EDITOUR PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 04/24 www.petpla.net 14 Manufacturer from Thailand reaches for the stars Packaging with passion from Sharjah by Kay Barton When talking about the packaging market in Asia, it is impossible to ignore the listed company Thai Plaspac (TPAC), Asia’s fastest growing packaging company. The manufacturer of predominantly food and pharmaceutical packaging (focused on rigid mono-material packaging formats) is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. December 14, 2023 Interview with Sun Packaging Systems FZC We met: Mr Nimit Bhatia, CEO UAE, CEO Malaysia, and India export business Today it boasts 16 world class production facilities, four of which are in Thailand, nine in India, one in Malaysia and two in the UAE. A 17th plant will soon be added, which is currently under construction in the Philippines. The Group uses technologies from Sidel, Netstal, ASB, Husky, Arburg and Sumitomo Demag, among others. Its customer base comprises over 1,500 companies, including almost all the well-known multinational brands. TPAC employs around 3,000 people and exports to ~ 50+ countries. Back in 2019, we visited the TPAC plant Sunrise Containers in Mumbai as part of the India Road Show (see PETplanet 10/2019, pages 30-31) and learned a lot of interesting facts about the company. Since then, the company has grown and evolved considerably. We spoke to the CEO responsible for the UAE and Malaysia business, Mr Nimit Bhatia, at the Sharjah site, about what this means in concrete terms for activities in the MENA region. Sun Packaging Systems (SPS) was founded in 2004 by three individuals and has plants located in Sharjah Airport International Free Zone. Nimit Bhatia, now CEO of SPS, has been with the company since inception i.e. 2004, when he joined as Business Development Manager. The passionate 40-yearold and father of two was born in Bahrain and grew up in Dubai after his family emigrated here from India. He attended Indian High School Dubai, later completed his bachelor’s degree at Indiana Bloomington University, USA, eventually returning to Dubai, starting his career where we visited him today, 19 years later. “Unlike probably most managers in this industry, I only learned the packaging business and all the technical details when I was on board at Sun Packaging, strongly believing that practical experience is the most effective way to learn. In addition to guidance from my father, I am fortunate to have a mentor (Mr K L Mundhra) who has played a significant role as a father figure, imparting valuable lessons in integrity and business complexities. These teachings have been instrumental in shaping my journey to where I stand today”, explained Nimit Bhatia. “Over time, we wanted to expand our fields of activity beyond food and also gain a foothold in other applications,” says Mr Bhatia. “Around 2009, we started single-stage production. Our sales target was the Gulf Cooperation Council states.” Additional storage space became necessary and so the company built a warehouse nearby in 2012. In 2019, SPS agreed a share sale with TPAC, which was aiming to expand its market presence in the Middle East. With this partnership, and now stronger backing and commitment behind Mr Nimit, a new bolder more aggressive vision was set out for the company. Today, Sun Packaging Systems employs 200+ people from six nationalities and uses state-of-theart technologies with a no compromise philosophy when choosing vendor partners. SPS provides various packaging solutions such as injection stretch blow moulding, extrusion blow moulding, PET preforms and injection moulding to cater for the needs of customers. SPS offers an extensive range of common mould portfolio (500+ products), keeping in mind market demands and serving global customer requirements. TPAC Group has a world class R&D team which co-create products with its customers (help with curating of packaging from birth to delivery of final product) for any of their specifications. Within the group, more than ten people are involved in R&D,” explained Mr Bhatia. These custom-made designs account for around 40% of the SPS local business. “Our mindset and our curiosity are also important for our success, we are a young, creative team and what that means is reflected in the figures: from 2019 to 2022, the company doubled its capacity thanks to customer loyalty and growth,” continued Mr Bhatia. EDITOUR CEO Nimit Bhatia shows the new jar series made of 100% rPET Pooja inauguration ceremony of a brand new Nissei ASB 12M machine with (f.r.t.l.) Nimit Bhatia, Kay Barton and employees
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