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Budhraja: Pioneer in Pelletisation machines>
Express Pharma Pulse March 29, 2001 -by Sreekala G. |
Seldom you find entrepreneurs, more so in the fields of pharma allied sector, moving away from the beaten track. In a field where jumping on the band wagon is common it needs courage and farsightedness to make such a move. Having been in the engineering stream all his professional life,
R. Budhraja, managing director of Umang Pharmatech Pvt Ltd has developed a success mantra for developing high-tech machine. He has been the pioneer of the pelletisation machines and at present Umang is the only company which manufactures such machines. Keeping track of the new developments and using them to form high quality machines made his company to grow by leaps and bounds, he said.
R. Budhraja started his career with Printers Engineering Company in 1966 as an apprentice and undertook the job of maintaining and repairing the machines manufactured by them. The company was engaged in the business of manufacturing leaflet machines.
After Printers Engineering he moved on to German Remedies (GR) in 1967. According to him he never thought about working in the pharma line. He went to German Remedies for repairing some machines. Here, he was approached by a German, who directed his interest into the line of manufacturing machines for pharma industries. If it was not destiny then it was his professionalism that might have caught the attention of an MNC like German Remedies. His association with GR helped him a lot to know about the pharma industry. After six years association with GR, Budhraja moved on to Bayer India and had been there for nine years. After gaining 15 years of experience in the pharma field he started his own business in 1982 under the name Umang Industries.
The company launched its first product automated tape dispensers with coding attachment. According to him this machine is useful for corrugated box packing which gives predetermined length useful for the lengthwise and crosswise packing. The company logo has been printed on top and this has prevented others from duplicating the machines.
Though the demand for this type of machines are less with the arrival of BOPP tapes he is not ready to follow others. According to him BOPP tapes are not environmental friendly as it is made of plastics. Hence he has refrained from manufacturing such tapes. He also believes that in the future the older machines could be revamped and replace the plastic ones.
In 1990, the company was diversified under the name of RR Enterprises for manufacturing extruder and spherodiser. In the same year he participated in the IPC at IIT and got a chance to share knowledge and experience with others. In 1994, the company began manufacturing fluid bed coaters. During the next two years the company undertook a major revamp of the existing business to upgrade infrastructure for manufacturing high quality products. The structure of the building premises were changed in order to accommodate huge machines. In 1998, the company was renamed to Umang Pharmatech Pvt. Ltd.
Budhraja's far sightedness and knowledge have paved way for the pelletisation technology in India. The basic concept of extruder and spherodizer has been to use the same for the sustained release of drugs. ``To do the sustained release we went to the next step of sustained release coating. As a total profile of the pelletisation in this process we did particle coating which has been the offshoot of our future functioning,'' he maintained. Future trend in this technology is to do the individual coating of drugs with polymers and mix them directly while doing the pellet making itself. ``We have developed our fluid bed coaters in line with this,'' averred Budhraja. Recently his company has developed tenacious coaters as well as drug loading by the tenacious system. With this process a person can spray the binder solution and can do the powder drug loading on top. ``We have applied for patent for the design of this system'' he said ``as such work has not be done anywhere else in the world.'' Dr. K. Lalla of K. & K. College is taking care of the matters regarding the patent. He is also a member of the research team which is working on this technology.
Umang's clientele includes Sun Pharma, Wockhardt, FDC, NADCO, Kopran, Indswift and Cadila. The Company also exports the machines to several countries including Cyprus, Nepal, and Malaysia. Now the company is in the process of tapping developed markets including US. ``We are confident of meeting the strict quality requirement for export of our exports,'' said Budhraja.
The company has been manufacturing machineries by using indigenous technology. It specialises in the manufacture of pelletisation machines which are highly technical. He feels that this technology holds a bright future. The company has set up a fully equipped R&D lab in the factory testing will be conducted for determining the suitability of the equipment for production. ``We have practically all the facilities for pelletisation in one small room. Many industries are approaching us to standardise their products. Once the suitability is tested it will help them to make the required changes'' he informed.
The company is in the process of obtaining ISO 9000 certification. It plans to spread its business in bangladesh and has targeted newer markets in India. |
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