Present at the inauguration ceremony were senior delegates from Sealed Air, namely Suzanne Thompson-Global VP R&D Diversey Care (Centre), Ram Ramesh-Global VP R&D Food Care (Right), Himanshu Jain, MD/VP Sealed Air Indian-subcontinent and South East Asia (Left), Bala Thottikamath-VP Diversey Care, APAC and Hemant Godbole-Director- R&D, Food Care Solutions, APAC & MEA.
[box type=”shadow” ]“There is a lot of untapped opportunity in food packaging. Half of the food we produce actually goes to the drainage than getting fed to people.”
– Ram Ramesh Global VP, R&D-Diversey Care[/box]
SEALED AIR, a Fortune 500 company, engaged in the business of food packaging, food safety and cleaning & hygiene solutions, recently inaugurated its expanded global facilities for Research & Development Centre in Mumbai, India. The facilities Centre will help accelerate the company’s ongoing R&D in Fabric Care, F&B hygiene and food packaging. Dedicated to transforming the On-Premise Laundry (OPL), On- Premise Professional Laundry (OPPL) and commercial laundry industries, the Fabric Care Centre is responsible for leading Fabric Care innovations across the globe. Similarly, the Food Care Centre is dedicated to developing innovative solutions to address the critical hygiene requirements of Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical industries, such as CIP (Cleaningin- Place), Bottle Washing, Track Treatment, and Pasteurizer Treatment. The Food Care facility also includes a state-of-the-art unit with capabilities to evaluate packaging solutions for the Indian market.
[box type=”shadow” ]“With the new lab, we will accelerate the development, as the R&D centre will be applicable globally. We will now have a great access to APAC area. ” – Bala Thottikamath VP Diversey Care, APAC[/box]
“Enhancing our R&D centre and resources is a part of our evolution of becoming a knowledge-based company across the globe. It is a milestone in our journey to constantly innovate new solutions and in the process, contribute to the transformation of India. We will continue to invest in developing the capabilities of our young and talented workforce in India,” said Himanshu Jain, Sealed Air Vice President, Indian-subcontinent, and South East Asia.
In January 2015, Jerome Peribere, Sealed Air CEO, announced the R&D facility expansion and work force planning during his India visit. Peribere stated that Sealed Air will increase its R&D manpower by 50% and will make its global Centre of Excellence for Fabric Care and Food Hygiene in India, due to extraordinary demand and growing business in the country.
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Innovations that matter
At Sealed Air, the motto & driving force of R&D activities has been ‘A better way of life’. For instance, while there is a huge amount of food that gets wasted every year, a large section of the society does not have access to the proper food. The new preservation &
Developments @ India Centre
The company is increasing its Research & Development (R&D) workforce in India to put into action its goals and objectives for both Indian as well as global markets. India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and a key hub for worldwide food production. Sealed Air sees vast potential in India to help its industries meet the accelerating demand driven by a growing middle class and a huge population of skilled workers. R&D experts at the Fabric Care and Food Care Centres will focus on new technologies and innovations for customers to address this demand while meeting their sustainability and operational goals.
The facility will place great emphasis on the company’s SmartLife™ initiative, taking a holistic approach to sustainability, productivity enhancement, and profitability. This customer-centric blueprint would be an essential ingredient in our R&D Strategy on how we help our customers win, with our solutions.
– Hemant Godbole Director- R&D, Food Care Solutions, APAC & MEAWe have filed five patents in less than a year. These patents are for innovations in the area of Kitchen Cleaning and Fabric Wash. These patents go beyond academic interest and are fully usable commercially. For example, our laundry technology – Clax® Advanced, has helped one of our hotel customers reduce water usage by 42%, effluents by 42%, energy consumption by 26%, and yet extended linen life by 30%.
– Anant Parte Director- R&D, Diversey Care Solutions, APAC & MEA[/box]
The R&D Facility in India has come a long way since 2004, when the technical centre was established in Mumbai with the objective of supporting the Indian operations of its global F&B and hospitality customers. Sealed Air’s ongoing research focuses on areas such as reduction in water and energy usage in OPPL, commercial laundry and housekeeping operations through low temperature washing and drying, linen life extension, productivity enhancement, cleaning chemicals compatible to all water chemistries, extremely difficult soil removal, thus increasing resource efficiency.