As a leading manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging (PET & HDPE), Malplast Industries Ltd’s (MIL) influence across a whole host of industry sectors in Kenya has made its bespoke products the go-to range; creating a positive and profitable chain, from manufacture, to consumer, to stakeholder.
QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY AT ALL TIMES
Serving the pharmaceutical, beverage, edible oil, paint, cosmetics, lubricants, chemicals and power sectors, Malplast’s offering ranges from 60ml to 20 litres in volume, customising each individual product to suit every customer’s unique needs.
For the past 12 years, this cachet within a competitive market has led to an unrivalled reputation across product branding, customised moulding, product delivery and innovation, as the Company’s Director, Dhrupun Shah notes: “Our differentiators include a strong focus on bespoke packaging solutions tailored to specific customer needs and preferences, as well as a culture of key supply chain and stakeholder relationships.
“MIL is a private limited Company and since inauguration, operations have expanded eightfold, and we are now capable of efficiently managing hundreds of SKUs; providing bespoke solutions to our clients in stretch blow moulding, extrusion blow moulding and alternative injection moulding across various industries.”
EXPANSION AND DIVERSIFICATION
MIL’s ownership structure is divided among five members, four of which also serve as executive directors of the business with a combined total of more than 110 years’ industry experience.
Keeping the management structure simple and flexible subsequently lends itself to enhanced levels of entrepreneurship and quick decision making; attributes that have led to Malplast’s rapid evolution over the past decade.
“As part of our expansion and diversification efforts, we have now ventured into alternative moulding for electrical components and have expanded our PET preform producing capacity twofold to enhance our presence in regional markets,”
Shah says.
Such expansion is not just limited to Malplast’s product offering either, with demand taking the business outside of Kenya and into the surrounding East African region also.
Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi are all now catered for with MIL’s management team keen to venture into other countries in the region – and even Central and Southern Africa as well – moving forward.
“In line with MIL’s strategic initiatives, the management of the Company continuously scans the environment using various market research and other tools to gain insights into trends, technology and opportunities to exploit,” Shah adds in regards to the market indicators driving such expansion plans. “It’s a case of being where our customers are while staying in touch with end-user perceptions and preferences.
“How they have been changing over time and anticipating how they will be changing in the future is integral in establishing and retaining our position as packaging thought leaders in our markets.”
EFFICIENCY AND QUALITY
Never one to sit still and rest on its laurels, Malplast looks to complement its external growth with continuous internal refinements, most recently epitomised by new and advanced ERP systems introduced from a technology perspective, and the addition of a multi-storey storage facility from a logistical standpoint.
New state-of-the-art equipment is also brought into the fold on an ongoing basis, in order to give the Company’s workforce the best platform possible to innovate from.
“MIL has staff turnover levels that are significantly lower than industry and geographic averages with close-to zero percent in the C-suite,” Shah continues. “This is because of the culture of a strong relationship focus, as well as continuous staff training and development.”
Falling within this human resource ethos is a similarly honed local commitment which sees not only the majority of employees sourced from the surrounding area, but the vast majority of raw materials sourced from locally registered parties also.
Extensive corporate social responsibility efforts compound this philosophy having sponsored a local Kenyan football team and contributing regularly to social welfare and community development initiatives in its regions of operation.
All of these carefully monitored facets across personnel, the supply chain, local sustainability and business acumen have led to an ambitious yet achievable target of 20 percent year-on-year growth, driven by Malplast’s two overriding principles: efficiency and quality.
“Malplast Industries enjoy an efficient working staff dedicated to excellence, and here at Malplast industries, ‘efficiency’ and ‘quality’ are our watch words,” the Company concludes.
“Working with us is basically dependent on professionalism, experience and the ability to deliver quality products, on time, and with innovation.”
