EPACK PREFAB, a manufacturer of pre-engineered building solutions, is expanding its manufacturing footprint with an investment of ₹198 crore to set up a new facility spread over 25 acres in Andhra Pradesh.

The company is looking to capture a greater market share in the South as it has tremendous market potential, Nikhil Bothra, Director of EPACK PREFAB, told businessline. The investment for the Andhra Pradesh facility is internally funded, and it is expected to be operational by September 2023, he added.

PEB structures are used in many industries, including aviation, to construct small airports, stadiums and commercial and residential projects. At present, it has two manufacturing plants in Rajasthan and Greater Noida, with a total capacity to produce 1,00,000 metric tonnes of prefabricated material annually, which will increase to 200,000 metric tonnes with the third plant.

As the company provides its services across the country, this expansion is a necessary step to make the services cost-effective. “Moreover, we have seen an increased demand from the southern market. Currently, transportation to the southern market involves high transportation costs, impacting the prices by around 20 per cent,” said Bothra.

Some of its ongoing projects in the South include the Dalmia cement expansion project. “We’re doing four industrial projects for them. There is a huge demand for institutional buildings here, and we are working on those and then a five-star hotel. ”In addition to industrial projects, the company also works with the government. As for government projects, we are currently working on phase two of the Sarsawa and Darbhanga airports,” he added

Further, he said the new facility will help meet export demand as it will be closer to ports. “Our exports are primarily focussed on Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Middle East. We supply a lot of mining companies in Bhutan, as all camps are set up with prefabricated material. In Nepal, we are doing five to six projects right now for the Nepal government in their power sector,” he added.

At present, the company estimates that the Indian market has a lot to look forward to in terms of the development of infrastructure. “Since the demand is huge, while suppliers are relatively few in number, this signifies the market potential in the country. India is looking promising for the next 5–10 years for us,” said Bothra.

EPACK PREFAB expects to close FY23 at around ₹775 crore. In FY22, it reported ₹350 crore in revenues. It employs around 800 people, which would almost double to 1,600 once the third facility is operational.

R&D

The company has set up a separate team for R&D and works with new technologies, such as 3D printing of the buildings. “Globally, 3D printing of buildings is at a nascent stage, and we are studying this technology aggressively and want to bring it to the country soon. We expect technology to take us to the next phase of construction in the next 4-5 years,” said Bothra.

Similarly, another technology under consideration is PPVC prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction. “With the technology, everything is completed in the factory before being loaded onto a trailer and transported to the site, where it is simply assembled like Legos. Singapore and Malaysia are leading the way in this technology,” he added.