Eleven years after its creation, Sidel Malaysia has been given a face-lift with the opening of the subsidiary’s gleaming new 11,000-sq.-meter production facility that includes 6,500 sq. meters of production space and 2,800 sq. meters of office space.
Sidel’s President Gérard Stricher declares, “This investment establishes Malaysia as our second major manufacturing center specializing in plastic bottle blow molding machines; the facility will work closely with the Group’s main manufacturing plant in Le Havre, France.”
Sidel Malaysia manufactures low and medium output blow molding machines for PET bottle production; they are identical to the same machines made in France. In all, over 500 Sidel blow molding machines have been built in Malaysia in the past ten years and sold worldwide.
With this new facility, Sidel Malaysia’s production capacity increases to 120 machines per year from 70. This expansion also strengthens the Group’s ability to procure parts and sub-assemblies locally through partners in Malaysia and neighboring countries, accelerating workflows between Sidel and its vendors and reducing equipment lead times.
Since 2005, Sidel Malaysia has also served as a design center for blow molding machines, including the SBO Compact series. This range of linear blow molding machines targets PET bottle production rates below 7,000 bottles per hour and offers an extremely attractive cost/performance ratio. Sidel Malaysia is the only facility in the world to manufacture the SBO Compact series.
This new facility also enables the subsidiary to pursue developments and accelerate plans to expand the equipment range to include large containers and those with complex shapes.
The facility was designed with customers in mind. Large glass windows separate the manufacturing shops from the meeting rooms, enabling customers to see the progress of their equipment. Customers are also welcome to attend the final testing of their equipment.
Sidel is the world’s leading manufacturer of PET blow molding machines. More than half of all PET bottles around the world are produced on Sidel blow molding machines.
Sidel also supplies complete packaging lines for beverages in plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans. The company employs 5,000 people around the world, has sales of € 1.2 billion, and is a subsidiary of Tetra Laval, world leader in food product process and packaging systems.
Sidel Malaysia milestones
1996: Opening of first assembly plant for SBO Series 1 blow molding machines
1997: Launch of technical and parts services
1999: Production of SBO Series 2 low output blow molding machines
2003: Production of SBO Series 2 low and medium output blow molding machines
2005: Production of latest generation SBO Universal equipment / Design and production of SBO Compact low output blow molding machines
2007: Opening of new manufacturing facility
Sidel Malaysia: facts and figures
Employees: 155
Operations: design and assembly of PET blow molding machines
Location: Shah Alam, 40 km from Kuala Lumpur
Creation date: 1996
Total production to date: over 500 blow molding machines sold in 82 countries
