Multivac, a world leader in packaging solutions, recently opened its regional office at the Dubai Airport Free Zone.

“The Middle East region is very important for us at Multivac, as can be seen by our continued investment in the region,” says Dan Perry, area sales manager.
 “The office in Dafz is the first phase of the company’s Middle East strategy which incorporates localised service cover and a full allocation of spare parts to ensure mini-mum downtime for our clients. Additionally, sales and project management are both also based at the Dubai office. Phase 2 is already underway with the opening of an office in Saudi Arabia, closely followed by the opening of a regional office in Iran.”
Commenting on why the company selected Dafz as its regional base, he says: “The reasons for choosing any free zone are several, but first and foremost it is about control. The umbrella of a free zone offers foreign companies such as ours the freedom to operate as a fully owned company. We chose Dubai Airport Free Zone because of its location and the ever-increasing quality of its client base. It was important for Multivac to align itself with a free zone hosting companies of a similar level to ourselves and we feel that Dafz offers us this.”
Multivac’s customer base includes industrial manufacturers as well as small and mid-sized companies in various sectors including: food (fresh or processed); sterile goods and other medical products, among various consumer and industrial products
The company provides comprehensive packaging consultation to ensure the client makes the best decision for its product. It starts with individual advice regarding the best solution in terms of technique, economics, and packaging design. It continues with unbeatable after-sales support, according to Perry.
Elaborating on the production range, he says it covers fully automatic thermoforming machines, semi- and fully automatic traysealing lines, vacuum chamber machines, labelers and comprehensive accessories.
Today Multivac commissions over 1,200 industrial thermoformers and traysealers as well as over 3,200 chamber machines a year – in over 100 countries worldwide.
To meet this enormous volume of orders, Multivac has over 2,500 staff, covering every continent.
From Dafz the company will cover the traditional Middle Eastern territories of GCC, Mashriq, Iran and Yemen - as well as new additions such as Sudan and Pakistan. Regionally, the company says its strength lies in the food (fresh and processed) sector, however it is witnessing increased demand for its products from the industrial and medical sectors. “This is not a new development for Multivac. It is a similar path other regional offices have taken – as a market matures, diversification is bound to happen as your profile increases,” Perry says.
Commenting on the company’s performance in 2007, he says “Whilst the office in Dubai Airport Free Zone is new, our presence in the Middle East stretches back over many years with the region being serviced from various agents and of course directly from Multivac Germany. Whilst this generated an excellent level of business, it was inherently reactionary. With the opening of Multivac ME, we aim to offer our clients a unique service level from all departments within Multivac ME, and all activities within the company shall be focused on complete customer satisfaction. For us 2007 was an exceptional year in terms of business and we expect that 2008 should be no different.
“Our chief aim at Multivac ME is complete customer satisfaction, and so our target for the coming year is just that – if we get that right, then any financial target we have is sure to follow,” he concludes.