GERMAN QUALITY MADE IN SPAIN - Packaging Europe

MENSHEN:
GERMAN QUALITY
MADE IN SPAIN
Menshen Iber is based in Barcelona in Spain, and is part of Georg Menshen GmbH & Co. KG Germany. It was founded
as a family company in Germany in 1970 and is a pioneer in the field of plastic solutions, providing a wide range of caps,
closures and sponge applicators for bottles and tubes as well as other specific injected packaging components. Elisabeth
Skoda spoke to Menshen Iber’s managing director Hansulrich Zellmer to find out more.
sets itself high standards and has innovative visions for the future.
This enables us to enhance existing products and create new ones
“Menshen
to optimally suit customers’ requirements. Menshen is able to offer
tailor-made products even for complex products,” Mr Zellmer explains.
Menshen also has an experienced R&D-Team at all its production plants. The Menshen
Innovation Support Centre works on innovations in the area of materials, processes
and biodegradability. Menshen Engineering, based at the company’s headquarters, works
on customised assembly lines for multi-component projects.
Innovation
Menshen has come up with a range of innovative closure solutions which are available
through its standard catalogue. One2Dose, which was also shown at the Emballage trade
fair in Paris in 2012, is a new, precise, environmentally friendly one hand dosing solution
for liquids and powders for use in the food and household sectors. Menshen is also a
market leader in the area of sponge applicators for different applications such as shoe
care, ski wax, lense cleaning and disinfection.
The company also has a great deal of experience with regards to developing customised
solutions for customers, who are benefiting from its know-how in injection, mould and
product design.
Around 70 per cent of Menshen’s turnover comes from customised business, 30 per
cent comes from its standard catalogue business.
“We’re currently expanding our customised business, without neglecting the standard
business of course,” says Mr Zellmer. “We’re just about to release a new version of mouthwash
cap, which we’re hoping to get back into the UK with.”
One of Menshen’s biggest success stories is the Weldspout. “We are one of the biggest
producers of this type of product,” Mr Zellmer explains. “Our weldspouts can be assembled
on almost all form, fill and seal machines, from fully automated to manual. We
cooperate closely with the manufacturers of this kind of machine in the Spanish ‘Pouch
Valley’, where about 80 per cent of the world wide machinery of this kind is produced,
and are constantly trying to add new developments to the weld spout range, such as child
proof caps, anti-oxidisation plugs, new light weight spouts etc.
“Menshen offers a best practice service through the entire supply chain, starting
with professional customer support. After placing the orders, customers get innovative
logistics solutions, delivery on time, consignment stocks, integrated call off and invoicing
procedures,” he continues. “This sets us apart from the competition.”
Expansion
The Menshen group is currently formed of eight production facilities in six countries.
“Apart from the plant, assembly centre and clean room class 10.000 facility at our
headquarters in the Sauerland region in Germany, Menshen also has plants in Spain,
Russia, USA, Mexico and China,” Mr Zellmer says. “In addition, we have a close
cooperation with contract manufacturers producing caps and closures exclusively for
Menshen in Malaysia and Hungary. We have stocked up our sales force, and regional
sales responsibilities lie with the individual plants. In addition, we have several Menshen
sales representatives in countries such as the UK, France, Switzerland or Singapore and
collaborations with external representatives in many other international markets.”
Menshen is already delivering to developing markets from their existing plants, but is
ready to make new investments if volumes and customers require this step.
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“A new site will be established in the South of China in the next months in order to
serve our customers in that region,” Mr Zellmer explains.
Menshen has recently invested in two major assembly lines for weldspouts, one for
standard caps in Russia with a capacity of up to 600 million pieces per year, another one
for choke safe caps in the US with a capacity of up to 200 million pieces per year. Another
new line is planned for the German manufacturing plant.
Additionally, the company has invested in a number of new injection moulding machines
in nearly all plants. One of the highlights was the first cube-mould machine in the group installed
in China. Investments have also been made in peripheral installations to upgrade the
production to the last available technology. Menshen is currently also investigating markets
such as Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and Africa and is open to customers from this region.
Suppliers are key to Menshen’s success. “All our suppliers play important roles for
different reasons. We try to work with companies with the same philosophy as ourselves,
the supplier should be a partner more than a mere supplier. Quality and innovation in
technology are as important as price, Mr Zellmer says.
Menshen is aiming for organic growth. “We are convinced that we will be able to grow significantly
organically because we currently are in a process in which we reinforce our global
and local sales force as well as the key account management,” Mr Zellmer is confident.
“We have internally elaborated a growth plan for the next five years which will require
hard work by all the departments. It will be important to maintain the high Menshen
standards in terms of quality, R&D and innovation, service and sales in order to get
there,” he concludes.
Visit: www.menshen.com
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