Worldwide network: Ziemann in Nanjing and Ningbo

The Ziemann Group announces a further major development at the drinktec 2009 fair: After acquiring a majority holding in the company BMS Maschinenfabrik, a German manufacturer of packaging and palletising plants, Ziemann has now entered a joint venture with the company Nanjing Light Industrial Machinery Corporation (NLM). The state-owned enterprise NLM is China’s largest manufacturer of filling and packaging plants.

“With this joint venture our concept of European Engineering and Worldwide Manufacturing enters a completely new dimension!” Ziemann managing director Joachim Gunkel emphasises. “We can now offer a tailored plant mix of European and Chinese components that has been individually designed to meet the customer’s specific requirements.”

Nanjing Light Industrial Machinery, based in the former imperial capital of Nanjing, was founded in 1969. As China’s market leader for filling and packaging plants the company has a workforce of 1,400 people and is a subsidiary of the CNBM Group, one of the top 100 companies in China. CNBM’s sales in 2008 amounted to EUR 88 billion. The list of references of Nanjing Light Industrial Machinery makes impressive reading: NLM has already built complete filling and packaging plants for leading beverage and brewery groups such as Coca-Cola, ABInBev, SABMiller, Heineken and Tsingtao.

The joint venture framework contract was signed at the drinktec 2009. “Both partners benefit from the joint venture: NLM benefits from our engineering know-how, and we are now able to offer our customers complete filling plants that feature state-of-the-art technology”, Joachim Gunkel explains.

Ziemann and NLM additionally agreed on the construction of a new production site in Nanjing that will cover a total area of 60,500 square metres and will be fitted with the latest plant equipment. The new production hall of the joint venture will enable the manufacturing of filling and packaging plants in large numbers and in top quality.

There will also be changes concerning the second Chinese company in the Ziemann Group. From 1 January 2010 Ziemann will be in charge of the general management for Lehui Food Machinery Co. in Ningbo. This change at the top was a long-term plan and included the joint venture contract between the Ziemann Group and Lehui. Ziemann has a 60 percent holding in Lehui Food Machinery Co.