PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2021

BOTTLING / FILLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 01+02/21 www.petpla.net 36 Reunion with a leading conversion and bottling company by Kay Barton It has been four years since we had an in-depth meeting with Keith Dai, Chairman of Taiwan Hon Chuan (THC), in Taichung, Taiwan in August 2016 (PETplanet Insider, Vol. 17, No. 10/16). The conversion giant and OEM bottler with 39 local and international plants and a company value of US$ 430m gave us a detailed insight into the company’s organisational structure and business activities. We visited one of its two local bottling plants next to THC’s headquarters with its integrated packaging museum which at that time was dealing exclusively with aseptic filling. With this year’s road show coming to Taiwan, we took the opportunity to follow up our initial visit and find out what THC has been up to since 2016. South-East Asia has been consider- able during the last four years with the addition of seven production facili- ties. Brand new factories have been established in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, specialising in the pro- duction of drinks and food packag- ing, as well as bottling. And there will also be a new plant in the Philippines in future. A new aseptic filling plant was opened in Taiwan and further expansions are planned. The com- pany’s production area has increased from 738,000m 2 to 888,134m 2 and its value grown from US$ 430 million to US$ 540 million. THC achieved a 30% increase in turnover to US$ 727 million in 2019 compared to the 2016 figure of around US$ 550 million. Mr Dai explained: “We are con- stantly developing new products, for example in the closure sector. During PETplanet’s last visit, we talked about product visibility and interactive appli- cations for end users. We had just developed the integrated QR code for closures which is now widely used on the Chinese mainland. As well as further work on this product, we have also produced holographic 3D alumin- ium and twin-coloured caps. We are also working on new barrier options for our packaging to make it more environmentally-friendly, depending on what the customer wants”. The use of rPET is particularly relevant here. Aseptic filling line in action “We have started to use rPET in some countries but respective regula- tions, especially in South-East Asia, often slow down further progress given rPET is still prohibited for use in food packaging”. Along with Taiwan and China, the THC group currently recycles around 300,000 t of PET and 80,000-100,000 t of PE. THC has also expanded capacity at its local Taichung plant by adding e.g. new injection-moulding, compres- Tour Sponsors: Chairman Keith Dai’s office with a view Taiwan Hon Chuan Enterprise Company Ltd. May 29, 2020 We met Mr Keith Dai, Chairman And there is much to report, with THC having steadily expanded its business both in Taiwan and on main- land China. Among other things, the company has now added food and dairy products to its business portfolio. Automation and exchange of informa- tion within THC’s many departments have been enhanced and internal processes streamlined. There have been other developments, particu- larly in relation to procedures, quality and food safety management issues. Shortly after our initial visit, a factory was established in Mozambique at the company’s first African location to pro- duce plastic caps, preforms and PET bottles. A joint enterprise with bottled water manufacturer “Saida” in Algeria is currently in the pipeline. Although one factory has closed in mainland China, THC’s expansion in