AkzoNobel opens production facility for packaging coatings in Thane

AkzoNobel opened a new production facility in Thane, Maharashtra, to manufacture coatings for the metal packaging and flexible packaging industries on July 11, 2014. Built at an investment of Euro 1.8 million (about Rs 14.5 crore), the primary markets the production facility site will serve are India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.
 
This production facility, called Project ‘Taj’, has a capacity of 5000 tonnes a year and is set to produce a broad range of products including specialised coatings for food and beer cans, internal and external coatings for caps and closures, and water-borne external coatings for beverage cans. The new production facility will also be capable of producing various functional and barrier coatings for the flexible packaging industry.
 
“For packaging coatings, we expect vigorous growth in South Asia to continue into the foreseeable future, so it makes good business sense to invest in production facilities to meet market demand. In India especially, we see enormous opportunities, and having the manufacturing capacity of Packaging Coatings, close to our customers’ means we can better serve them. As a good corporate citizen, AkzoNobel is very much committed to investing in the markets where we are active, as a way to better serve our markets and to provide opportunities for employment in those markets,” said Jayakumar Krishnaswamy, Managing Director, AkzoNobel India.
 
Rahul Tikoo, Regional Business Manager, Packaging Coatings, AkzoNobel, added, “The opening of the packaging coatings production facility in India is a testimony to how our customers are always at the heart of whatever we do. When we assessed India’s packaging market, we found that there is a clear need for a partner that can supply packaging coatings that this emerging market requires. AkzoNobel’s new packaging coating unit has the capability to provide end-to-end solutions, which are high on quality and sustainability.”
 
The Thane production facility is modelled after the state-of-the-art infrastructure of AkzoNobel’s packaging coatings plant in Vilafranca, Spain.