Pragnesh Shah : Driving Excellence in Packaging Innovation through People & Customer- Centric Business Practices
Pragnesh Shah
COO
But of late, the packaging industry has not only witnessed numerous tech advancements emerge to the fore, but the consumer subtleties too have evolved drastically. While customers now prefer products with innovative and ecofriendly packaging , companies view packaging as a potential opportunity to effectively market and communicate their brand persona. Given such dynamic market scenario, it is imperative for business owners and c-suite executives in the packaging sector to possess niche skill sets to steer their organizations towards success.
Among the handful of business leaders in India that possess such rare traits, one who stands-out through his deep domain knowledge and intricate understanding of numerous intricacies involved in the packaging materials business is Pragnesh Shah, COO, Colourflex Laminators.
Having completed his bachelor’s degree in Physics and master’s degree in Material Sciences from the Sardar Patel University, Pragnesh went on to pursue his Graduate Diploma in Materials Management from the Indian Institute of Materials Management (Banglore) and has even completed the Chief Operating Officers Program from the prestigious IIM Lucknow and he is also a certified Independent Director.
Starting his career as a quality officer at Paper Products Limited, Pragnesh gradually traversed into the operations side of the packaging business driven by his passion towards machines and technology. Today, with over 30 years of experience across diverse functions of the packaging business, he is strongly positioned as one of the most highly regarded personalities in India’s packaging industry.
In a recent conversation with CEO Insights, Pragnesh shared more information around his leadership style, career journey so far, the strategies he follows at his past and current organization, and many other interesting aspects. Below are a few key excerpts from the exclusive interview –
Tell us about a few defining moments in your career that shaped you into the successful packing industry leader you are today.
When I joined Modern Packaging as the Works Manager, I got the opportunity to learn firsthand how to lead the big team and execute the projects and expansions in the business – right from designing machines and technical specifications to finalizing the deal with suppliers.
While this made me become more passionate about the packaging industry, joining Parikh Packaging later on helped me connect with Parikh brothers, Pavan Parikh and Pranav Parikh who mentored me and played a pivotal role in shaping me into the business professional I’m today.
At Parikh handled the complete Green field project right from designing machines technical specifications and plant lean layout to get the best out of the operations. He always advocated that a business leader must do what the market or customer base wants; not what he/she believes in, and stressed upon the importance of being people-centric and a team player. These key lessons have helped me immensely in overcoming numerous challenging situations along my professional journey and emerge successful.
Throw some light on your leadership style, along with the ethics and principles that you follow on a daily basis.
To me, leadership is a characteristic that has the power to influence other but requires one to be people-centric in all his decision-making processes. Thus, my motto has always been to work as part of the team wherein the employees own-up the successes and I take responsibility of any mistakes or failures. Also, I try to have a clear understanding of my team members’ beliefs, happiness, concerns and many other aspects by interacting with them regularly even at a personal level around their familial issues.
This helps me create a supportive and thriving work environment where every individual feels happy work and be a part of. Most importantly, I am constantly in the pursuit of excellence in everything that I do, and my passion of operational excellence and innovation enables me to not cater to our customer base, but also stay aligned with the ever-evolving global market dynamics.
Heading the operations, how do you foster a culture of innovation among your team members?
As a leader, I strongly believe that one mind alone cannot bring in innovation; it is rather a team effort. Thus, innovation is central to the work culture that we follow wherein we not only encourage our team members to put-down any idea that comes in their mind on paper and submit it, but also monetize it.
Every idea thus gathered is counted, brainstormed thoroughly, and any idea that converts into a commercial advantage, enhances products safety or beings-in any kind of operational improvement gets the highest reward for that particular month.
Along with bringing a lot of ideas to the table, this unique practice has helped us immensely in innovating many new products into market – At the prominent ones being enhancing our capability and the development of machine direction-oriented PE Film based laminates, which garnered widespread recognition due to its alignment with India’s mission towards having mono-plastic laminate.
At Parikh handled the complete Green field project right from designing machines technical specifications and plant lean layout to get the best out of the operations. He always advocated that a business leader must do what the market or customer base wants; not what he/she believes in, and stressed upon the importance of being people-centric and a team player. These key lessons have helped me immensely in overcoming numerous challenging situations along my professional journey and emerge successful.
I am constantly in the pursuit of excellence in everything that I do, and my passion for operational excellence and innovation enables me to cater to our customer base, while also staying aligned with the global market dynamics
Throw some light on your leadership style, along with the ethics and principles that you follow on a daily basis.
To me, leadership is a characteristic that has the power to influence other but requires one to be people-centric in all his decision-making processes. Thus, my motto has always been to work as part of the team wherein the employees own-up the successes and I take responsibility of any mistakes or failures. Also, I try to have a clear understanding of my team members’ beliefs, happiness, concerns and many other aspects by interacting with them regularly even at a personal level around their familial issues.
This helps me create a supportive and thriving work environment where every individual feels happy work and be a part of. Most importantly, I am constantly in the pursuit of excellence in everything that I do, and my passion of operational excellence and innovation enables me to not cater to our customer base, but also stay aligned with the ever-evolving global market dynamics.
