Packaging Firm Showcases Innovative Tech at Exhibition

Sona Group of Industries participated in the recently held Nigeria PlastPrintPack 2018 and was represented by three of its subsidiary companies namely Shongai Technologies Ltd, Shongai Packaging Industries Ltd and Techblow Nigeria Ltd.

According to the Group Managing Director, Sona Group of Industries, Mr. Ajai Musaddi, Nigeria is being recognised as next global manufacturing hub. This is coupled with increased popularity of Plastics packaging over glass especially in pharmaceutical and FMCG industries. Packaged foods such as biscuits, meat pie, chinchin, plantain chips, groundnuts, cashew nuts, etc have seen increased demand following the 40% growth of organised retail outlets in the last five years. Lastly most ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries depend on Nigeria for their plastic needs.

Musaddi stressed that the fair provided the company the opportunity to relate with consumers and other industry stakeholders who are trying to improve on the packaging of their food products. Our motto “World Class Quality Products at Affordable Price” is what we wanted every person who came in contact with us to take back home. We have facilities providing state of the art products from labels, laminates, monocartons, to table, chair, buckets, containers from 0.5 Lt to 50Lt, and drums up to 250Lts to count a few.

In his words: “This Exhibition has given us the best opportunity, to make the people aware of our state of the art technologies, so that they can get the best out of it.”

He further added: “We are one of the biggest suppliers of the pallets to a lot of food & beverages companies. By providing high quality pallets we are creating a win-win situation for everyone around us. It starts with protecting the nature in two ways, we prevent chopping down of trees to make wooden pallets, and at the same time we re-use the plastic that is generally thrown away as garbage in our environment. Thus with plastic pallets, we try to save what is good and bring into good use which is otherwise bad if left untreated in open. While this is on one side, on the other end of the spectrum the use of plastic pallets provides a very hygienic environment for all.”

Furthermore, he said that with some mishandling or improper keeping condition, wooden pallets can be the starting point of some infection, fungus, etc., while in case of plastic pallets, it can be easily cleaned and washed to maintain high hygiene conditions whenever required.

“This prohibits chances of any such contamination which can occur and further contaminate the end product; food or beverage as the case maybe. The plastic pallets are even sturdier and have much higher resistance to any handling damage from fork lifts or otherwise than wooden pallets. Overall for the industry and everyone concerned and even from preserving the nature, plastic pallets offer a whole lot of advantages”, he stressed.

On the point of packaging, he said that “We pride ourselves in being one of the most technologically advanced companies in West Africa. Preserving the food in its originality or the way it is supposed to be received by the end consumer is of utmost importance. It is critical that the preservation of food products is put on high priority as any foul product on being consumed will directly affect our health. With a low quality packaging the shelf life and hence the quality of the product intended to be consumed can degrade. Making a food product is one thing but to have a good packaging which can preserve the food is one of the very important aspect. Preservation comes from the good packaging and our packaging has special features which is higher than other packaging of other companies. For example, if you produce a very good biscuit and if your packaging is not good, the biscuit is going to go bad within one month and if your packaging is good, the biscuit can last up to one year.”

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