del mar
The Galician company Hermasa, founded in 1972 and specialized in designing personalized equipment for the manufacturers of canned goods, will leap in to the Chinese market thanks to an expansion plan which now totals 56 countries in 5 five continents; representing more than 200 companies, many of which are large multinational processed and canned seafood corporations.
The management of the business has, in recent months, made several contacts with some Chinese manufacturers, which are relatively new in China but which have “enormous” potential, according to Hermasa’s commercial director, Adrián Carril, who also stated that although China already has some experience in the marketing of mussels (it is the only country that competes with Galician production), it still needs a large increase in the growth of its other products, such as canned sardines or tuna. Hermasa hopes to bring its famous Tunipack to emerging Chinese canned goods manufacturers; the fastest and most celebrated tuna processor in the world, capable of canning 500 units a minute.
The company does not plan “under any circumstances” to relocate its Vigo plant, or to divert some of its production to Asia. “One hundred percent of our production will remain in Galicia because this is where we have our R&D&I team. We will just sell equipment and production lines to growing canneries being established in China, while multinational businesses continue to be built in China, until emerging indigenous companies start to meet internal demand” explains a company executive who added that, over the last two years they had invested 2.5 million Euros in Vigo plant.
The canning equipment manufacturer worked with a three year business plan that ended in 2001, which saw a new leap in geographic expansion (China is the current target) and in product diversification, in accordance with the changes occurring in global food consumption. This decision corresponds to the development of new patents and equipment for the growing market of canned vegetables.
Hermasa will take advantage of the approaching celebration of the World Fishing Exhibition in Vigo, to present one of its latest tuna canning models. The Galician company has already met with representatives of more than ten countries to negotiate new contracts with the international canning industry.
Hermasa is one of the most internationalized brands in Spain and its products can be found in almost all of the world’s most globalized countries (USA, Canada, Brazil and the whole of Europe) but has also managed to reach places that are only beginning to implement new technologies for canning, countries such as Lebanon, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and even remote places like Papua New Guinea. This is because Hermasa has developed more than 50 patents for new canning equipment and machinery; specially adapted to each individual technical type of product, situation and number of workers, developed electronic automatons, work space, speed of the process amongst other factors. The Galician company invests half a million Euros a year into an Innovation department for them to provide new solutions, new automation techniques with high resistance and precision.
Two years ago, Hermasa built the largest canning factory in the world in Peru, specifically for sardine and tuna. The production line of this plant can process 1200 tonnes per 12 hour shift – an amount that many canneries are not able to produce in a month’s work. The Galician factory had a turnover of 8 million Euros in 2008.
