03/2007
Maharshi Group, India: success at large

The meeting with Mr. Jigesh Dani of Maharshi Group, India during the last Label Summit in New Delhi couldn’t have had a more natural conclusion. Mr. Jigesh Dani, Marketing Director at Maharshi, was eager and proud to speak about his company and we, in turn, couldn’t miss the opportunity to investigate the reasons that lead to the purchase of their first GIDUE press.

Maharshi Group was established in 1979, the parent company known as Gopinath Engineering, five years later ventured into the business of self-adhesive labelling machines with the name of Maharshi. They were the first company in India to manufacture labelling machines based on local technology under ISO and EC standards. Since then, more than 1,800 machines have been installed in India and overseas with a 75% market coverage in the Indian territory.

Ten years later Maharshi began working in the label printing business under the name of Maharshi Labels Pvt. Ltd. At first, label printing was considered as a supporting activity but rapidly the company became one of the top five label converters in the Indian market. The main customers of Maharshi are the branch of multi-national companies based in India, following the general growth of the packaging sector in the emerging countries. For Mr. Dani this is but an advantage, both in terms of business and as an opportunity for continuous growth and improvement.

Maharshi headquarters are in Ahmedabad, in north-west India, but the company has offices located in the whole Indian Territory and future plans include expansion in Europe, United States and other developing markets of Asia.

Maharshi success is based on customer satisfaction gained through quality, very good price/quality perception and after sales assistance. Regarding service, it is important to know how Maharshi manages this key element of modern business. Mr. Dani is very precise at this respect: timely delivery, innovation that can effectively grant cost savings and the best possible quality.

Maharshi can be defined as a multi-product and multi-location engineering group and boasts an experienced and well-qualified top management team in the field of mechanical engineering, finance, IT and manufacturing. The Group aims at becoming a top-rated supplier in the label and packaging market within Asia in the next three years. Maharshi’s quality policy is based on three clear targets: systems and processes implemented to achieve continuous product quality improvement; delivering of high-quality solutions to provide the most competitive prices and finally working as a team of specialists dedicated to realising customers’ most complex requirements.

Mr. Jigesh Dani is an engineer with 10-year’s experience in the printing industry. He is also responsible for Maharshi’s key accounts, with a special interest in the requirements and challenges of top customers. His interest spans product development and press investment programme including the flexo printing process.

“Maharshi core business”, says Jigesh Dani “is labelling and labels”. Maharshi is the only company in India having a manufacturing process for labelling and labels certified under ISO 9001:2000. A key sector of the company is wet-glue and self-adhesive label production for use in pharmaceutical and beverage, especially brewery, applications.

Mr. Dani explains: “In India there are two main customer types: the price conscious one and a second group more interested in quality and therefore, open to new methods and innovation. We, as a leading company, must be able to provide the best quality at the best price to satisfy the general market. At the same time however, we must be at the forefront of research and development to fulfil the needs of the more exigent clients in the different fields in which they operate. As an example, continues Mr. Dani, “To cope with high level market requirements, a lot of new combination processes have been adopted in the brewery industry, like all-in-one-pass screen, embossing and in-line multi foiling (cold and hot). The pharmaceutical industry is very price conscious and needs significant innovation in terms of security, including registered holograms on labels and/or the use of invisible inks”.

Regarding the Indian market, Mr. Dani confirms that it is evolving towards techniques like RFID, multi-layer labels, speciality inks and labels stocks, in-mould labels, etc. and is therefore aligning to the global market trends. One of the biggest challenges facing the market is that packaging styles are many and trends more difficult to predict. While debates about packaging standardisation rumble on, label converters have to solve the immediate problem of processing a variety of shapes and sizes utilising maximum flexibility.

In the choice of a new press, many factors are involved. In Maharshi, each machine must fulfil a primary challenge: namely to provide a reliable end product coupled with functional and appealing design. Great designs make products attractive and rewarding. With this idea in mind, the choice of the right press becomes fundamental. The preference for a GIDUE machine was natural. Minimum set-up time and wastage, short web lengths and ease of maintenance, were just some of the drivers guiding the decision process. The machine durability was another winning point and of course inexpensive spares and local after sales availability.

The 370 mm GIDUE S-Combat servo press, 8 colours, equipped with GEW UV lamps is used to produce self-adhesive labels but Maharshi future expansion will call for more specialised jobs like lamitube printing, unit boxes and cartons and many combination processes. This short term will involve the addition of two screen units and foiling embossing.

“The cooperation with GIDUE is excellent in all respects”, Mr. Dani concludes. Maharshi confirms their intention to establish a stronger cooperation with GIDUE for their future flexo investments. They particularly appreciate the care shown by the Italian manufacturer in the fulfilment of their special requirements and for the ability to offer a tailor made solution. Maharshi and GIDUE share the same goal, to be leader in their respective markets; with such clear objectives, sustaining each other’s growth looks like an easy chore!

Back to Home Page