SIG signs for Gulf Pack

Organised by Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd, Gulf Pack '04 is set to achieve similar standards of excellence gained by the company's flagship events such as the Dubai Airshow and the recent Qatar Sports International.

Testament to this is the substantial interest reflected by the international sector with the latest example coming from global beverage carton leaders, SIG. Add to this the recent recognition given by the World Packaging Organisation and Asian Packaging Federation and it's understandable why Gulf Pack's Project Manager, Ms Sharla Hancock, says "this puts the show on a truly international platform, the event is unique in the Middle East and visitors will be able to meet with some of the best operators in the industry."

Commenting on SIG's participation at Gulf Pack, Marketing Director Nicolai P. Meyendorff explained that the company has enjoyed considerable success since the formation of a joint venture between SIG Combibloc and Obeikan Investment Group in 2001. "Prior to that SIG Combibloc was selling directly to the region from Germany, but it was very small scale." In the meantime they have established a substantial client base in the region of major food, dairy and drinks companies including KDD, KDC, ABC (Kuwait), ONDP (Oman), Yemen Dairy Gulf Union, Nadec (KSA), Centrale Laitiere, Copaq (Morrocco), Ghandour (Lebanon).

We can expect to see a variety of new innovations from SIG at Gulf Pack including plans for their new Combifit and Combishape cartons. Meyendorf said "we expect to launch these within the next two years or so in the region."

SIG set up in Germany in 1878 and in the past 126 years have established a massive international business with an annual turnover of Euro 1.058 billion in 2003, substantial year on year growth at 12.5% and a total workforce of 3,900. All of these vital statistics bode well for their regional customers as SIG have an established and growing network of service engineers. " In terms of technical service we have about 40 service engineers located mostly in the markets where we have local offices such as Casablance, Tunis, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, Tripoli, Cairo, Beirut, Tehran and Lahore and Nairobi."

Training is another central feature of SIG's enterprise in the region with programmes conducted at training centres in Thailand and Germany. "We also conduct on site training of customers locally through our own service engineers. By 2005 we will have a R&D and training centre established in Riyadh where training will be made and can be undertaken in 5 languages."

SIG will be able to demonstrate part of their training process at Gulf Pack's seminar programme. Apart from reviewing their existing product lines and applications, Meyendorf confirmed that SIG will present some of their latest innovations that recently have been launch internationally and provide an insight to others that the company are planning.