Financial Times

Adplast expands PET production

By Quintus Perera
Adplast, the company manufacturing plastic packaging products using PET (Poly Ethylene Terephathalate) material, plans to invest Rs 20 million to expand its production and make new containers.

The company, which started in 1997 making PET water bottles, has now diversified into making a variety of containers, mainly for export, for products ranging from tea to rice.

More than 80 percent of the plastic containers it manufactures is exported indirectly, as they are used to pack many export products, specially Ceylon tea, said Yusuf A. Jeevunjee, Adplast managing director.

The company originally planned to manufacture beer crates for Ceylon Breweries Ltd and PET bottles for normal drinking water. While it failed in crate manufacture, they were the first to make PET bottles to pack drinking water and manufactured around 500,000 bottles per month for about 60 customers in the initial stages.

Jeevunjee said that they found the manufacture of bottles for water had become too competitive of late and the margins were poor. Jeevunjee said that due these constraints, Adplast moved into other forms of value added products using PET.

Adplast started turning out wide-mouth jars in 1999 with its first customer being Watawala Plantations to pack Zesta tea for exports.

Earlier, Zesta was packed in imported plastic bottles.

Jeevunjee said that they explored the potential niche market in producing different sizes and shapes of wide-mouthed plastic jars for tea exports and were successful.

The company now supplies the wide-mouthed jars to major tea exporters.
It has also moved from producing bottles for drinking water in one shape and size into making different sizes and shapes.

"For every change of the size and shape, a new mould has to be made," said Jeevunjee. "Though making different moulds is expensive, we keep on getting new moulds made to satisfy customer needs."

Adplast gets the moulds manufactured in India by manufacturers specializing in PET plastics. The raw plastics too are imported from India because of the preferential duty and proximity.

Jeevunjee said that Adplast now has 12 different shapes and three sizes.

More than 80 percent of these wide mouthed jars are used to pack value added tea for exports. These jars are also used by exporters of other products like rice, curry stuffs and various other food items shipped to countries like Australia, Canada and the UK.

Adplast also supplies to the confectionery sector as well as making containers to pack detergents and powder.

It has a 10,000 square foot factory at Welisara built with an original investment of Rs 65 million which employs around 40 persons. Workers are on shifts as the machines run round the clock.

The firm uses automated machines from Japan to make the containers.

Jeevunjee said that they manufacture around 250,000 PET plastic jars, a month.

"PET is a clean plastic which is now fast replacing glass in many packaging applications. A food-grade plastic, unbreakable and disposable, it is environmentally friendly, easily recyclable and has good barrier properties."
Earlier jars were manufactured with PVC, but this material was not popular as it was not clear unlike PET plastics, which are as clear as glass.

Jeevunjee said that the teas and most of other foodstuff packed in Adplast plastic containers go to developed countries and the containers must therefore meet high quality standards.

Quality standards are of utmost important in plastics manufacture as these products are displayed alongside those containers produced in developed countries.

Consistent quality maintenance is paramount to be competitive and to penetrate niche markets, Jeevunjee said. nsistent quality maintenance is paramount to be competitive and to penetrate niche markets, Jeevunjee said.

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