Milking the exciting potential of india’s dairy industry

Milking the Exciting Potential of India’s Dairy Industry Dairy activities have traditionally been integral to India’s rural economy and India has always been the largest producer and consumer of milk in the world.

But it remained an uninteresting market largely because the per capita consumption was low, and most of the milk was consumed in its basic, liquid form, or at best as ghee and some butter.

Over the past few years, though, a couple of things have changed to make the market more attractive to both old and new players. One, as global dairy consumption stagnates or even dips, Indian consumption is going up. Two, the Indian consumer - especially the affluent urban consumer - is consuming more value-added products, which bring in bigger profits for dairy companies than raw milk. The fact that the Indian cooperatives had largely stuck to basic milk, butter, processed cheese slices and ice cream for many decades, has provided huge scope for new players to come in with new product offerings. Moreover, globalization and the urban phenomenon of working couples, single men and women with high disposable income has also create a booming demand for processed and packaged dairy produce. Finally, global prices of milk are dipping because of overcapacity, while the Indian market is still growing, both for basic milk as well as for value-added products.

As India’s dairy industry evolves from a largely unorganized, agrarian sector to a professionally-managed industry, Nichrome proudly innovates a range of cutting-edge packaging machines to partner with dairy manufacturers. Leading the way is Nichrome’s Filpack Series. The sturdy, hi-performance Filpack 6K, 10K and 12K machines are making waves with their accuracy, speed and low

wastage for milk packaging, buttermilk packaging, flavoured milk packaging, lassi pouch packaging, etc. The Filpack 12K is India’s fastest milk pouch packaging machine, packing a record 12,000 pouches per hour.

Apart from a complete stainless steel structure, digital heat control system for maximum accuracy and a separate control panel box; it has an inbuilt jumbo roll and a web tracking attachment. Recipes can be set and quantity can be changed through the HMI alone! A remote control can be used for machine operation and machine automations can be remotely accessed. The installed insulated tanks maintain product temperature and minimize energy loss.

Filpack 6K, 10K and 12K offer a choice of pouch width options – 100 mm, 125 mm and 150 mm, in sizes of 200 ml, 500 ml and 1000 ml.

The Filpack CMD and Filpack Servo SMD are two more accurate, hi-speed dairy products packaging machines that offer a variety of pouch formats and output speeds. The Filpack CMD is ideally suited for packaging of milk and milk-based products such as flavoured milk, lassi, curd, etc. besides other liquid product packaging such as water and juice. The Filpack Servo SMD is a hygienic ghee pouch packaging machine, built with an enclosed SS cabinet construction. UV sterilization of the packaging film is inbuilt. Besides ghee, the Filpack Servo SMD is ideal for other viscous dairy products such as fresh cream, dairy pastes & bread spreads, besides other products like vanaspati, mayonnaise, pasteurised fruit pulp, tomato puree, mayonnaise, curry paste, lubricating oil, grease, adhesive, paint & varnishes.

As new players (like Danone, ITC Foods, Future and Godrej Agrovet), and old majors (like Amul, Mother Dairy and Nandini), expand their product portfolio and carve out their place in newer segments that include cheese, varieties of yogurt and milk-based beverages, Nichrome’s technology aids in achieving production efficiency and assuring the quality and quantity of the end-product.