'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish' is the book by Rashmi Bansal that I just finished reading. Its the great inspiring story of IIP Ahmedabad gradyates who have made a difference being enterpreneurs. Since I also became an offical enterpreneur after leaving PepsiCo and so had been reading alot about enterpreneurs. When i heard about this book and their success stories, I was impressed and read the whole book. After reading the book I find that all the graduates had the gerat ides or thinking of doing something good, big and challenged the conventional thinking. But the fact is almost all of them became successful when they got real financial support, they used their IIP network to connect. So to me it lloks that IIP did impart the great analytical education so they did not fail but they had not been able to generate money from their ideas to sustain their ideas. They did need VC funding or angel funding or someone supporting them financially and then they knew how to widely use the money to prove the point. So now my question is that Can we not succeed with IIP education and with financial support? www.packagingconnections.com is one such initiative that is trying to connect packaging decision makers acroos the globe and does not have any financial support.  I really do not find any VC in India who is looking forward to support good ideas but they are probably looking for safe bets, banks again are no real different. I do have my alumni IIP's network but that is still developing and not quiyte like IIMs on the top. So what do you think we should do to make the www.packagingconnections.com a real packaging meeting point whe we have no money? Any inoovative idess????? 

 Its great pleasure to share with you all that our company Sanex Packaging Connections Pvt Ltd  (SPCPL) has now been awarded ISO 9001:2008 for Providing Online Packaging Services and the Packaging Consultancy. I think we are the first company worldwide for online packaging services and the packaging consultancy to get this recognition. As you know, www.packagingconnections.com  is a common packaging platform to connect & serve professionals from all across the globe. 

 We have achieved a high level of client appreciation by understanding their requirements and exceeding their expectations and now these standards will enhance our ability to serve worldwide packaging industry in the better way.

To achieve ISO certification, the SPCPL team underwent a complicated certification process, including an audit. SPCPL product development team created detailed documentation for business processes and procedures, including addressing customization requests, incorporating product enhancements, fixing customer issues, and maintaining quality. Implementing ISO standards certainly increases involvement and time, but the benefits outweigh the costs for sure in the long term. It helps to succeed through improved customer satisfaction, team motivation and continual improvement and also helps our managers to raise the organization's performance above and beyond competitors”

I would like to put here on record that this has happened due to our systematic and professional working from the day one including our various outsourced partners and internal team.

We are happy to share it with you and look forward to  bring many more goods pieces of news to you, if you have any suggestions to incorporate in our work then you are most welcome. You can see our certificate at http://www.packagingconnections.com/themes/packaging/images/ISO%20Certificate%202010%20sanex.pdf

 I had been many a times asked the quuestion Why did I leave PepsiCo, I had many reasons but could not openly share all of them. One main reason I tried to explain when I was interview by www.yourstory.in and the story can be read at http://yourstory.in/entrepreneurs/non-tech-entrepreneurs/2156-sandeep-goyalfounder-sanex-packaging-connections-pvt-ltd  Having unfolded bit of my story, I had always been thinking why and why I did so as there was an excellent exposure, good money and fairly secured job with big status in the society eben then something happened and my resignation triggered. Now looks like that I have found the reason which was at the back of my mind. I was reading "Stay Hubgry Stay Foolish" by Rashmi Bansal. She has covered the story of many enterpreneurs from IIM Ahmedabad.. There one story is Small is beautiful. This is the story of Anand halve who founded Chlorophyll. He mentioned in his interview that "We use three yardsticks and we know it is very unlikely that any project will fulfill all three. But let's hope for at leat two in every project. If it's only one, then it better be superlative on that one dimension. And the dimensions are: It must give us money, or it must give us fame, or it must give us great joy."  And I think its true and the joy was missing for me to work there as I wanted to do something totally different that would make the difference to packaging fraternity and I would get the fame/credit for it. This is how I got the idea of connecting packaging leading to the birth of www.packagingconnections.com . I hope I have found the reason now. I would keep writing here if I figure out something else,

I hope you like this conceot and would help to grow this one. So far I am getting good response with 40,000+ members and members growing everyday. It gives me great pleasure when people come and tell me that their project pipeline is full after getting ideas from www.packagingconnections.com

 Today, we got an interesting request about the use of Latex liners in aluminium ROPP caps and the following questions had been raised:

1. Whats the structure
2. In what all thicknesses & densities it is used
3. Its properties/reactivity
4. Reason for limited used in industry
5. Vendor & the cost.

I have no idea on these except that many a times latex leads to many allergies and is not compatible with many products. Polymer liners are easier to manufacture, easier to handle, better resistance etc. If you have any more information then please share,

Recently at a hotel in czech republic , I found two dispensers of Dove, one with shampoo and other one with body lotion. These look quite nice and I think also help to reduce waste of soaps and related packaging materials. Wehn we go to hotels and stay thre for couple of days, all the toiletries given there are not fully consumed and probably go to wastage bin. That way we loose both products and packaging in a big way. This is also not environment friendly. I think this is the great idea to have these hyginic dispensers in the hotels so that wastae could be reduced. They also look quite nice. I have seen these in many parts of Europe but so far, never in India or some parts of Asia where I had travelled. Its a point to think for we packaging professionals to promote the concept.

