Bangkok is ready to go! The packaging machine manufacturer SOMIC opened its new hub in Bangkok, Thailand, with a grand opening. The company is consistently developing its global presence with this sales and service location. After entering the US market with its subsidiary in the USA in 2014, SOMIC is continuing its expansion towards the Asian markets with the new subsidiary SOMIC Packaging Asia Pacific.

The impressive event with a comprehensive program - including live operation of the new SOMIC 434 packaging machine and the presentation of the new CORAS collating and grouping system via a live link to Amerang in Germany - offered guests a deep insight into the philosophy of the German packaging machine specialists.

Good starting situation in Thailand

In addition to the high-ranking guests from 13 countries, Patrick Bonetsmüller, chairman of the SOMIC Group, and Dr. Gerhard Huber, chief executive officer of the SOMIC Group, also welcomed Hans-Ulrich Südbeck, Head of the Economic Department of the German Embassy in Bangkok. He was delighted that another German company from Thailand would now operate in Asia. Lukasz Myszkowski, managing director of Sales SOMIC APAC, briefly outlined the background to the decision, "Foreign investors find Thailand an excellent location and operate in a stable and mature economic environment. In addition, the Thai government's economic development plan shows the country's clear orientation towards digitalization and IoT." In addition to these factors, there is also the availability of well-trained specialists in Thailand, which is essential for developing activities in Asia.

High market potential for shelf-ready packaging

SOMIC is one of the world's leading companies for shelf-ready packaging machines and offers users in the food and non-food industry in Asia a customized and future-proof concept for packaging products in one-piece or two-piece cardboard packaging. In particular, the development away from traditional RSC cartons towards wraparound cartons opens up new opportunities for these markets. It offers new display options and simplifies the presentation of goods on the shelf. During the grand opening, guests could learn more about the SOMIC 434, the latest generation of packaging machine. In the demo operation, the machine experts showed the high flexibility and performance of the modular platform concept for a wide variety of packaging.

A great emotional moment

A live broadcast to the company headquarters in Amerang demonstrated the team spirit at SOMIC. Almost all employees gathered there to send their greetings live from Germany to Thailand and showed appreciation to the guests on-site in Bangkok. From Amerang, around 100 guests were offered a live demonstration of the CORAS system set up at the headquarters in Germany. This glimpse into the future of collating and grouping systems is based on Planar technology, which offers new options for grouping products before packaging.

In this demo version, 60 product packs per minute are fed into the sorting system from each of four independent upstream packaging machines for a total output of 240 packs per minute. This new collating system is based on carriers which, with the help of Planar technology, enable a freely definable 360° orientation of the products before they are handed over to the packaging machine. The guests received comprehensive information from Dr. Xiaodong Lu, President of Planar Motors Inc. The trustful cooperation was particularly emphasized, "The most beautiful application of our new technology is the SOMIC CORAS system. When SOMIC approached us, nobody knew much about Planar Motors Inc. Nevertheless, SOMIC dared to trust a partner 10,000 km away. Although we couldn't meet in person because of COVID-19, a very successful partnership was born. SOMIC CORAS was presented at Interpack 2023 and was the most impressive machine at the show."

Market development starts

Lothar Barth, director of International Sales at SOMIC, looks forward with great confidence to the following activities. "We are at the right place at the right time. The market here in Asia is very dynamic, and our first task will be to familiarize customers with SOMIC machines and demonstrate their potential. With the new subsidiary here in Bangkok, we can present technology, showcase potential solutions, and demonstrate the quality of our machines."