Page 56 - Food & Drink Magazine Sep-Oct 2020

MEMBER NEWS
The KHS Group is to acquire a stake in engineering company Ferrum in a move that the companies say would intensify their longstanding co-operation.
Pending approval from antitrust authorities, the tie-up would bundle the competencies of both machine- engineering companies to form a common system portfolio to provide customers with integrated systems.
Ferrum Packaging AG was founded as a subsidiary of Ferrum and incorporates Ferrum’s entire worldwide can seaming business. KHS will be acquiring minority ownership in Ferrum. At the same time, Ferrum Packaging Inc., the US subsidiary of Ferrum Packaging AG, will be taking over KHS’ can-seaming business together with its employees and will be integrating it into the joint offer.
FOODMACH LAUNCHES NEW FINANCING OPTION
KHS CFO in charge of purchasing Martin Resch said KHS values Ferrum’s innovative machine technology and its expertise based on many years of experience.
“Ferrum is the worldwide well-known manufacturer of can seamers,” he said.
“Combined with our future-oriented solutions in the field of filling and packaging technology, we form an effective union that is valued highly in the market.”
To date, the KHS Group has offered tried and tested Ferrum can seamers only as accessory components for its canning lines. Effective immediately, work in close co-operation will begin on developing even more efficient systems including a filler-seamer block.
JET TECHNOLOGIES TO DISTRIBUTE ESKO RANGE Jet Technologies has teamed up with global provider of software and hardware printing and packaging solutions Esko to deliver Esko’s product range to businesses in Australia and New Zealand.
With its experience and expertise in the printing and packaging industries and working alongside the Esko team of engineers, Jet Technologies will help lead the distribution and support of the complete Esko range to expand its availability to Australia and New Zealand.
Among the Esko solutions are the Crystal flexo CTP systems, which will work with the Asahi plate distributed by Jet.
“This new partnership enables Jet Technologies to strengthen our ecosystem and deliver innovative solutions that address specific pain points and meet the ever- changing needs of our customers across the region,” Jack Malki, director of Jet Technologies, said.
KHS TO ACQUIRE STAKE IN FERRUM PACKAGING
Packaging automation manufacturer and integrator Foodmach has introduced a new way to finance packaging line machines. Foodmach FLEX allows manufacturers to pay only for the output of the equipment, not the equipment itself.
FLEX is a machinery-as-a-service (MaaS) arrangement, whereby the user only pays for the desired result of the machine’s function.
Foodmach director Phil Biggs said: “FMCG manufacturers don’t really want to buy, say, a case packer or a filler or a stretch wrapper. What they actually need is a packed case – or a filled bottle, or a wrapped pallet. A machinery-as-a-service model allows FMCG manufacturers to buy what they want in the first place, which is output of in-spec products.”
The MaaS financing model is predominantly used by makers of office equipment, medical devices and jet engines. Data capture is integral to
its success. The rise of IoT technologies such as blockchain and cloud-based computing makes its use in factory settings possible.
Foodmach CEO Earle Roberts said: “It takes expertise in line integration and data capture to set the reporting system up effectively. We’re able to offer MaaS with confidence due to our controls team’s strength and experience in i4.0 factory integration.”
FLEX finance is available for Foodmach’s palletisers, depalletisers, fillers, case packers, stretch wrappers and automated and autonomous guided vehicles.
The arrangement is based on contractual performance targets and terms which are negotiated upfront and stored in a cloud-based and secure environment. Equipment is either custom- designed and manufactured or – in the case of third party OEMs, supplied – with the usual start-up support, training and spare parts.
4 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2020 MACHINERY MATTERS