Phoenix Industries invests Rs. 350 m in Horana packaging plant

Phoenix Industries, the largest plastic moulding company in Sri Lanka with over 35 years of industry experience, last week laid the foundation stone for a new plant situated at Horana, which will be fully dedicated to Unilever.

Located on a seven-acre plot of land opposite the Unilever factory premises, this model plant will be developed to meet all required quality compliances to manufacture personal care and food packaging products under stringent hygienic conditions. With this new venture, Phoenix will be able to meet the requirements of Unilever even better as they will now be in close proximity to their client.

“Phoenix’s business relationship with Unilever spans over 25 years, and today we have become one of the major packaging suppliers to Unilever. Our supplies include plastic packaging for major brands such as Pears, Ponds, Vaseline, Lux, Knorr, Domex, Signal, Astra and Flora. Phoenix will commence operation of this dedicated plant by the end of the year,” Phoenix Industries Managing Director Aslam Omar said.

Phoenix will expand Unilever’s current product portfolio and venture in to extended polymer based packaging solutions such as tubes and films, whilst introducing new technologies to create value addition for all Unilever’s packaging products.

“Our focus will be to understand customer needs and to provide cost effective polymer based packaging solutions to Unilever,” said Omar.

This dedicated plant, which is built with an investment of Rs. 350 million, will be fully geared to supply all Unilever’s packaging needs by integrating Phoenix Industries current  production lines, to meet with Unilever packaging demands on a just in time basis.

“Our aim is to grow along with the customer and to become the most preferred plastic packaging solutions provider in the coming years.”

At present Phoenix Industries operates from a state-of-the-art 25-acre factory situated in the Makandura Industrial Zone, which includes one manufacturing facility at customer premises. The company’s current portfolio includes plastic furniture, consumer products, crates, sofas, pipes UPVC/ CPVC pipes, thermo foam, PET, toothbrushes, thread cones, components for electric appliances and rigid plastic packaging for personal care, food and lubricant products.

The plant is equipped with over 80 injection and blow moulding machines, along with in mould labelling, printing, and shrink sleeving, as well as labelling facilities supported by a dedicated in house tool room backed by over 35 BSc qualified engineers.

In fact Phoenix Industries was the first plastic manufacturer to introduce hybrid injection moulding machines to Sri Lanka in late 2009. Moving yet another step ahead in energy conservation, the company in January 2012 purchased Sri Lanka’s first-ever all electric injection moulding machine from Japan, which can save up to 70% energy.

Phoenix Industries was recently honoured for its energy conservation initiatives at a ceremony organised by the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, which was presided over by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Phoenix Industries Makandura received the Gold Flame and was the highest rated facility in the ‘Large Scale Manufacturing’ category. It was also the only facility to win a major award for two consecutive years.

“Our clientele includes the largest local and multinational companies in Sri Lanka, such as Unilever, Elephant House, Chevron, Hemas, Cargills, Milco, Nature’s Secret, Reckitts, Smak, Abans, Nestle, Glaxo, Pepsi, Distilleries, Lion Brewery, Millers Brewery, and Arpico. We have a proven track record of industrial best practices and will continue to operate with our customers’ best interests at the forefront of all our initiatives,” Omar added.