities in India for high performance polymer. This unit is designed to run at high production speeds that will be capable to handle materials with integrated automation systems. Not just this, this unit will be most energy efficient with clear energy consumption through captive solar power generation. We plan to extend our existing range with new polymer compounds in PPS, PEEK, ASA, POM.

Please share your future plans.
Varun Gupta: Our vision and mission is to enrich our heritage and push all boundaries; become India's Most Trusted Global Brand. We believe that our Indigenous Technologies and Professionalism will help us align with Global OEMs and we can see positive outflow of raw material business being served from India. We aim to be a leading Exporter of Innovative Solutions in Plastics in the International market. With our 2nd World Class Manufacturing Facility in Sonepat, Haryana, planned to be up and running by end of 2018, we want to exert sublime focus in maintaining superior product quality and engage in R&D. Moreover, it will take forward our objective of becoming self-sustaining in terms of power with the use of Solar Energy. It will also support our focus on developing a strong product portfolio and work on Innovative Solutions to further strengthen Customer Relationships and Build partnerships with Global players.