SIG CEO: China’s changing consumer habits represent huge opportunity for aseptic carton packaging

19 Aug 2021 --- SIG has revealed that its second state-of-the-art production plant for aseptic carton packaging in China is now up and running. The Swiss aseptic systems and solutions provider has identified Asia Pacific as a major growth region for food and beverage carton packaging. 

“Across Asia, millions of people are only now starting to consume packaged food and beverages. The rise of new consumers, driven by increasing income, changing lifestyles and new consumption habits, represents a huge opportunity for aseptic carton packaging with its long shelf life without the need of a cooling chain,” SIG CEO Samuel Sigrist tells PackagingInsights.

“At the same time, young and growing populations are adopting modern lifestyles in urban areas, with more on-the-go consumption, an increasing awareness of health and wellness, and a growing demand for high-quality nutritional food and beverage products.”

“The food and beverage market in Asia has seen continuous growth and is expected to continue on that path. Our new production plant will ensure we continue to excel at bringing new and exciting product and packaging concepts to market, quickly and efficiently.”

China expansion amid COVID-19
The new plant is located close to SIG’s existing production facility at the Suzhou Industrial Park, enabling shared resources for both production and operations.

The new facility is also close to SIG’s Asia Pacific Tech Center, with industry-leading innovation capabilities bringing a flow of new concepts and solutions to SIG customers. Having the Tech Centre nearby ensures SIG can keep pace with and anticipate new trends, the company says.

Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, the large-scale project has been successfully implemented, once again demonstrating SIG’s ongoing commitment to engineering excellence and sustainability leadership.Sig’s new plant has been designed with the “lowest possible” carbon emissions and classical Chinese gardens.

“We implemented rigorous precautionary measures at all our plants globally, with the result that they were able to continue operating throughout 2020 until now,” Sigrist tells PackagingInsights.

“The crisis highlighted the resilience of our localized supply chains in each region, and we were able to maintain a high level of customer service.”

Eight billion carton packs
By 2024, the new plant will cover 120,000 square meters and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 8 billion carton packs. It has been designed and built to have the “lowest possible” carbon emissions, with an artistic combination of classical Chinese gardens and modern elements.

Photovoltaic panels on the roofs can provide 1.5 million kWh of solar energy, while collected rainwater is also reused after treatment to save around 28,000 metric tons of tap water annually.

In addition to energy-saving lighting devices, special lighting systems are installed to significantly reduce electricity consumption.

Environmental certification
The new plant’s best-in-class environmental, safety and operation performance has already been recognized with a prestigious international industry certification: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certification for building design and construction.

LEED is a green building certification program created by the US Green Building Council and used worldwide. SIG’s new packaging plant was the first plant in China’s aseptic packaging industry to be built in strict accordance with the LEED gold certification standard.The new plant is located close to SIG’s Suzhou Industrial Park facility, enabling shared resources for production and operations.

The plant’s smart manufacturing system covers extrusion, printing, creasing, cutting and sealing.

Strengthened position in China
Sigrist explains the production network expansion will enable SIG to strengthen its position in the growing Chinese market and respond more quickly to customer demands for holistic food and beverage packaging solutions.

“SIG has built up a strong customer base across the Asia Pacific region, providing outstanding innovation capability and end-to-end solutions for differentiated products, smarter factories and connected packs. Our close partnership with the two largest Chinese dairies and other food and beverage companies will continue to grow and develop,” concludes Sigrist.

In related news, Nestlé Vietnam recently adopted SIG’s QR code closure solution called “One Cap, One Code” to connect with Gen Z consumers via its Nestlé Milo Teen Protein drinks.

By scanning a QR code inside the caps from SIG’s combismile carton packs, users can collect reward points to redeem awards online via the Vietnamese messaging application Zalo – cited as the third most-used app by Gen Z.

By Joshua Poole