The company has installed two filling machines at its $69m Muribeca factory for its ‘Sabe’ and ‘Sabidinho’ branded products in aseptic carton packs from SIG Combibloc. The machines started production in March.
Fast and efficient
Albergio de Lima, executive director, Sabe Alimentos told FoodProductionDaily this is the first time it has partnered with SIG Combibloc and the flexibility of the filling system makes it easy to develop and launch new products fast and efficiently.
“The Brazilian market is very dynamic. As a dairy company, Sabe has to react very flexibly to the requirements of the market, and at the same time to operate profitably,” he said.
Ricardo Rodriguez, head of cluster South America, SIG Combibloc added the environmental performance of a package is an important criterion for any product that hopes to survive in a competitive environment.
“In this respect, carton packs lead the way, as they are among the most environmentally friendly packaging forms there is for long-life foods,” he said.
He added as a dairy company, you have to be able to react very flexibly to the requirements of the market, and at the same time you need to operate profitably.
“Especially in view of changing trends and dynamic consumer behaviour, aspects such as consistently high product quality, modern design and market-oriented flexibility play a key role,” said Rodriguez.
“The filling machine system from SIG Combibloc offers low overall system costs, flexible carton filling options, high performance and low wastage rates.
Long-life packaging
“Brazil is the main market for long life products in South America and second in the world after China. According to Canadean research institute, in 2013, more than 14bn units of long-life packaging were sold in Brazil.
“The expectation is that, by 2018, this number exceeds the 20bn - an increase of about 7% per year in units.”
‘Sabe’ brand milk mix drinks and various types of UHT milk in different fat content grades are set to be filled in the carton pack combiblocMidi 1,000 ml using the filling machine CFA 812.
In addition, a filling machine CFA 712 is in operation. This will be used to fill a ‘Sabe’ brand cream, and ‘Sabidinho’ brand milk drinks, in the small-format carton pack combiblocSmall 200 ml. The children’s drinks come in Chocolate, Strawberry and Banana flavours.
Sabe Alimentos belongs to the Albano Franco Group. The company’s portfolio includes condensed milk, UHT milk and milk mix drinks.
It employs up to 300 employees at the Muribeca factory, where up to 330,000 litres of milk is processed daily.