Bubber to make high-tech cans

Firm to start in-house manufacture of engineering components

Amritsar-based Bubber Machine Tools is coming up shortly with a new machine having the capacity to seam 80 standarised cans per minute.

Currently, the machine manufactured by the firm has the capacity to seam 30 cans per minute. Besides, the firm is planning to start producing engineering components in-house, a job that had so far been outsourced. Recently, it has launched seamers for automotive filters also.

Speaking to Business Standard, the firm's partner Manjyot S Bubber said, "The use of cans by the food-processing industry in the country is small but this industry is expected to grow manifold in the near future, with the entry of bigwigs like Reliance, ITC, and Adma."

Being rigid and almost unbreakable, the can is used widely to pack in foods, beverages, paints, chemicals, and fertilisers.

Last year, the turnover of the company was Rs 1.5 crore and in 2005-06 it is targeting close to Rs 2 crore. It exports machines to the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

In the domestic market, it has supplied to Nijjer Agro Foods Ltd, Agro Dutch Industries, Gujarat Cycles Ltd, and Purolator Filters.

Apart from seamers for cans, Bubber said, "The company manufactures machines for seaming drums, automotive filters, power capacitors, automobile silencers and special purpose seaming machines in virtually any shape, size and metal."

"Our R&D team specialises in tailoring machines and our manufacturing facilities have ISO certification. The thrust will be on the export market to increase our US market share. Overseas sales now account for over 50 per cent of the total sales, which have exceeded 12,000 machines worldwide. To meet international standards and quality, we have invested Rs 40 lakh in technological upgrade in the past four to five months and we are planning to invest further," Bubber said.

"We are also planning to increase the present capacity of the plant from existing 60 machines per month to 75," he added.

"Raw materials are not available in Amritsar, which is the main problem we are facing. We have to procure raw materials from Ludhiana and Delhi, and this leads to high input costs," he said.