Project report for Corrugated box manufacturing

The market for global corrugated boxes stood at USD 61.29 Billion in 2015 and is projected to reach USD 76.76 Billion by 2021, at an estimated CAGR of 3.94%. Globally the corrugated boxes market is gaining momentum in the food & beverages and e-commerce industries. Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the fastest-growing region during the forecast period. 

Growth in the e-commerce industry is expected to benefit corrugated boxes manufacturing companies in the Asian markets. The growth of the corrugated box market in this region is driven by factors such as the growing food & beverage industry, the rise in demand for packed products, and economic development. 2015 is the base year considered for the study while the market size is forecasted from 2016 to 2021. The primary objective of the study is to define, segment, and project the corrugated box market size based on material, type, printing technology, printing ink, end-use industry, and region. It also provides detailed information about the main factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges). 

The market ecosystem involves various stakeholders in the corrugated boxes market. This ecosystem consists of various stakeholders involved in the supply chain of the corrugated boxes industry. It primarily starts with the raw material suppliers who provide the required raw materials to the manufacturing companies. This is followed by the research & development team as the consumers want better and innovative solutions to their problems that are much more sustainable and environment-friendly. 

The next level in the chain involves the manufacturing and the assembly team. This is taken care of by the manufacturers. Post this, the marketing and sales of the finished products take place which is only possible if an efficient distribution channel is developed. Finally, the end-product lands with the consumers.

The firm is focused on manufacturing corrugated kraft paper boxes which are an essential material in packing a product. The need for the product is so among the FMCG, electronics, medical, and other related industries. The targeted customers belong to the following industry: 

•   Food & beverage
•    Electronic goods
•    Home & personal care goods
•    Chemicals
•    Textile goods
•    Paper products
•    Others (Pharmaceuticals, rubber, and tobacco)

A corrugated board is made with a corrugated sheet of paper attached to the facing of flat paper, usually kraft by adhesives. In our country, it is mostly produced over a single facer machine here two paper reels are run together, one layer of paper becomes corrugated after passing through the heated rolls and the other is brought into contact with it after the former having glued at the tips. Thus both get pasted together and are wound in rolls. The resulting roll is now known as a single face/ corrugated roll/board. By cutting this roll with a board cutter and then gluing the corrugated side by a pasting machine and placing 3rd ply of paper over it double-faced or 3-ply corrugated board is produced, this board is kept under pressure in a sheet pressing machines for some time for setting off the wet glued sheets. Similarly, the board can be pasted to form thicker boards i.e.; 5-ply, 7-ply, and 9-ply, etc.

Paper and paper products are versatile industrial raw materials with a wide variety of applications in this era and due to the shortage of softwood, wooden packing cases are more and more replaced with a corrugated board- boxes and cartons. As more and more materials are coming in paper packing, the availability of raw materials is also on the increase. Thus recycling of waste paper is in demand, which can be used to produce products like paperboards, binding sheets, sweet box cartons, and other packing cartons.  80% of industrial packaging is done by carton boxes due to effective cushioning, lightweight, easy to fabricate, easy for storing, easy for disposal, no strapping necessary, printing and advertising advantages, must in the export market, recyclable, etc. 

Over 12,000 existing corrugated box-making units produce nearly 5.2 million tonnes a year of boxes with an estimated market value of Rs 18,000 crore. While 200 automated manufacturing units contribute nearly 40 percent, about 2,200 semi-automated and partly organised units contribute another 40 percent. Over 9,500 units in the unorganised sector contribute the rest.

The growth in the use of the internet for shopping, stimulated by the growing use of smartphones as well as the increasing proportion of tech-savvy consumers, has a positive effect on corrugated demand since it has a direct influence on the e-commerce market. Retail ready packaging is also increasingly driven by the influence of supermarkets over the retail landscape and supported by their growing share of the retail market will also drive the corrugated box market in the future. Inline Automatic board and box-making plants will ease out the present semi-automatic production processes and deployment of folder gluers, rotary die-cutters will grow in the future. Advances in multicolor, flexo printing will facilitate in-house flexo printing, do away with screen printing, and contract printing on offset presses. The trend of colored corrugated boxes has been on the rise. Several organized retailers are using colored and die-cut corrugated boxes for display and promotional purposes in their shops. These types of boxes are mainly used to attract customer’s attention as these boxes are very eye-catching.