Tetra Pak's new packaging plant is located in Chakan, Pune, India. Credit: Tetra Pak.
The Chakan plant is the first and only facility in India to be declared a World Class Manufacturing Site by Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance. Credit: Tetra Pak.
The plant was completed in May 2013 and achieved the highest rating of ‘Platinum’ from the Indian Green Building Council, for its sustainability initiatives. Credit: Tetra Pak.
The Chakan facility utilises solar energy for its operations. Credit: Tetra Pak.

Tetra Pak India’s packaging material factory is located in Chakan near Pune in Maharashtra, India.

The estimated cost of the project was €88m ($119.8m) at the time of its announcement, however, construction began two years later in February 2011 escalating the cost to €120m.

The facility was opened in May 2013 and has an annual production capacity of more than 16 billion carton packages.

The capacity can be ramped up to 32 billion packages a year, more than three times the capacity of the company’s previous factory in Takwe, near Pune.

Tetra Pak closed its Takwe facility and relocated its research and development and product development centre to the more modern and larger Chakan facility in December 2013.

Tetra Pak expanded its manufacturing activity in the country to cater to the surplus demand in Indian and other Asian markets.

Location

The Tetra Pak Chakan facility is located in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation’s Phase II in Chakan, a town located 40km from the city of Pune in Maharashtra.

Tetra Pak Chakan facility details

The aseptic packaging material manufacturing facility is built on an area of 180,000m2 within a 45-acre greenfield site, making it the second largest facility outside of Sweden among the 42 Tetra Pak plants worldwide.

The facility features a packaging and processing equipment production unit, a packaging material converting factory, a technical training academy, a product development and innovation centre, and a renovation centre, making it an integrated site to cater to the food and beverages brands in India and other parts of the world.

The certified machine renovation centre built within the plant’s premises provides mechanical support services such as start-up and machinery renovation, to the company’s customers.

It is Tetra Pak’s third such service and support centre. The renovation centre has been actively involved in the refurbishment of nine types of packaging and distribution equipment.

The initiative ensures that existing machinery is updated to meet current operational standards, thereby extending the lifespan of the equipment and supporting sustainable practices within the industry.

The product development and innovation centre focuses on R&D of new packaging products.

It has a laboratory to research or test new packaging products and features a pilot processing plant and a pilot packaging plant to develop and produce new products based on customers’ needs.

The local manufacturing has been significantly increased with the production of more than 250 processing modules in India.

In September 2022, a ground-breaking ceremony marked the commencement of a new powder handling equipment factory.

The expansion underscores the country’s capability in not only catering to local demands but also exporting processing equipment to various regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Gulf. More than 1,500 locally manufactured modules have been sold, so far.

Chakan plant equipment

The plant is equipped with Tetra Pak Homogenizer TA 300, Separators H20, PHE M10, C6, and Hoyer SF 700 Freezer.

Sustainable features

The plant was granted Platinum certification by the Indian Green Building Council, which is equivalent to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, for its sustainable building design since 2014 and reauthorised in 2022. It is one of the lowest waste and highest efficiency sites across Tetra Pak.

The facility is installed with 2000kVA of solar energy and 1000kVA installation is underway for non-critical power load in offices. LED lights are used across the site for energy saving.

In addition, it is a zero-discharge facility with rainwater harvesting and effluent and sewage treatment units.

The facility with 100% chlorofluorocarbons-free refrigerant usage, meets a range of parameters for efficient use of energy, water and other resources.

It features good indoor environmental air quality and consideration of the quality of life of occupants in design construction and operation.

Achievements

Tetra Pak Chakan is the first and only factory in India to be declared World Class manufacturing site by Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance for Total Productive Maintenance achievement in 2022.

It is a QMS: ISO 9001:2008, EMS: ISO 14001:2004, BRC/IoP Issue 4 OHSAS 18001, certified company.

Additionally, it was awarded with Tetra Pak SAM – ‘Market of the Year’ in 2013, Chakan – ‘Factory of the Year’ in 2015 and 2021, and the Confederation of Indian Industry Certification of Commendation for ‘Significant Achievement in Food Safety under the category of Large Manufacturing – Food Packaging Material.

Chakan plant packaging

The Tetra Pak plant manufactures materials for use in the packaging of beverages.

The production mainly includes materials for the company’s top selling carton packaging brands such as Tetra Brik Aseptic (TBA), Tetra Fino Aseptic (TFA), and Tetra Classic Aseptic (TCA).

Tetra Pak Chakan facility was the first to develop and launch a chain solution for displaying TCA packages in traditional trade.

It also launched the TFA 100 for automated weighing machines and form fill seal devices, the TBA 250 Edge with HeliCap, the TBA 1000 E with LightCap 30, Smart Packaging, and Tetra Pak Reflect, the first Made in India holographic packaging.

Tetra Pak Reflect was launched in partnership with Warana Dairy, a cooperative dairy, in February 2022 for their one-litre Ghee packs.