Roshan Packages is a rapidly growing organization, and in the process, it is ensuring that its employees also grow at an equal pace with it. Not only enhancing the skill set of its employees but also working on their personal grooming and development, and providing a working environment that is conducive to exponential learning and growth. The environment and the work culture here at Roshan Packages are very professional as people here are not working as individuals but as a team, helping and supporting each other, and focused on achieving success as a team. At Roshan Packages, the success of an individual is the success of the team he is part of.

I am pleased to be a part of a talented bunch of individuals selected as Management Trainees after a rigorous process. Unlike other organizations, the Management Trainee Program at Roshan Packages is designed to create future leaders capable of accelerating the growth of the organization. I feel very lucky and accomplished working for Roshan Packages, and I look forward to having a great working experience with all my colleagues at Roshan Packages.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a major challenge Roshan Packages, and the corrugated packaging industry, in general, is facing right now. Roshan Packages is facing a shortage of raw materials and rising input costs. For instance, prices of Kraft paper, which is utilized for making corrugated boxes have doubled – a record – in the past 2 years. The reason for the increase in Kraft paper price is that European Union has banned exports of waste cuttings, a relatively less expensive raw material. Also, post-covid, the import of input materials has been seriously impacted, due to worsened logistical problems.

Apart from this, irregular supplies have compounded the already existing problems of soaring waste paper prices, and soaring input costs, mainly fuel and starch, and there are little signs of this price pattern turning around soon. The conversion costs have also increased due to an increase in the cost of starch. Prices of chemicals such as caustic soda have almost doubled in the last few months. Even the prices of ink have surged.

Another major reason for the crisis is China’s decision to ban imports of wastes, including waste paper. With this ban coming into effect, China is now importing kraft paper that is now being used as a fiber to produce paper. This, in turn, has created a shortage of Kraft Paper in Pakistan.

For the corrugated industry in Pakistan to remain viable, especially the SMEs, the government must limit the export of Kraft paper, as it would restore the supply of Kraft paper for the local industry. Also, there is a need to raise the price of corrugated packaged boxes to remain viable.

I would also like to briefly mention the sustainability of corrugated packaging since sustainability is essential to ensure non-disruptiveness in the future. It is very encouraging that currently corrugated is the most sustainable packaging material and it is because of the following reasons:

• Managed Forestry — corrugated is made from renewable raw materials.
• Renewable Resources — paper mills can generate energy from byproducts of the paper manufacturing process
• Continuous Recycling — the fiber in corrugated is recyclable once a box has been used.

-Ahsan Shafique, MTO Supply Chain, Roshan Packages Limited

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Through the recruitment and training process, I realised that I was lucky to be joining a well-organized company. I feel lucky to have joined a professional and growing organisation to start my career. I received a good salary, had a nice working environment and was given respect by my coworkers despite being the youngest employee. When I entered this job, I knew nothing. I was a completely inexperienced and unskilled worker but after working for more than one month here, this job helped me improve my soft skills such as how to communicate with people around me, being honest, staying calm and focusing on my work. Having a job also taught me to value my own work, and the labour and effort I put into something.

As an IT professional, I think it is important for all businesses and employees to realise the importance of IT in sustaining and growing their business. Information technology or the IT department is a crucial part of my company as they monitor and manage almost all processes through software. The IT department is at the epicentre of the building and is involved in the day to day maintenance of communications networks for the businesses. Not many companies, big or small, could survive without a good IT department making them imperative to a business’s day to day existence. I learnt a lot even from sending an email, to changing a password, accessing databases and everything in between IT are there to help every step of the way. IT in business is ultimately to help the business be more efficient and productive and we as an IT team are trying our best to achieve those goals. 

With the help of my seniors, I am now able to perform and troubleshoot problems. Under the supervision of my seniors, I learned a lot. Roshan has its SAP system which has many modules related to the business. It provides facilities to view the progress that the company is making. It has many different categories and functions to provide facilities to Roshan employees. SAP is a business tool that can help to manage data and progress. The other domain which Roshan has is networking and I personally belong to this domain. Networking also plays a major role in Roshan. When I started working I did not understand the issues which employees face but with the help of my Deputy Manager Sir Hussain who has not only bookish knowledge but also core expertise. From my university level, I really wanted to join this domain as my professional career. At Roshan, networking related problems come across and we have to solve them. I love to share what I had done during my first month in this organization although I am not fully polished, I feel I learned a lot in a short period due to my team. Being an IT employee I had to fix issues that other employees face like they had printer sharing problems. There are so many other issues like windows related, software problems, and other networking troubleshooting. Before I was blank I was not able to do anything because I was an unskilled person but joining the IT department of Roshan Packages enhanced my knowledge. Although there are many hurdles and struggles are in my way but with the calm and comfortable environment of Roshan and my IT team, I can give my 100% to this organization because the opportunity never come again and again and I am thankful to this organization and Allah who gave me this golden opportunity.

