Schott Kaisha: A ‘Glass’ical experience

Over the years the Indian pharmaceutical industry has emerged as one of the key pillars of the global pharma economy. However, the credit for this achievement should also be attributed to the players from the allied sectors that have stood by the Indian pharma industry during its testing times. A giant from the pharma glass packaging manufacturing industry, Schott Kaisha, is one such contributor to the success story of the Indian pharma industry.

Kaisha Manufacturers started in 1991 as a 50:50 partnership between Shapoor Mistry and Kairus Dadachanji. The company began its operations with just four machines in a small facility in Daman with an initial annual output of 30 million ampoules. Later, products like vials, cartridges and sterile glass syringes were added to the portfolio. The Schott Kaisha joint venture (JV) started in 2008 when Kaisha Manufacturers joined hands with the international technology group Schott.

“We continuously monitor market dynamics for our entire product portfolio and I am confident that with our combined robust expertise we will exceed customers’ expectations” Kairus Dadachanji Managing Director, Schott Kaisha

“Today we are the leading suppliers to the pharma industry in India offering a one-stop shop for the entire range of parenteral packaging like ampoules, vials, cartridges and sterile pre-fillable syringes. Since the inception of our first facility in Daman, we have constantly improved our infrastructure and technological setup to ensure total customer satisfaction and appreciation. In February this year, we inaugurated our new state-of-the-art Jambusar plant in Gujarat,” informs Kairus Dadachanji, Managing Director, Schott Kaisha.

Jambusar plant

Schott Kaisha’s recently opened Jambusar facility in Gujarat’s Bharuch district is the first-of-its-kind facility in India.

“Schott Kaisha’s state-of-the-art facility enables us to help Indian pharma companies to meet increasingly sophisticated market demands in India in terms of quality, innovation and differentiation. The new facility in Jambusar is India’s first completely automated pharma packaging plant,” informs Dadachanji.

One of the foremost features of this facility is that it uses high-end robotic feeding technology for tube-loading, fully in-line automatic process and high-precision camera inspection systems. This high-end technology is not available with any other company operating in this product category. Such technology guarantees an extremely efficient and reliable production process of consistent quality, underlining company’s commitment to the international good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards. .

“India’s pharma market enjoys sustained, strong growth which is directly proportionate to the demand for locally manufactured primary packaging. By steadily advancing with the Indian pharma industry and therefore understanding the specific needs and challenges of the Indian market, we have already emerged as one of the leading pharma packaging companies in India,” says Dadachanji. The new facility enables Schott Kaisha to help customers achieve their own growth and quality objectives in India.

The Jambusar plant will benefit the company in multiple ways. This greenfield investment increases Schott Kaisha production capacity by 50 per cent to around 2.4 billion ampoules and vials per year. India is already among the top 20 pharma exporting countries and the exports have grown significantly. India is the supplier of low cost drugs to many nations across the globe. Technologically, advanced product packaging would help Indian pharma companies to further strengthen their base in the global market.

Drugs manufactured in India are delivered to more than 200 countries including the US, the UK and countries of the EU. The industry is boosted by global exports from India’s state-of-the-art pharma manufacturers. Schott Kaisha is keen to support the nation’s success with state-of-the-art packaging solutions. All this sets new standards in India and enhances Schott Kaisha’s competitive advantage substantially. Almost all big pharma players are clients of Schott Kaisha and they want to continue with Schott Kaisha’s service.

Schott Kaisha invested more than Rs 136 crores in this facility. The plant in Jambusar has 20 production lines for ampoules and 16 for vials, with scope for further expansion. The facility is housed in an area of 20 acres with ample room to construct further production modules in parallel with the increasing demand of customers.

Dadachanji informs, “The growing importance of this market is the reason why we are already planning to expand the plant in the near future. We are currently working on the exact timing of the next investment phases and scope of expansion. For other products too, we are closely monitoring market conditions. If there is appropriate requirement we will certainly invest.”

Synergising skills with JV

The Indian packaging industry is traditionally not considered equal to their foreign counterparts, as far as the use of advanced technology is concerned. However, Schott Kaisha’s Jambusar plant has proved this assumption wrong. On being asked whether Indian packaging companies are still dependant on their foreign counterparts for the high-end technology, Dadachanji says, “As far as our JV is concerned, it is not a question of being dependant on our foreign counterparts, but of synergising our skills and talents to be able to implement latest changes and upgrades constantly taking place globally in India. Together, we combined German high-tech engineering with Indian market know-how to provide a unique value proposition to satisfy the ever-changing demands of our customers in India.”

He adds, “It is encouraging to see the Indo-German partnership growing to improve service and product standards in Indian companies. Recently, Schott’s competitive expertise was recognised by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). As a new member, Schott is supporting BIS to ensure that glass products manufactured in India are safe, reliable and of the highest quality.”

The Schott Kaisha JV is indeed an excellent example of a German-Indian partnership standardising product quality and manufacturing processes in India for primary pharma packaging.

India is the priority

With the launch of its Jambusar facility, Schott Kaisha’s production capacity has increased manifold. So will increased production be used for exports as well? Dadachanji has a very patriotic view on this. “Schott Kaisha is an Indian JV and will therefore cater primarily to the Indian market,” says Dadachanji.

He adds, “We are part of the international network of Schott Pharmaceutical Systems. As one of the world leading suppliers of parenteral packaging for the pharma industry, Schott has almost 800 production lines in 14 countries worldwide producing nine billion syringes, vials, ampoules, cartridges and special articles of glass tubing or polymer. Schott is steadily investing and advancing its global footprint.”

Challenges for the packaging industry

India’s growing pharma industry has also given a package of challenges and opportunities to the pharma packaging industry. Pharma packaging industry is responding positively to the changing Indian pharma scenario, however, there are a few things where co-operation from other allied industries is also required.

“The biggest challenge we face is to keep up with the extraordinary demand of the market. As India’s pharma market grows in size, the demand for better packaging is growing. This is also a major reason why we have set up an extra plant with considerable expansion plans to grow in parallel to the demand,” says Dadachanji.

He adds, “Due to the sheer size of the country, logistic challenges cannot be overlooked. That is why the plant in Jambusar is situated right next to Schott’s tubing facility in order to ensure timely and efficient supply of the most important base material- SCHOTT FIOLAX tubes. In addition to this, we have an excellent Indian team and our back-up possibilities offered by our production sites situated all over the world, provide flexibility, reliability and security to our partners in India.”

Future plans for the Indian market

As already discussed, Schott Kaisha primarily produces in India for the Indian market. Schott Kaisha’s turnover has increased almost threefold since 2008. This represents an average growth of 25 per cent per annum. Schott Kaisha is confident of exceeding the overall market growth also in the future.

The Jambusar plant is a major milestone for the company. However, on the other hand, this has also increased the expectations from Schott Kaisha. The company’s future offerings will be expected to be even more advanced than what they have developed in Jambusar plant.

“The rapidly evolving Indian pharma industry creates a challenging yet an exciting space for us. As we see a steady growth in demand, we are building further manufacturing lines in Jambusar. We continuously monitor market dynamics for our entire product portfolio and I am confident that with our combined robust expertise we will exceed our customers’ expectations,” concludes Dadachanji.

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