Tetra Pak expands its Hungary plant, increasing its product variants from 55 to 105
Following the investments, the number of product variants produced in Budaörs has increased from 55 to 105.
High-rack storing systems for the Tetra Recart products
Charles Héaulmé, VP, Tetra Pak Europe & Central Asia, told FoodProductionDaily, as part of the expansion it replaced about 80% of the existing machine park.
“In the Tetra Brik Aseptic line we replaced a 4-web printer with a 5-web, increasing capacity by 25%,” he said.
“The Tetra Recart Line is completely new, and we built high-rack storing systems for the Tetra Recart products. We also extended the buildings by 7,500m² to house the new technology and increased traffic.
“With all this we increase output and efficiency, optimize the environmental footprint and speed up the production process. In addition, to locating our Hungarian operations on the site, we have recently centralised in Budaörs our transactional processes for business critical services such as Finance and Human Resources, serving the whole of Europe.”
Héaulmé added,94% of the production will be exported to 55 countries.
The biggest volumes are produced for Poland and Germany, followed by Hungary’s neighbouring countries Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic.
Panama and Brazil
Budaörs is also supplying customers in countries overseas such as Panama and Brazil. The Tetra Recart production will be exported entirely, with first orders coming from the US, Canada and Italy.
“Budaörs is a high performing converting factory for Tetra Pak, in terms of efficiency, quality, safety and customer service,” said Héaulmé.
“The Total Plant Maintenance program deployed in all factories since more than a decade gives an excellent platform for continuous improvement, in all aspects, quality, efficiency, and safety of our production processes.
“This is reflected in a 3rd Level Award by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) in 2014. Tetra Pak Budaörs plant is the only factory in all of Hungary operating at such a high level.
“Budaörs is in the heart of the Tetra Pak Cluster Europe & Central Asia. This Cluster stretches across 55 countries, with more than 800 million inhabitants. Our production and logistics footprint is critical for us to maintain our strong position in the market and remain a strong and reliable partner for our customers.”
He added, Hungary has been a growth market for Tetra Pak in the past years and it has a strong customer base, some of which do business outside of Hungary.
“Our customers are facing an increasingly competitive market where they need to differentiate not only through their products but through attributes such as functionality, appeal and sustainability of the package,” said Héaulmé.
“With the extended production in Budaörs we can yet better meet these needs. We are convinced consumers and customers alike will see the benefits of Tetra Recart as the new packaging for canned products and we hope to see new customers in this area.”
