Page 93 - Food&Drink magazine November-December 2022

7 ■ NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 MACHINERY MATTERS
Multivac expands Qld sales and logistics facility
Multivac is responding to the rapidly rising demand for packaging machinery and materials in Australia, with the significant expansion of its sales and logistics capacity in Queensland.
Global packaging solutions supplier Multivac has been represented for 14 years in Australia, and it has its headquarters in Melbourne as well as subsidiaries in Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales. The Queensland subsidiary recently reached the limits of its capacity for the fourth time, prompting the decision to move.
The company’s stated aim is to have greater market penetration, faster reaction times to the changing needs in the packaging sector, and rapid supplies to customers on the ground.
In order to remain flexible and have the
new premises available as quickly as possible, Multivac says the decision was made to lease premises, rather than to build.
The newly leased building complex, the Yatala Building, is ideally located close to the M1 motorway, which connects the Gold Coast to Brisbane.
Providing an area of 1200m2, the new location offers three times as much space as the previous complex, and the storage capacity has been increased from 93 to 520 pallet places – space enough to store spare parts for packaging machines and other modules, and to stock a wide variety of films and other packaging materials.
“Here, we are in the heartland of Australian cattle farming and beef processing, which means for us, a quick route to our most important customers,”
said Andrew Hutchison, managing director at Multivac Australia.
The sales and logistics activity has been running at high speed since February, to service the growing requirement for sustainable packaging solutions in the Australian market.
“The targets set by the Australian
government means that by 2025, 100 per cent of all packaging in the country must be reusable, compostable or recyclable,” Christian Traumann, group president of Multivac, explained.
“In addition to this, the increasing awareness by consumers of material- efficient and recyclable packaging concepts, as well as the demand for solutions from renewable resources, such as cardboard and other paper fibre-based materials, are fuelling growth on the continent enormously.”
With its comprehensive range of PaperBoard materials, Traumann said that Multivac is well-placed to meet this demand.
He added that the company’s paper fibre-based packaging concepts are “precisely in tune with the spirit of the times”, and they can be run without problems on Multivac’s thermoforming packaging machines and traysealers.
Andrew Hutchison sees another growth market in the area of sausage processing, since there are many small butcher’s businesses in the coastal region of Queensland, which process 500 kilos or more of sausages per week.
“Here we are well able to serve the demand in the market for efficient and cost-effective automation solutions – especially for example with our sausage centrifuge and other handling modules for these products. And there is also further potential in the chamber machine sector for packing fresh meat and convenience products such as meat balls or burgers.”
HMPS buys ADDE IP as company closes doors
Packaging machinery OEM HMPS has purchased the IP of Andrew Donald Design Engineering (ADDE) as the automation designer shuts up shop.
Automation systems designer and manufacturer ADDE has been operating in the Australian packaging industry for close on 27 years. Owner and director Barry Hendy announced in November the company will be ceasing operations and proceeding to appoint a liquidator. In the meantime, a deal has been struck with HMPS, which has purchased the company’s IP and will continue to service ADDE’s existing client base.
HMPS CEO Mark Emmett said, “HMPS has purchased the
ADDE IP so that we can support their customers, who have been part of the business over the last 27 years, with spare parts and service going forward.”
Emmett said HMPS has admired ADDE for a long time. “ADDE has worked on some incredibly interesting projects with great companies. Their people have always been well regarded and highly skilled.
“I have always felt our businesses were well aligned in terms of our expertise on robotics, automation, and vision systems. This is a great way to pick up the work that ADDE has started and continue their legacy. We want to help those customers they have been working with to continue their
automation journeys and further grow their businesses.” ADDE customers can expect
uninterrupted service and supply. Customer service will be run from HMPS’s new National Service Office in Heidelberg, Victoria, which is headed up by Samantha Saunders, HMPS general manager Service.
“We have service teams and spare parts on the ground which will give customers a seamless transition,” Emmett said. “Our teams work nationally so customers across Australia can be taken care of.”
Emmett says HMPS is in active discussion with ADDE staff and welcomes any employees who want to join the HMPS team.
“We have the expertise to understand that IP and support the customers,” he said. “HMPS has a well-equipped team of engineers and service technicians and I am confident that we have the skills and understanding to service even the most complex application.”
The deal is effective from 14 November.
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