"When performance is all that matters in the industry, keeping your focus aligned to the goal and thinking about the long term becomes paramount. What drives me is the social impact which is created by the efforts we make at Cosmo Films,"
Pankaj Poddar, CEO, Cosmo Films
From being a pioneer in the BOPP films segment to being a name synonymous with the widest range of BOPP products along with other specialities to address new emerging needs related to packaging design, Cosmo Films maintained their name as a focused player in the segment and grew into the Brand of the Year 2020.
Today, Cosmo Films have existing manufacturing capacities of 200k TPA for BOPP films (with most lines dedicated to specialized products and value-added processes like extrusion coating, chemical coating and metallization). They offer packaging, lamination, labeling and synthetic paper solutions to customers across the globe. Through their own sales offices, warehouses, or through their global network of distributors.
The brainchild of Chairman and Founder, Ashok Jaipuria, Cosmo Films was started with a vision; to revolutionize the packaging sector across the globe. The prolific journey that began from a humble start of 800 tons a year to more than 200,000 tons today. They have grown from supplying locally to exporting to more than 100 countries with manufacturing facilities in India & Korea.
Cosmo Films' path to success wasn't a smooth one. Initially, they faced the challenge with the cyclicality of the industry given the constant fluctuation in the prices of raw material, demand and supply dynamics, and currency fluctuation. Over the years, they have largely been able to insulate themselves by creating and selling niche products.
Cosmo Films is an innovation-led, customer-centric, and employee-friendly organisation. Their performance-driven culture allows employees to be empowered to take their decisions and be accountable for meeting their goals. Joining the team in the year 2011, Pankaj is involved in expanding the business with the vision to make Cosmo Films a niche speciality player.
The sales team, equipped with the best of the selling tools including value and spin selling along with customer-centric culture, works towards better understanding and meeting the needs of the customer. With the best sales CRM deployed, customers are enabled to receive live information at every stage of the sales cycle from ordering to the payment.
Known for being one of the best in shop floor hygiene; they were bestowed with a 5S Silver award in 2019. The entire team is currently working towards creating a TQM culture to win the Deming Award over the coming years. The Quality culture in the organisation has taken them to the 5 sigma level. The brand today is in the process of adding 'Production Planning and Demand Scheduling'. As well as 'Available to Promise' functionalities within their ERP system.
Cosmo Films has taken all the steps in the direction of taking the business completely digital. Their customers can now use an online ordering system to directly order; the required categories and quantity without getting on a call with the salesperson.
Cosmo Films has acquired artificial intelligence competence and is working towards complete automation. They are in the process of moving towards newest version of SAP HANA. Which is an in-memory, column-oriented, relational database management system for the customers. Cosmo is rapidly progressing to take the business to a digital epitome.
Over the years, they have changed from being a manufacturing-led company to a customer-centric organization; with a footprint in more than 100 countries across the world. Soon, they plan to substantially increase in niche segments which promote sustainability, premium haptics, brand promotion and more.
"One of the biggest focus areas for us during the pandemic is keeping our employees safe. We are creating regular awareness, and providing other support such as medical and life insurance, medical support, hygiene such as air purifiers, daily sanitization, masks, sanitizers, social distancing etc. The future of the industry and our company looks bright, and even in the times of the pandemic, we are hiring new talent instead of laying off people like several other companies across the world." shared Pankaj.
Pankaj also shared Cosmo Films' plans to diversify into two new businesses. And the setup of a new BOPET line at their plant in Aurangabad. For the B2C sector, they are entering into the pet care segment with a plethora of services and products via online and offline stores. They are also working on backward integration to enter into the chemicals, masterbatches and adhesive manufacturing.
The trailblazing team members have reached several milestones including a healthy internal work environment with happy employees, a niche in the industry fulfilling most of the requirements which the customer has, and the philanthropic arm of Cosmo Films Ltd. i.e. Cosmo Foundation which is relentlessly working towards giving a good life to underprivileged children.
Along with these, an achievement Pankaj takes pride in is Cosmo's well-experienced R&D team which has helped them in developing innovative products over the years. Their R&D efforts have led them to acquire several patents in India (6) and the US (3) while several of them are in pipeline.
They have developed a host of products keeping sustainability in mind including synthetic paper. They were able to replace pulp-based paper reducing de-forestation while improving the life and durability for the application in question.
To make packaging structures recyclable, Cosmo Films made a heat resistant film for easier pouching without compromising on aesthetics, printability, machinability and user-friendliness. This film has vast applications in most F&B products including noodles, soap wrappers, washing powder, tube packing, tea pouches, shampoo pouches and more. As part of the R&D roadmap, they are working on several new technologies including intelligent packaging solutions, biodegradable materials, and direct thermal printable films.
Cosmo Films usually work with a tri-party business model where they get themselves engaged with customer and customer's customer with the ultimate goal of meeting the needs of the end consumer. The Cosmo team ensures maintaining core values towards their products, they strive towards continuous cost reduction, maintaining the highest product quality. They also strive to innovate and harness technology to provide a better service.
Towards their stakeholders, they strive to value the customers, investors and vendors for their growth, confidence and satisfaction. Ensuring that these core values are acted upon, Pankaj is spearheading successfully by focusing on employee engagement, setting the vision and mission, and creating the right culture for the organization based on the merits, performance, openness, and the urge to succeed.
Pankaj Poddar is a strong believer in giving opportunities to the less fortunate to have a better life. With this belief, Cosmo Foundation was set up in 2008 as the philanthropic arm of Cosmo Films Ltd. Headed by the Chairman Mr Ashok Jaipuria and the Managing Trustee Mrs Yamini Kumar Jaipura. The foundation was set up to facilitate educational programs in several rural districts and schools in Maharashtra; Gujarat, and the National Capital Region of Delhi. As well as create employment opportunities, and skill development for the underprivileged.
Recently, the foundation has also worked towards helping COVID-19 pandemic affected families frontline staff and sanitation workers. With food supply, masks, PPE Kits and ration kits in several parts of New Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
"We look towards a bright future for all our stakeholders with entry into newer businesses and expanding our niche segments. The packaging segment will definitely perform better; since the consumer has started to realize the true value of packaged food items in terms of hygiene and safety. Like the famous saying goes, the sun shines the brightest after the darkest storms. And we are sure that our sunshine is right around the corner." emphasised Pankaj Poddar.
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