Sidel Japan has recently celebrated its 10th anniversary supporting beverage producers in the country and surrounding regions, providing a strong local presence to its global experience in PET solutions for liquid packaging. Japan is, by value, the second-largest retail market in the world after the US, with soft drinks alone accounting for 20,948 million litres in off-trade volume sales. Moreover, it is one of the most advanced countries in terms of packaging technology.
Recognizing more than a decade ago the importance of being close to its customers in Japan, Sidel opened its office in Tokyo. The country was considered a market which would benefit from the value of Sidels equipment, services and people. Throughout its 10 years in Japan, Sidel has supported beverage producers with complete bottling line solutions and service support, meeting the high demands of the Japanese market through blow moulding machines, fillers, Combis, labellers and end-of-line solutions. To meet the food safety and hygiene requirements that are particularly high in a country in which sensitive products play an important role, Sidels dry preform decontamination technology Predis has proved to be an effective solution for many of Japan’s leading beverage brands.
In 2014 the company supplied its first Sidel Matrix system to a Japanese beverage producer. The Sidel Matrix system is one of the most powerful solutions in terms of performance, flexibility, cost savings and sustainability in PET bottling. This modular system was designed to challenge the conventions of PET production and to meet producers needs. The system includes blowers, fillers, the Sidel Matrix Combi and labellers and can match virtually any configuration customers want, with a higher level of performance and a lower environmental footprint. Another innovation is the new portfolio of Sidel Services, which adds more value to installed equipment, beverage products and producers bottom lines.
Eric Schaffner, Sidels managing director for Japan and regional commercial director for Japan and Korea, says, The markets we serve are challenging so we have to ensure that the solutions we provide meet the specific demands of our customers. We know that we can learn so much more about those demands by being close to our customers and we have learnt a lot over the last 10 years. Japan often leads the way in packaging technology, adopting innovations which eventually filter through to Western applications. This anniversary is an important milestone for us and provides an excellent platform from which to continue to develop and explore the considerable opportunities that Japan and the surrounding regions present for innovative PET packaging solutions.