Wish you all a very happy new year 2010 with lots of environment friendly ideas,

I think fasion packaging is often ignored specially in India by organized companies. fashion is everywhere but still those come from unorganised players most of the time. Now to learn more about fashion packaging, visit http://www.packagingconnections.com/p-exchange/tomasi-master-and-fashion-packaging.htm

Recently I had been reading abook Tiya : A Parrot’s Journey Home by Samarpan. This has been published by HarperCollins Indian in joint venture with India Today group. On page 133, I found an interesting read; The Donkeys on the Run and it says:

"What is there in a donkey’s life? What is there in a donkey’s life? We were greeted by this monomogue of a trotting donkey at the farm that we had reached. Donkeys are a peculiar breed, they can neither be led by a ring in their nose, nor can they be pulled by a rope round their neck. They can only be driven by a stick from behind, or led forward by their changing moods. Their obstinacy can only be matched with their stupidty, "

So what I find informative here that they can only be driven by a stick from behind . Sometimes that is what I feel is the situation of packaging projects in the company, they are like donkeys and everybody says what is their in packaging and then someone realises the importance and starts using the stick from the top so that projects move. So if we find that our packaging projects are being treated like donkeys then we must not forget that to drive them, we got to be tough and use the stick: means probably needs to push hard.

It was an interesting piece of information for me. You can read more in the book. Book cover is given here.

Recently I was at Prague airport waiting for my flight. While roaming, I noticed a poster. I do not know what does that mean but they have nicely changed the bum line seen from the slipping trousers into a smiley. This is the great way of using any situation positively. This is nothing but simple creativity. Here is the picture for you.

There is a notification by Government of India to ban many plastic laminates which looks like that a decision without really thinking about solutions. unfortunately there is hardly any reaction seen by the media in India or by packaging suppliers. Only few companies like GSK, Reliance, Dabur India have reacked, may be there are more but not known to us. Here is the summary of proposed notification and we look forward to your comments on this.

This is the notification given by Ministry Of Environment and Forests Dated-17,Sep 2009. Draft contains the rules for plastic (Manufacturer,Usage And Waste Management). This notification mainly covers the draft rules for monolayer bags/pouches, multilayer laminates and plastic containers. The main rule (Rule 5) in the Notification is: a. Carry bags and conatiners made of virgin plastic shall be in natural shadeb. No person shall use bags or containers made of recycled plastics or biodegradable plastic for storing, carrying, dispensing or packaging of food stuffsc. Carry bags and containers made of recycled or biodegradable plastics and used for purpose of other than storing and packaging foodstuffs shall be manufactured using pigments and colorants as per the Bureau of Indian Standards specifications:IS 9833:1981 entitled "List of pigments and colourants for use in plastics in contact with foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and drinking water".d. No person shall manufacture, stock, distribute or sell carry bags made of virgin or recycled plastics or bio-degradable plastics, which are less than 12×18 inches (30×45 cms) in size and less than 40 microns in thickness.e. No person shall manufacture carry bags or containers or pouches multilayered packaging from biodegradable plastics unless these meet the Bureau of Indian Standards specifications:IS/ISO 17088:2008 entitled "Specifications for compostable plastics".f. No person shall manufacture, stock, distribute or sell non-recyclable laminated plastic or metallic pouches, multilayered packaging’s and other non-recyclable plastics. Please find the below link of the complete draft notification from the ministry.http://www.packagingconnections.com/downloads/MoEF_English.pdf 

This concern has also been posted by Mr Amninder Singh : Associate Research & Technology at www.packagingconnections.com at P-Exchnage, you can visit P-Exchnage at  http://www.packagingconnections.com/p-exchange/moef-draft-notification-plastic-manufacturerusage-and-waste-management-rules2009.htm

 We look forward to your comments, ideas to address it and recommend innovative solutions.

Today in Ahmedabad, India 6 November 2009, I read the newspaper Times of India talking about the killer desiease diabetes in India and particularly in Gujrat. Its alarming. You can read more at http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIA&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&AW=1257474777500

Some initail lines are given below:



 

Ahmedabad: City-based diabetologist Dr Mayur Patel has come out with a unique research-based analysis on diabetes, the silent killer which threatens to have a whopping 8.5 crore Indians in its grip by year 2030. Such is the silence of this disease that it is much after the disease has taken firm root that it is detected.
   His path-breaking doctoral thesis on ‘Diabetes Mellitus ….."

Now my point is what packaging can do this? While medical professionals, pharmaceutical experts will be working to solve this problem, I think we packaging technologists can help to manage the disease and learn to live with it. This can be done to the great extent by creating cost effective, platic moulded, easy to carry pens and we can use our knowledge. We at www.packagingconnections.com are working very closely with Haselmeier in Germany to come out with some solutions.  Additionally we are also working with Schreiner MediPharm in Germany to offer special functional labels so that proper information is available to patients in time and medical errors could be further reduced. If you have any ideas or requirements then please feel free to post your thoughts,

Have a great day, Sandeep Goyal