‘The plant has a manufacturing capacity of 30,00,000 sq ft of panels and 45,000 doors per annum’

GMP Technical Solutions, in its continuing expansion strategy, started its new manufacturing unit (Unit-III) in Bhiwandi recently. The unit was inaugurated by R Vasudevan, its Group Managing Director. Express Pharma spoke to Ajay Mehta, Director, GMP Technical Solutions on the company’s strategy behind opening this unit near Mumbai despite having two manufacturing units in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh

What made GMP establish a new manufacturing unit in Mumbai?

As you know, the pharma industry is on a sharp growth path in India. In the past few years, GMP has grown to a leadership position in the cleanroom partitions and cleanroom equipment industry. Since the growth of the pharma industry is expected to be robust in the next 10 years; there was an immediate need to increase the manufacturing capacity of our products to meet the growing demand.

In November 2015, we expanded our existing manufacturing unit in Baddi. This new manufacturing unit (Unit-III in Bhiwandi) is the second level of expansion. The decision of selecting the Mumbai location was purely strategic. It will give us an edge for various markets in India like the South, the West and for exports too.

What is the manufacturing capacity of the new unit?

We have designed the plant for a manufacturing capacity of 30,00,000 sq ft of panels and 45,000 doors per annum. Apart from this, the unit-III will also manufacture 720 units of cleanroom equipment per year. This has lead to approximately 30 per cent increase in our existing manufacturing capacity from our previous two units in Baddi.

What kind of location advantages do you expect from this unit near Mumbai?

The unit’s location was decided keeping in mind some important markets. We will serve the markets of the South, the West and exports from this unit. This will result in better time commitments and savings in terms of freight, transportation time etc.

We are the only manufacturer with such hi-tech manufacturing unit for cleanroom partitions near Mumbai. This factor will benefit our clients and in turn, our business.

As you told that the unit will be taking care of majority of South, West and export markets; is there any technological advancement done in this new unit as compared to the other two units of GMP?

Yes! This plant is with the latest technology available in the sheet metal industry. All the major machines are procured from the top known suppliers of the world. It is the only partitions and equipment manufacturing plant to have laser cutting machine procured from Trumph (Germany), turrent punching machine from Amada (Japan). Both these machines have an accuracy level of 0.1 mm. The powder coating plant is procured from Gema (Switzerland), decoiling and roll forming machines from Bulldog (UK) and has automatic bar coding system for all the manufactured products.

How much exports are you planning to do from this new unit?

We are planning to manufacture all export orders from the Unit-III which will save time and inland freight costs too. However, if there is a capacity concern at some particular stage then the option of Unit-I and Unit-II are always open. We will work on the optimisation of capacity for all three units.

How do you see the cleanroom partitions and equipment market in next five years?

Our expectations from the domestic markets are very high. It will be on a growth path for the next ten years. However, better government policies and industrial environment are necessary to boost this growth.

As regards to the exports, the markets have become very volatile and unpredictable due to many issues like currency crises, BREXIT, oil prices, civil wars etc. But, we are hoping for good growth in the export markets too in the years to come.

What are the future plans of GMP?

We believe in taking actions. So, it is better we discuss this after taking the decisions. At the moment, we are excited for this new unit and will take all efforts to make it successful.

EP News Bureau – Mumbai