Important addition to SIG’s manufacturing footprint in India

SIG, a leading packaging solutions provider, announces the opening of a second production plant in Palghar, India. The plant will specialize in production of SIG’s bag-in-box and spouted pouch packaging, previously marketed under Scholle IPN and Bossar.

The new production plant, located 90 km north of Mumbai and a short drive from SIG’s first plant in Palghar, houses production assets used to manufacture components and finished packaging, including blown film extruders, injection molding cells, bag-in-box manufacturing machines, and a mold-making facility for packaging fitments and closures for both bag-in-box and spouted pouches.

Samuel Sigrist, CEO of SIG: “The Indian market is a key growth market for SIG. Our expertise in aseptic packaging and our ability to provide sustainable solutions that benefit customers, consumers and the environment are making a difference and increasingly becoming the focus of food and beverage manufacturers in India.”

Ross Bushnell, President of SIG’s bag-in-box and spouted pouch business: “We’re making an important statement. 15,000 m² of vertically integrated production capacity puts us in a winning position for the Indian market in aseptic processed fruits, beverage concentrates, fruit puree, and aseptic dairy for foodservice channels. I am excited to see our India team embrace the challenge of growing rapidly in this very strategic market and I am confident that we have the tools in place to fully enable a locally produced solution for both our India customers and throughout the South Asia region.”

“The second production plant in Palghar is an important addition to our manufacturing footprint in India,” said Dhandutt Shah, Managing Director India for SIG’s bag-in-box and spouted pouch business. “Combined with our existing plants in Palghar, where packaging material for bag-in-box and spouted pouch are manufactured, and Pune, where Horizontal Form-Fill-Seal Machine (HFFS) equipment is built, we will offer “Total Packaging Solutions” ensuring SIG offers to the market a significant differentiator by offering finished packaging in-country. At-scale, we will have around 150 new production and engineering professionals working in the new plant, all dedicated to one thing: providing better packaging solutions for our customers.”

SIG’s new plant in Palghar will be fully commissioned by the end of April.

For more information please visit the bag-in-box and spouted pouch website at www.scholleipn.com.

SIG’s second state-of-the-art production plant for aseptic carton packaging in China is now up and running. 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.

The new plant is located close to SIG’s existing production facility at the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), which allows for shared resources in both production and operations. The new facility is also close to SIG’s Asia Pacific Tech Center, with industry-leading innovation capabilities that bring 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.

Samuel Sigrist, CEO of SIG: “The Asia Pacific region continues to be one of the major growth engines for aseptic carton packaging. The expansion of our production network will enable us to further strengthen our position in the growing Chinese market. It also means we can respond more quickly to the needs of our customers to provide holistic solutions to the food and beverage industry.”

By building a second production plant in China, SIG is committed to serving the Chinese market by providing high-quality products and services to customers across the Asia Pacific region. The entire production process in the new plant is managed intelligently, which significantly improves operational and production efficiency. The smart manufacturing system covers extrusion, printing, creasing, cutting and sealing.

Samuel Sigrist continues: “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.”

By 2024, the new plant will cover an area of 120,000 square metres 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 garden and modern elements. Photovoltaic panels on the roofs can provide 1.5 million kWh of solar energy and collected rainwater is also reused after treatment to save around 28,000 tonnes of tap water per annum. In addition to energy-saving lighting devices, special lighting systems are installed to significantly reduce electricity consumption.

The new plant’s best-in-class environmental, safety and operation performance has already been recognised 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 programme created by the U.S. Green Building Council which is 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.

Please watch how SIG is expanding its presence in Asia Pacific.