The Big Interview aims to demystify packaging and showcase its potential

During the 30-minute podcast Rupesh Shah, founder of Aarem Engineering, discussed what's driving the leap in productivity, boosting output at Aarem as the company goes on to record an impressive year-on-year growth. The company is transitioning from semi-automatic to fully automatic shrink-wrapping and stretch-wrapping machines. Shah said, "There was a trend about 10-12 years back where people were working with lower economics so they wanted semi-automatic machines, now that has changed. Over the last period of five to six years, unit economics have become a volume game so now since they need to pack volume up, automatic machines to suit their requirements. We have a complete in-house designing department to make those machines."

Prasad Kulkarni, general manager of commercial industrial at Nilkamal, highlighted the growth of the coding and marking equipment market. He emphasised the significance of Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) technology, upcoming product launches, and investments in quality standards. He noted evolving customer expectations, service standards, and regulatory landscapes, underscoring the need for sustainability and regulations across industries. Kulkarni added, "Sustainability is a key factor in whatever we do today. The leaders then didn't look at sustainability so now we had to have a lot of time focused on sustainability."

Pallippuram Sajith, director of Stelda, shared insights on the future of packaging—automation, intelligent packaging, and sustainability. He emphasised the importance of adopting customer-centric strategies as Stelda’s plans to integrate its shipping cartons and filling businesses, introduce case packaging solutions, and prioritise reducing single-use plastics. Stelda, as Sajith shared, eliminates the need for plastic tapes, straps, and shrink wraps by providing an alternative glue-sealing solution for shipper cartons. These changes help businesses reduce operational costs, pilferage, and damage losses by over 30%.

Packaging is often called the silent salesman. According to a market report, the B2B packaging market in India was valued at USD 50.5-billion in 2019 and is anticipated to grow to USD 204.81-billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 26.7% from 2020 to 2025, showcasing its huge potential. The Big Interview series offers viewers a well-rounded understanding of this growing industry—practical insights, case studies, packaging applications across various sectors, and future projects. It aims to bridge the gap between products and customer experiences.

Thus far, three podcasts have been published on WhatPackaging? YouTube channel while the vision is to create a case study of 25 companies and industry A-listers discussing everything from the evolution of packaging and future trends to regulatory and sustainable considerations.