Great leap forward for equipment maker

RACKING up a hundred orders for blow moulders, fillers and conveyors in less than two years of operations is a feat for Sidel's Beijing multi-product facility. Speaking to FPMJ, vice president-Greater China JAMES CHEN explains this unprecedented achievement and the challenges that come with such success. How does the Beijing plant compare with other Sidel facilities worldwide? I can tell you that in many ways our facility is far better than even some in the European Union. Like other Sidel plants, we are a lean enterprise but we are also the only one in the Group's global industrial base that is a multi-product facility that can assemble all equipment found on a complete line, from blow moulding to palletisation. We're also the only one that produces SBO Compact linear blowers, designed and developed in Malaysia and perfected in China primarily for lower speed lines and edible oil applications for sizes up to 10L bottles. We also have a sophisticated intellectual property system that is implemented across the Group's industrial base. This means, for instance, that we are vigilant about who has access to our technical drawings and we carefully plan and divide our sourcing arrangements. At the same time, we cultivate relationships with our key suppliers in China to support our IPS programme. Our IT system is also the latest available and we have the highest version of SAP, which makes our facility one of the most efficient if not the most efficient in the Group. Are all the equipment manufactured in the Beijing facility for the China market? Of the 100 pieces of equipment we've sold since 2008 when we inaugurated the plant, 85% have been for the China market whilst the rest have been for beverage companies in other Asian countries. Apart from more attractive prices, what other benefits can customers gain from acquiring equipment from Sidel China? Cost reduction is not the only goal for coming to China - either for Sidel or for the customer. It's about stressing sustainability and efficiency. It's about being able to offer the beverage industry a choice: something in between what they could import from Europe or the USA and is available locally. Everyone can make equipment but what differentiates us is that we never compromise on the quality and service for equipment and systems. Our product care is customised and localised, and we encourage our customers to participate in FAT (Factory Acceptance Tests) so they can be directly engaged in the process and resolve any issues that arise before the product is installed. Being able to test the equipment in real time is a great advantage for our customers. Would you say that the plant's growth exceeded Sidel's initial projections? Did you anticipate this level of growth in such a short time? The volume of business has been as forecast, but the variety and complexity of projects is not something that we anticipated. China has so much pent-up demand and the market requirement means our localisation programme is ramping up faster than we anticipated and our learning curve has been shorter than we had planned. Recently, an international brewer has even commissioned Sidel Beijing for an engineering, integration and installation project, with most of the equipment coming from China - not all from Sidel - and key critical equipment from the EU. What would explain this 'pent-up demand'? In the last two years, the rate of modernisation has been tremendous and the demand is now coming from the so-called second and third tier cities in China. In part, this has been due to the government's role in liberalising investments in these areas. To some extent, however, this demand is because the market is not only huge but also because it's so varied. China is the size of a continent, so manufacturers have to serve a variety of markets. They not only have to thiJunior