Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (hereafter Toppan Printing; head office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President & Representative Director: Shingo Kaneko) and package manufacturing company Siam Toppan Packaging Co., Ltd. (hereafter Siam Toppan; head office: Samut Prakan, Thailand; Managing Director: Shintaro Shimamune) (*1) have installed a paperboard container manufacturing line that is capable of high-level hygiene control at Siam Toppan’s Factory 2, and will commence full-scale operation in April 2012. With the introduction of this manufacturing line, in August 2011, the plant became the first paperboard container manufacturing plant in Thailand to obtain BRC/IOP Category 1 certification.

High-level hygiene control is required for primary packaging for food because it comes into direct contact with food. Toppan Printing’s know-how related to the design of package manufacturing plants and management of manufacturing lines has been consolidated at Siam Toppan’s Factory 2, and the plant has obtained BRC/IOP Category 1 certification (*2), an international standard related to packaging materials that targets the maintenance of food safety and hygiene control. This certification is accredited by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Institute of Packaging (IOP). This is the first time that a paperboard container manufacturing company in Thailand has obtained Category 1 certification, which enables the manufacture of primary packaging that comes into direct contact with food.

With this accreditation, it has become possible for Siam Toppan to manufacture primary packaging (paperboard containers) for food, which requires a high-level hygienic environment.
Siam Toppan will provide primary packaging for the food industry, as well as packaging for takeaway foods in the fast food and retail industries, and paperboard containers and packaging for the medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other industries. Siam Toppan will continue to perform the highest quality manufacturing in the Thai paperboard container sector, and will push forward expansion not only in Thailand but in the ASEAN region as a whole. Siam Toppan will target total sales of  billion in fiscal 2015.

Copyright 2012 TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.

Background
From the perspectives of both BCP (Business Continuity Planning) and improvement in productivity, advances into Asia are gaining pace in the field of manufacturing. In particular, Thailand is one of the leading countries in the world for food exports, and its annual food exports to 200 countries around the world total $15 billion. In addition to raw materials, this includes processed foods such as canned, frozen and instant foods.
Consequently, there are numerous package manufacturing companies in Thailand, but until now there has not been a paperboard container manufacturing company with a sufficient hygienic environment for manufacturing primary containers, which come into direct contact with food.
With Siam Toppan’s Factory 2 obtaining BRC/IOP Category 1 certification, in terms of hygiene, the highest level paperboard container manufacturing environment in Thailand has been realized. It has become possible to manufacture paperboard containers, such as primary containers for food, which require a high-level hygienic environment.

Details of the certification acquired
(1)Registered business: Siam Toppan Packaging Co., Ltd.
(2)Date of certification: August 25, 2011
(3)Assessment and registration body: TÜV NORD
(4)Standard assessed: BRC/IOP : Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials, Category 1
(direct contact packaging with hygiene products such as food, cosmetics or pharmaceutical products)

Overseas expansion of packaging business at Toppan Printing
Toppan Printing is strengthening the overseas expansion of its packaging business. The Group has production bases in Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, as well as Indonesia and Thailand in Southeast Asia, and uses its domestic and overseas sales and production networks to provide global solutions for material procurement and production in optimal locations to both Japanese and global companies.
Toppan Printing will push further forward with overseas expansion, making early advances into emerging nation markets such as India and South America, where significant growth is anticipated in the future.

*1 Siam Toppan Packaging Co., Ltd.
Siam Toppan Packaging Co., Ltd. was established in 1990 as a joint venture between Toppan Printing of Japan and Siam Cement of Thailand. It is the largest manufacturer of paperboard packaging in Thailand. High-quality manufacturing has been achieved with the introduction of printing, processing and inspection equipment of the same standard as that used in Japan, combined with a superior quality management system. The company provides high added-value packaging that makes use of the technology and know-how of Toppan Printing.

*2 BRC/IOP certification
This is a global standard first published in 2001 by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), an organization that protects the interests of British retailers, and the Institute of Packaging (IOP). It clearly defines the requirements to ensure packaging quality, safety and hygiene in the field of food quality and safety. It was devised based on international standards such as ISO9001, GMP and HACCP. Its third and most recent version was published in December 2007.