I feel proud to be a part of one of the best packaging companies in Pakistan as well as a growing company. May Allah give me enough strength to polish my skills in a better way that I can serve diligently and create value.

-Hamza Ramzan

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Hello, I am Syed Daniyal Zaidi. I have done my MBA in Supply Chain Management from Superior University Lahore. Recently, I joined Roshan Packages Limited as an MTO Supply Chain. I am here to write this blog to share my experience, supply chain issues, and sustainability in the paper market.

Before joining Roshan Packages I didn’t have much knowledge regarding the functioning of the corrugated paper industry. However, during our training session, we interacted with all departments of the company in which we got to know about Roshan Packages as a company, and as a team. I was curious and excited to meet the people who are leading the Supply Chain at Roshan. I was not disappointed as when I did meet them they are so kind, welcoming, and helpful.

In Roshan Packages Limited, Supply Chain functions are divided into four parts: planning, procurement, warehousing, and logistics. In Roshan, we have two types of plant operations, which are corrugation and converting. The sales team brings the orders. The planning department makes plans to procure materials and Procurement ensures the availability of direct and indirect material before the production process. The delivered raw material will be checked by the Quality Department and stored in the warehouse. The logistics team manages the transportation services by itself or 3PL and ensures the timely availability of products to customers. The function in which I am performing is procurement.

My first working day was quite impressive, when I stepped into the room of the Supply Chain team, I was a little nervous, but they welcomed me very kindly and warmly. I was introduced to managers and executives who guided us through the general processes of procurement. Procurement in Roshan Packages is a wide field that includes paper, spare parts, consumables, grocery, stationery, assets, services, polymers, dies, and fixed assets. I learned and observed all day-to-day activities by doing small tasks. I handled different documentation related to procurement. I am slowly understanding terms used in material buying of paper like paper type, grammage, and deckle sizes, etc. Moreover, currently, I am observing and understanding the import terms and processes e.g. letter of credit (LC), HS Code, Incoterms, T/T, Swift message, bank guarantee, GD declaration, etc. In my opinion, Roshan Packages has the best integrated well organized Supply Chain system which creates a valuable impact on the performance of the company.

Supply Chain Issues:

In Pakistan, the manufacturing industry of corrugated boxes faces a big problem of raw material shortage. Over the last two years’ prices of the Kraft paper which is used in manufacturing corrugated boxes have been still increasing, affecting brown box manufacturers who play a main role in the supply chain for many other industries. Coal and fuel which is the main source of energy for paper mills whose prices have been continuously increasing which are a large reason for the price increases.

Sustainability in the Paper Market:

Sustainability must be an internal part of any business’s strategy as it is the only way to succeed in the future. In the future the corrugated industry will have an increase in demand of 3-5% predicted around 2022-2025, Says Beroe Inc. Lightweight and recycled paper’s combination are the innovative raw material used in corrugated production. Roshan Packages has some of the best machines in the country, which are used in both corrugation and converting. They have the best staff to manage their plant process which gives them a competitive advantage. Over the time being the management has been working to bring the best out of us. The things I have been learning from my seniors are very informative and essential to develop myself, to become an expert or professional. I am thankful to Roshan Packages for believing and giving us an opportunity to prove our abilities.

-Syed Daniyal Zaidi, MTO Supply Chain, Roshan Packages Limited

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On the 2nd day, we were given a brief tour of the manufacturing plant. At our arrival, we were welcomed by the Head of the Plant. Each department had an instructor explaining how the plant actually works to deliver a final good. We went through the corrugation and conversion process of the paper. Paper is given a sheet form which gets passed through multiple rollers. They produce multiple liners and flutes to make a sheet. The sheet is later processed in conversion processes. There are multiple machines that are used for manufacturing different types of boxes. EMBA, Flexo, and Casemaker are the major ones. I want to give an appreciation to Mr. Moiz from the production team. He was so friendly and explained everything we needed to learn about the converting process.  It was lunchtime already and we had chicken curry. After lunch, we were given presentations from respective departments about their roles in the organization. The head of each department including Finance, Supply Chain, and Sales guided us about their roles in the plant. We were quite exhausted at this point. At 4:00 pm, we departed from the plant and concluded our day.

On the 3rd day, we had to visit the manufacturing plant again. There were few more departments left that had yet to deliver their presentations. The remaining departments were Sales, IT, Admin, and HR. The Sales team was quite cheerful and we had a lot of fun in the session. After the conclusion of all the presentations, it really felt like Sales is probably the most integral part of a company. Later on, we had a lunch of Chicken Biryani. As an individual from IT, I was really looking forward to my department’s presentation. The instructor explained how an enterprise application like SAP works in a corporate environment to support all the activities of an organization. Due to the time limitation, it was a really short one. I wish they had the chance to explain more about it. Well, that’s how our day ended and we returned back to the head office. Overall, it was a good learning experience.

-Azzam Ali, MTO, Roshan Packages Limited

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