Dai Nippon Printing And SIG Combibloc To Collaborate In Japan

Tokyo-headquartered Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) and SIG Combibloc, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cartons for food and beverages, have reached an agreement to collaborate in the food and beverage carton business for the Japanese market.

Background to the partnership
In Japan, cartons for beverage use come in only two major formats – a gable top type and a brick type – with resulting limited scope for product differentiation. Since 1978, DNP has developed and marketed cartons for use with soft drinks and alcoholic products, along with filling systems. Alcoholic beverage cartons and their filling systems have captured high sales shares, and DNP’s aseptic filling system, such as for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles has been adopted by many food and beverage manufacturers.

SIG Combibloc was the first manufacturer of carton packs to introduce a beverage carton in Europe and for more than 40 years has been a powerful player in the market for aseptic carton packs for beverage and food products.

SIG Combibloc offers a unique range of carton packs and openings, as well as carton packaging solutions for products containing particulates. It was the first company to introduce an aseptic carton pack system in Europe. Today, the portfolio of different shapes, volumes and opening solutions offer more than 300 packaging options, including some of the most innovative formats in the market such as the combidome carton bottle and combifit.

This variety of carton packs, and notably the ability to fill products containing particulates such as fruit, will offer new value to the Japanese consumer. 

The partners aim to capitalise on their strengths and track records to expand business in Japan through sales of SIG Combibloc’s carton packaging for food and beverages, along with the SIG Combibloc filling system. The objective is to rejuvenate carton packaging as one of the most eco-friendly packaging solution in the market.

Technology features
The flexible filling technology from SIG Combibloc makes it possible to fill beverages containing pieces of fruit or vegetables, cereal grains or jelly pearls. The drinksplus solution allows for product premiumisation and adding real nutritional value to beverages. In other Asian markets such as China and Korea, drinksplus beverages have been well received and continue to grow in market share.

Aseptic filling of beverages and foods with particulate content into carton packs is based on SIG Combibloc's unique filling technology. SIG Combibloc filling machines can produce up to 24,000 packs per hour – a world-class speed – with low system costs and consistently low wastage rates. They enable food and beverage manufacturers to keep production extremely flexible and cost-effective.

SIG Combibloc Group
In 2015, SIG Combibloc sold about 31 billion carton packs to customers in the dairy, non-carbonated soft drinks and food sector. SIG Combibloc achieved a turnover of 1,720 million Euro with around 5,000 employees in more than 40 countries. Across the globe, products are filled in carton packs on more than 1,100 SIG Combibloc filling machines. Globally, customers fill more than 10,000 different products from more than 50 product categories in carton packs from SIG.

Looking ahead
In June 2016, the partners commenced preparations to target sales and business promotion activities in Japan. It is planned to launch sales in spring 2017.

Source: SIG Combibloc