Entrepreneurial Paper, Board, and Tissue from Bulleh Shah Packaging

Bulleh Shah Packaging (BSP), a Packages Group Company in Pakistan, is a modern packaging mill and converting facility, producing up to 450,000 tons of quality paper and board and 330 million corrugated boxes annually. They are a market leader in paper & board and corrugated packaging, having Pakistan’s largest renewable packaging facility and the only liquid packaging board facility nationally.

The entryway at Bulleh Shah Packaging refelects their commitment to “well-being of people first”.

The full range of grades includes Liquid Packaging Board, Folding Box Board, White Lined Chip Board, Printing & Writing, Photocopy Paper – Copymate, Test Liners, Fluting, and Tissue Paper.

What makes them unlike many others is a generational history of entrepreneurship and the can-do family attitude, where everyone who works at BSP and the parent Packages Group Company can interconnect and thrive.

A defining moment for them began with a chance meeting between Ruben Rausing (Akerlund and Rausing – Tetra Pak) and Syed Babar Ali (The Ali Group) in 1958. That’s when a cross-pollination of ideas led to their co-development of an advanced dairy and packaging business in Pakistan ten years later, still thriving under Tetra Pak and Nestle’s direction today.

Syed Hyder Ali, CEO of Packages Limited says, “When Ruben Rausing and my father Syed Babar Ali met in Sweden, there was a spark of an idea. In a focused and opportunistic way, a business idea congealed. After ten years, a comprehensive facility, including Packages Ltd, was built in Lahore. Since then, billions of Tetra Pak aseptic milk containers have been made. What matters in this story is a common belief that two men had in the power of people … and bigger issues in life than simply making money.”

Bulleh Shah team: Muhammad Awais Rafi and Emad ud Din Ahmed, with Kimmo Nurminen - AFT, in the control room at Bulleh Shah mill

Well-being of people first

The approach of valuing people as prized assets is demonstrated in the long careers of workers at Packages Ltd and BSP. Higher education was also made possible with the founding of LUMS, the Lahore University of Management Sciences, started by Syed Babar Ali. Add to this a global commitment to nature, evidenced by Syed Babar Ali’s leadership of the World Wildlife Fund and the high usage of renewable materials, and you have a complete concept for a sustainable business.

Notes Syed Hyder Ali, “People are the most critical asset of our Company. This includes highly trained individuals with advanced technology skills and suppliers working closely with us. When BSP started up 15 years ago, we sought highly competent technology suppliers. From the beginning and now, AFT has provided reliable screening and refining solutions while sharing their knowledge and training.

Working alongside our teams, AFT provides knowhow and a strong commitment to supplying spare and wear parts for our stock prep screening areas. We have been growing together for many years to advance our processes in new ways.”

Says Olli-Pekka Riippa, Product Manager – Refiners and Deflakers, AFT, “Packages Limited’s BSP mill represents a breakthrough in packaging, because they are not only a greenfield mill, but a modern success in what you could call a greenfield country. Evidence of their success is on the faces of people who work here and in the products from BSP.”

Leading new product development requires attention to many details across pulping, board making, coating, and converting units. AFT is valued because we understand their processes and business scope. We always look for ways to optimize fiber and gain the most value at the lowest possible cost for BSP.”

AFT is currently updating refining for BSP’s Rose Petal tissue, Pakistan’s largest and most valuable tissue and hygiene brand. This includes AFT refining expertise and long-lasting Finebar plate technology.

AFT know-how is highly valued

Kimmo Nurminen, Senior Product Manager for Screening at AFT, suggests that achieving more at BSP happens because of openness toward new ideas from strategic suppliers, especially when efficiency and sustainability results are combined. As he puts it, “Screening does much more than filter out contaminants. It’s about raising quality and minimizing downtime. It’s also about lowering energy costs and reducing waste. Predicting performance and maintenance needs is increasingly advancing in real-time.”

Adds Riippa, “Having supported BSP for over fifteen years with advanced screening technologies. AFT has recently helped prepare for another capacity expansion, assessing stock prep operations and potential equipment upgrades to ensure all production is at peak capacity and achieves desired quality levels.

We are currently optimizing their Rose Petal brand tissue refining system including customized AFT Finebar® technology for enhanced quality and three times the plate life. Continuous improvement for Pakistan’s largest and most valuable tissue and hygiene brand is always a priority for the management team.”

The screening advantage

BSP team members Muhammad Awais Rafi and Emad ud Din Ahmed note that AFT drilled and slotted cylinders significantly improve overall screening performance. They both suggest that doing the best job is always about saving energy. “This is important in the ongoing success with AFT... and only happens fully when the mill/supplier team raises the bar repeatedly.”

AFTLinx sensor mounted on the refiner door to monitor refiner segment performance.

About Packages Limited

Packages Limited has been in the Paper and Board business for over 60 years. It was established as a joint venture between the Ali Group of Pakistan and Akerlund & Rausing of Sweden. Packages Limited is renowned for providing premium packaging solutions for paper and board materials throughout Pakistan. In 2005, Packages Limited invested in a greenfield Project in Kasur. This new greenfield was named after one of the most famous Punjabi Sufi poets hailing from Kasur - Bulleh Shah (1680-1757). Bulleh Shah was also a humanist and philosopher of his time, and even today, he is revered equally by people on both sides of the Indo-Pak border.

Vision

• Regional player in quality packaging and consumer products
• Committed to state-of-the-art continuous improvement measures, including cost, quality, service, speed of delivery, and mobilization
• Keep investing in technology, systems, and human resources to effectively meet the challenges every new dawn brings
• Develop relationships with all our stakeholders based on sustainable cooperation, upholding ethical values, which the shareholders, management, and employees represent and continuously strive for

Mission

• To be a leader in the markets, we serve by providing quality products and superior service to our customers while learning from their feedback to set even higher standards for our products
• To be a company that continuously enhances its superior technological competence to provide innovative solutions to customer needs
• To be a company that attracts and retains outstanding people by creating a culture that fosters openness and innovation, promotes individual growth, and rewards initiative and performance
• To be a company that combines its people, technology, management systems, and market opportunities to achieve profitable growth while providing fair returns to its investors
• To be a company that endeavors to set the highest standards in corporate ethics to serve society

About AFT

AFT is a global supplier specialized in screening, refining, stock preparation, and paper machine approach flow systems. With over a century of experience, AFT offers solutions tailored to the customer’s furnish, mill process, and end-product being produced in order to optimize the return on investment.

For more on AFT technologies, visit aft-global.com