The Sidel Group, with its headquarters in Switzerland and presence in 30 countries worldwide, supplies and produces bottling machinery for some of the biggest names in the international food and beverage sector — including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Danone, Nestlé, Heineken and more. With production facilities in 13 countries and equipment installed in 191 countries, it has a global presence and experience required to meet the local demands. It provides optimal PET packaging solutions for water, soft drinks, milk, sensitive products, edible oils and alcoholic beverages including beer. Previously Sidel also used to provide metal and glass solutions, but having exited these segments, it wants to concentrate on PET only.
Along with Tetra Pak and DeLaval, Sidel is part of the Tetra Laval Group. It is also the founding member of the Association of the Beverage Machine Industry (ABMI) in Europe, dedicated to promoting high standards of food safety and quality. PSA recently met Laurent Fournier, managing director of Sidel India and also the commercial director for South Asia at Sidel India’s office in Gurgaon. Fournier says, “We aim to create value for our customers by giving them a better match based on tailored solutions that cater to their needs exactly. We do this by offering flexible and reliable production systems that are easily adaptable to market developments and future technology, supported by value-added services.”
Worldwide, Sidel has a 150-year history in filling and sealing, more than 50 years in blown containers and about 30 years in PET. For the past 15 years, Sidel has also been a manufacturer of complete lines for PET which include the blower, filler, labeled, film wrapper and the palletizer which are all inline. The complete line machines are being sold in India at the moment which are manufactured at Sidel’s plant in Pune. The company manufactures the Synergy line of machines in India which “are simple, robust, affordable and lowcostPET blowing machines with a 100 mlto 30 litre capacity and which also have a provision for handle attachment,” according to Fournier. He adds, “A lot of know-how is required in how you heat the mould so that it takes the perfect shape and rigidity which the customer is looking for and atSidel we take pride in saying that we are committed to being the most innovative, responsive and reliable partner, providing sustainable solutions to our customers.”
Some of the PET bottle concepts which Sidel offers to its customers are the Freeshape, Smart weight Safe sense and Ecoloop. “These unique, functional and innovative concepts help in lowering material costs by using less material for each bottle, lower labour costs through increased process automation, less secondary packaging and lower total cost of ownership by reducing direct and indirect costs,” Fournier says.
PET is the fastest growing packaging material for beverage worldwide since it is cheap, light and completely recyclable. The Indian subcontinent is inhabited by almost 20% of the total world population although the PET consumption is only 2% currently, so there is huge room for growth and development. Even worldwide, by 2030, Sidel predicts the demand for food, water and energy to double. Speaking about some new trends in PET that are expected to catch on in India, Fournier says that aseptic technology is something which may take off in the country in coming years and this growth would be driven mainly by the dairy industry. “Convenience, hygiene and safety can be provided by Aseptic,” he says. Another high growth potential area for the company is the bottled water segment which is bound to multiply its demand in the next few years, Fournierfeels.
Fournier has been in India for the past ten months and after a flat 2013, he is optimistic that 2014 will have better growth for the industry. “We have to be prepared and we have to be ready.” He has great belief in the Indian way of doing things – sometimes known as ‘Jugaad’ and he say she is intrigued by how Indians are able to make something out of nothing. However, he feels that if Indian entrepreneurs would like to follow their Chinese counterparts or the secret of China’s growth, then the overall visibility of the industry has to improve which would allow investors to look at larger and further horizons than has been the practice till now.
