The ITC Agri Business Division’s Chirala factory in Andhra Pradesh celebrated 100 glorious years of operations, on Saturday. Popularly known as the Chirala Green Leaf Threshing (CGLT) plant, the factory with three processing lines, has the highest processing capacity for a single location. Set up in 1922, it is the largest among ITC’s three threshing factories.
Sanjiv Puri, Chairman, ITC Ltd, S. Siva Kumar, Director, ITC-ABD, Rajnikant Rai, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC-AB and others participated in this event.
The ITC’s Green Leaf Threshing plant takes pride in being an iconic landmark of Chirala with a century-old relationship with farmers and the people of the region, said H.N. Ramprasad, SBU Chief Executive, Agri Business, Leaf Tobacco Business, ITC Ltd, on this occasion. The world-class facility is an exemplar in innovation, employee safety and sustainability standards, he observed. As we commemorate this special occasion of completing 100 years of operations, we would like to celebrate our achievements and collectively work for an even brighter future for the factory and the ecosystem in Chirala, he added.
Mr. Ramprasad said the state-of-the-art Chirala factory has been a pioneer in the areas of energy conservation, mechanisation, automation, digitalization and employee safety. The factory rapidly adopted technologies such as the introduction of laser technology and implementation of Industry 4.0. It was an ‘industry-first’ in terms of conceptualising and putting in place manufacturing lines utilising 4 level high piggy-back units that significantly enhanced efficiencies and outcomes, he added.
The plant is an exemplar in sustainable practices. The integrated facility with incoming, in-process and final product all at a single location, is highly energy efficient. “Adopting a low carbon growth path, the unit has been running on green power through ITC’s 46 MW Wind Park at Anantapur. The plant targets to achieve a renewable energy share of 94% in 2029-30 from 21% in 2018-19. The unit is also an exemplar in waste management, recycling more than 99% of its generated waste”, Mr. Ramprasad explained.
The Chirala factory has also been felicitated by national and international bodies on various occasions for business and process excellence. The plant has received the Sword of Honour from the British Safety Council for 14 years. It has been conferred the Sarva Sreshta Puraskar Gold award by the National Safety Council and has won ‘Platinum Award’ for ‘Systematic and Sustainable Energy Performance’ from Society of Energy Engineers and Managers (SEEM) earlier this year.
