tna Strengthens Asian Presence with New Japan Office

tna has announced the opening of a new Japan office and the launch of a brand new Japanese website.

Located in central Tokyo, tna’s new office will host technical and sales staff to directly support the Japanese market with food technology solutions.

tna’s Japanese operations will be headed up by Shuntaro Yamasaki, who has recently joined the business as general manager - tna Japan k.k. and who will be instrumental in supporting local food manufacturers with tna’s vast array of start-to-finish solutions - from processing, cooling, coating, distribution, seasoning, weighing, bagging, inserting and labeling, metal detection, verification, controls systems all the way to end-of-line equipment.

Paul Webster, general manager at tna Asia, says: “We’ve been operating in the Japanese market for a couple of years now and have been able to build up a solid local customer base. However, as tna has grown and added more brands to its portfolio, so has the interest in our expanding range of turnkey solutions and we felt it was time to further establish our local presence in such a highly innovative and flourishing market. The opening of tna Japan k.k. is an exciting milestone for us and yet another important step in our global expansion strategy, which now consists of 30 offices around the world.”

Joining tna as general manager for Japan, Shuntaro Yamasaki brings with him over eight years of experience in the packaging and processing industry. Yamasaki comments: “Japanese customers have some of the highest expectations when it comes to product quality and put immense value on outstanding customer service and business practice. At the same time, the Japanese food and manufacturing industry is considered to be one of the most innovative markets in the world, making it a great fit for a company like tna, which has been pushing boundaries for the last 35 years when it comes to the performance and reliability of its turnkey systems.”

To further demonstrate its commitment to the Japanese market, tna has set up a brand new Japanese website. Located at www.tnasolutions.co.jp, the new website features tna’s comprehensive portfolio of complete turnkey products and services.

A 35 years old company

This year, tna celebrated its 35 anniversary. The editor of our print magazine, Potato Processing Industry, Dan Orehov, asked Alf Taylor, CEO and co-founder of tna, which are the goals, ambitions and the strategies of the company for the next period, in an exclusive interview that you can read in the May/June print issue.

“At tna, our goal has always been to deliver the ultimate in food processing and packaging solutions. To achieve this, we don’t just improve what’s already out there, but develop solutions that set new benchmarks. Our ultimate goal is therefore to equip today’s food manufacturers with technology that is capable of the highest speeds as well as continuous improvement, so they’re ready for the next stage of food production. For example, the first tna robag doubled bagging speeds overnight and our new performance 5.0 packaging system once again sets new benchmarks in terms throughput, equipment integration, reliability and flexibility. In that sense, product development certainly forms a central aspect of our expansion strategy and we will make sure that the next 35 years will be even more revolutionary,” Taylor says.

At the same time, the company plans to continue to grow its business by further expanding their application capabilities.