Tetra Pak’s acquisition of New Zealand bulk powder packaging specialist Sealing Technology (PKN, June 2012, p.6) has boosted the company's capabilities in the bulk dairy products sector at a time it is forecasting unprecedented growth opportunities from rising world dairy consumption.
The acquisition, announced in April, coincided with the release of the company’s annual Dairy Index, which identified 2.7 billion consumers in developing countries as the dairy industry’s next big growth opportunity.
Sealing Technology, based in Auckland’s North Shore industrial precinct, is a manufacturer of post-gassing and heat sealing technology for bulk powder packaging.
It was established in 1998 by Kazik Jasica, a 20-year veteran of the New Zealand packaging industry.
With a customer base across the global dairy industry, particularly those involved in the processing and packing of milk powders, the company manufactures a wide range of heat sealers and gassing equipment for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP).
The technology removes oxygen from the packed powder and preserves it, thus increasing its shelf life. It markets this as a cost-effective solution as it uses less modified atmosphere gas than traditional methods.
“We have a reputation in the Dairy Industry for our innovative approach to packaging, continually keeping abreast of world trends and developments and reflecting them in our products,” Jasica says.
“Our range of equipment covers filling, gassing and heat-sealing of bulk bags from 10kg to 1000kg capacity.
“We can tailor our standard machines with the configuration options to best suit our customers’ applications, using the best technological solutions in our product design.”
Tetra Pak will now use the New Zealand company’s equipment as Tetra Pak standard plant for new installations, or as a retrofittable version for its existing lines.
Tetra Pak Oceania’s key account manager materials handling, Ivan Marovic, says the company has had long experience with the Sealing Technology equipment.
“We have used Sealing Technology’s solutions on a number of projects, and the acquisition will allow us to utilise the post-gassing cycle in Tetra Pak powder handling projects,” he says.
“As a supplier of post-gassing technology, Tetra Pak will implement this technology as part of its bulk bag packing solutions for dairy, food and ingredient powders.”
Such equipment will strengthen Tetra Pak’s hand in the global dairy market, a sector it expects to see achieve considerable growth in coming years.
It’s recent Fifth Annual Dairy Index, for example, predicts that consumption of dairy products by low-income consumers in developing markets is forecast to increase from about 70 billion litres in 2011 to almost 80 billion litres in 2014.
Tetra Pak’s Dairy Index tracks worldwide facts, figures and trends in the global dairy industry.
“Low-income consumers represent one of the biggest growth opportunities for the dairy industry,” Tetra Pak president and CEO, Dennis Jönsson, says of the recent reports findings.
“The key to tomorrow’s success is reaching these consumers today. They make up almost 40 per cent of the world’s population and live in economies driving our industry’s growth and they are growing more affluent.”
“Today’s low-income consumers are tomorrow’s middle class, this is a golden opportunity for dairy processors.”
Jönsson says that innovation and efficiency will be vital in helping the industry to develop products, packaging and processing to meet the needs of these low-income consumers.
“We must develop products differently, distribute them differently and sell them differently to extend the availability of good nutrition in developing countries,” he says.
