CNV1-I1-12-Turnaround

A world is full of successful entrepreneurs, who didn’t learn management at business schools. There are people who might even say that there is no correlation between formal management education and successful entrepreneurship. However, you can’t deny that a formal education gives you an opportunity to broaden your horizons like nothing else. But, Mr Uday Lodha and all other Barcom directors are exception to this as it is a team of graduates, with no formal management education. However, with business family background and fire in the belly, their business DNA motivated them to take up the challenging task.

Uday said “I never thought earlier in my life that in the year 2011 there would be a ‘Everest Climbing’ arduous task to shoulder a responsibility along with other directors to turnaround a sinking unit and make it profitable”. It is worth mentioning about the team members on company’s board - Mr.Prasanna Sahu, who has a lion’s share in the turnaround success and he is like a guiding light and mentor to Uday and Mr Keshav Karapurkar, whose finance acumen has contributed a lot to the enterprise success. The task was challenging to the entire team, to get Barcom out of the rough sea. Uday says they as a team, had right blend of skills and experience, and they could see a huge market potential in high end customers segment in a label printing industry. In the five years with constant hard work and pursuance they brought the unit from virtual sinking level to floating and navigating stage in highly competitive printing label market place, where in customers are demanding and FDA regulations are haunting you on compliance if you are having US customers from pharma sector.

Indian Label industry is growing at CAGR of 15 %, while Barcom could achieve GAGR of @20-22 during last few years. In its current shape Barcom is Rs 100 crores company with 200 employees and 5 lakhs sq ft of labels printing capacity. The main raw material is the paper for printing labels and it is sourced from paper manufacturers both local and international depending on client’s need. The waste generation is kept to bare minimum of 15% (which is unavoidable) out of which 45 % is recyclable.

After thorough market study Barcom turnaround team visualised that the Indian packaging scene is going through some changes. These changes were propelled by shifting consumers preferences and behaviour. They witnessed that consumer desires are shifting to more genuine honest quality. The corporate customers just wanted product that are uncomplicated, simple and easy to use. Marketers were trying to connect their customers through packaging, wherein labelling plays a vital role in information sharing on product ingredients and usage.

As per Uday “In a crowded market place with many similar products, a proper packaging design with quality labelling can help to carve out a clear space for the brand”. He further said “Packaging is the finger print of the brand, while the label is face of the same. Thus, two are inseparable”.

In true sense packaging and labeling do more than protecting and identifying your company’s products. Packaging refers to the physical appearance of a product when a consumer sees it, and labels are an informative component of packaging. Both are complimentary to each other. A company must make sure to put good labeling on your product so that your customers are always aware of what they are getting. Labels play a vital role in developing your image and brand within your target market. It is said that proper attention to the design of packaging and labeling is a must or else it may decrease the visibility and attractiveness of your products, leading to drop in sales.

The primary function of label is communication – a label informs consumers about the product and any mandated information, such as nutritional content of a food product or ingredients in pharmaceutical product. Different countries place certain legal requirements and restrictions on both label and packaging. In certain markets, requirements are in place concerning the ecological impact of packaging and labelling.

Barcom Industries Limited was registered on 06 September, 2002. In the current form, it is one of the leading label manufacturers in the packaging industry space. In overall a $30 bn Indian packaging industry, the BARCOM is leading player in $1 bn label market serving high end customers. The customers served are Lupin, Cipla, and Glenmarrk in pharma sector, Reliance and Aditya Birla in retail Industry, Hindustan petroleum, and BPL in oil sector etc. Barcom is also supplying label to global player in US like Pernod Ricard , under strict compliance to FDA regulations.

Barcom ensures 100 % zero defect labels using the finest raw materials, cutting edge technology and stringent quality control methods to ensure the labels they provide are of the highest quality. With a young and curious team who constantly keeps themselves updated with the latest trends in the world of self-adhesive labels and are always willing to change with time. Barcon team always believed in the latest technology, which helped them to get reasonably good operational productivity at minimum costs, amongst the other players in the label industry.

The secret behind turnaround success was to think strategically and hone problem solving abilities by the team. With communication and interpersonal skills, they could put across their ideas clearly and precisely, something that is an important part of leadership job, to motivate the entire Barcom workforce from all departments. Initially Barcom adopted a selective approach to service only handful of clients to meticulously honour the quality and delivery commitments. To meet deadlines in business, they made the best use of the time available. Through networking, all the directors could bring many high-end customers under Barcom’s clients list. The sheer hard work at factory to produce world class labels with quality material inputs from both domestics and international sources is a major single factor in successful turnaround. In addition, customising the product to the clients need helped Barcom team to steer the company to success in the turbulent market. Even, though the cost of label is insignificant in total cost of product packaging, but the role it plays is highly significant and which cannot be overlooked through design and quality point of view as label is face of packaging.