With the new expansion of the Technology Centre Asia-Pacific (TCAP), SIG has reinforced its commitment to deliver an innovation base for the food and beverage value chain. The two brand new buildings, situated in Suzhou, China have increased the total build-up area from 17,450sqm to 21,860sqm.
The expansion will enhance SIG TCAP’s technological innovation capability and accelerate business growth.
Lidong Fan, president and general manager, Asia-Pacific North at SIG, said: “As the innovation engine of SIG in Asia Pacific, the expansion and upgrading of the technology centre has once again set a new milestone for SIG’s development in China. The expanded and upgraded facility will further accelerate SIG’s sustainable business growth in Asia Pacific.”
The brand-new expansion in Building Three simulates the customer’s real production environment and is equipped with Class 100,000 clean rooms. This includes the new R&D filling and testing area with seven filling machine stations, covering aseptic and chilled filling equipment, which will provide in-house SV3 (system validation) capability.
The conversion of the former pilot plant in Building One into a filling machine prototype development and testing facility will strengthen SIG’s R&D capabilities for equipment in the Asia Pacific region, enabling it to continuously develop new products with customers to meet market needs.
Angela Lu, President and General Manager, Asia Pacific South at SIG, said: “The expansion and upgrading of the technology center allows SIG to continue accelerating the pace of innovation. With core technology support from the TCAP, we will become the industry leader in developing the next generation of innovative and sustainable packaging solutions for our customers in the region.”
Since its establishment in 2018, TCAP has been instrumental in the development of a series of innovative products, such as aseptic packaging without an aluminum layer and the development of chilled technology, including high-speed filling machines, one-step opening, local carton conversion and optimisation of existing filling equipment in the market.
Julie Liu, associate director of technical services, TCAP at SIG, said: “Remarkably, it took just one year from the start of the construction to the opening of the new building. The success of the expansion was made possible by the strong support of the SIG management team, as well as the close and efficient collaboration with the government relations and procurement departments, which demonstrated the importance and value of teamwork.”