Heading the operations, how do you foster a culture of innovation among your team members?
As a leader, I strongly believe that one mind alone cannot bring in innovation; it is rather a team effort. Thus, innovation is central to the work culture that we follow wherein we not only encourage our team members to put-down any idea that comes in their mind on paper and submit it, but also monetize it.
Every idea thus gathered is counted, brainstormed thoroughly, and any idea that converts into a commercial advantage, enhances products safety or beings-in any kind of operational improvement gets the highest reward for that particular month.
Along with bringing a lot of ideas to the table, this unique practice has helped us immensely in innovating many new products into market – At the prominent ones being enhancing our capability and the development of machine direction-oriented PE Film based laminates, which garnered widespread recognition due to its alignment with India’s mission towards having mono-plastic laminate.
Briefly explain your strategies to balance between operational efficiency, evolving market needs and sustainability.
Continuous improvement has always been the cornerstone of every task and function we perform, wherein the entire teams is actively involved in the process. Be it adopting the latest technologies, commitment to operational excellence, or maintaining the highest levels of quality and efficiency, the entire team works collaboratively to identify even the smallest opportunities for improvement and eliminate inefficiencies with a razor-sharp focus on overall serve quality and customer experience.
In terms of sustainability, we strive towards making the earth a safer place and maintain zero carbon footprint by reducing resource utilization and recycling them wherever possible, while also using sustainable energy sources to the maximum extent across our functions.
What according to you are some of the most memorable milestones that you’ve achieved in your career journey so far?
During the initial stages of my career, I was part of a highly reputed project of Unilever wherein we had to supply packaging material to their one of the Soap manufacturing factories. What made this instance memorable was that there was a competition happening among all the factories of Unilever around who will produce the highest output.
Thanks to the flawless and top-notch quality packaging material that we supplied, and that Unilever factory not only bagged the first place but even recognized us as the best packaging material supplier.
Apart from this, another milestone that I truly consider as an achievement in recent times of my career was when we successfully developed the MDO Film at Constantia Flexibles, which garnered immense great rewards & recognition for our team.
Pragnesh Shah, COO, Colourflex Laminators
With a Master’s degree in Material Sciences from Sardar Patel University and Graduate Diploma in Materials Management from the Indian Institute of Materials Management, Pragnesh is a seasoned packaging industry leader with an illustrious career spanning over 30 years in the field. Prior to joining Colourflex earlier this year, he has successfully handled key leadership and managerial positions across numerous companies that include Uflex (ASEPTO Plant), Constantia Flexibles, Parikh Packaging and many more.
Quick Facts
•Favorite Hobbies: Cooking and trying new recipes & dishes (his main stress buster), pencil sketching, reading, and networking with people
•Favorite Book: ‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu M Goldratt, as it teaches you to achieve the right balance between personal and professional lives.(Theory of Constraints)
•Favorite Cuisines: South Indian (both to cook and relish upon)
•Favorite Travel Destinations: Any where cool, calm and scenic, especially places with mountains and a lot of snow
Continuous improvement has always been the cornerstone of every task and function we perform, wherein the entire teams is actively involved in the process. Be it adopting the latest technologies, commitment to operational excellence, or maintaining the highest levels of quality and efficiency, the entire team works collaboratively to identify even the smallest opportunities for improvement and eliminate inefficiencies with a razor-sharp focus on overall serve quality and customer experience.
In terms of sustainability, we strive towards making the earth a safer place and maintain zero carbon footprint by reducing resource utilization and recycling them wherever possible, while also using sustainable energy sources to the maximum extent across our functions.
What according to you are some of the most memorable milestones that you’ve achieved in your career journey so far?
During the initial stages of my career, I was part of a highly reputed project of Unilever wherein we had to supply packaging material to their one of the Soap manufacturing factories. What made this instance memorable was that there was a competition happening among all the factories of Unilever around who will produce the highest output.
Thanks to the flawless and top-notch quality packaging material that we supplied, and that Unilever factory not only bagged the first place but even recognized us as the best packaging material supplier.
Apart from this, another milestone that I truly consider as an achievement in recent times of my career was when we successfully developed the MDO Film at Constantia Flexibles, which garnered immense great rewards & recognition for our team.
Pragnesh Shah, COO, Colourflex Laminators
With a Master’s degree in Material Sciences from Sardar Patel University and Graduate Diploma in Materials Management from the Indian Institute of Materials Management, Pragnesh is a seasoned packaging industry leader with an illustrious career spanning over 30 years in the field. Prior to joining Colourflex earlier this year, he has successfully handled key leadership and managerial positions across numerous companies that include Uflex (ASEPTO Plant), Constantia Flexibles, Parikh Packaging and many more.
Quick Facts
•Favorite Hobbies: Cooking and trying new recipes & dishes (his main stress buster), pencil sketching, reading, and networking with people
•Favorite Book: ‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu M Goldratt, as it teaches you to achieve the right balance between personal and professional lives.(Theory of Constraints)
•Favorite Cuisines: South Indian (both to cook and relish upon)
•Favorite Travel Destinations: Any where cool, calm and scenic, especially places with mountains and a lot of snow