**** Analysis of the three major trends in the accessories industry

In the global economic downturn and the merger and reorganization of the tobacco industry and the shift to emerging markets, as the tobacco industry's suppliers must also change from time to time to strengthen their own strength and expand the future development space. Although the tobacco machine accessories industry covers a wide range, the number of tobacco machines ranging from millions of dollars to the low value of tipping papers and filters is huge, but there are three general trends: expanding markets and focusing on Asia. Markets and flexibility respond to change.

Cooperation to expand the market

At present, the acquisition and merger of the tobacco industry is in full swing, and the scale of tobacco product manufacturing companies is getting larger and larger. The technical level and service requirements for the required accessories for the tobacco machine accessories are getting higher and higher. In order to cope with this trend, the smoke machine The accessories also strengthen the cooperation between each other to enhance the competitiveness. Among them, the most eye-catching cooperation is the cooperation between Hauni and key technology companies.

In a press release issued on September 7th, Hauni Maschinenbau stated that it has signed an agreement with a key technology company, according to which Hauni has global marketing to the tobacco industry. Exclusive rights for key technology company products. The key technology company will now become the exclusive supplier of Hauni's optical sorting equipment.

The new agreement allows Hauni to market, sell, and provide key companies' optical sorters and vibratory conveyors to tobacco processors around the world. Key companies will focus on R&D and manufacturing, and will support Hauni's activities and provide upgrade opportunities to eliminate the risk of machine aging.

Hauni is a major manufacturer and supplier of tobacco machinery. It has a wide customer base in the tobacco industry, and the key technology company has a strong technical advantage in the sorter (TS3) and its optical sorting machine. Can better play their respective advantages and achieve a win-win situation.

Focus on the Asian market

The rapid development of Asian economy and the economic recession in the developed regions of Europe and the United States have made it the focus of the next business development of many enterprises.

PTSreekumar, the managing director of the Filtrona Filter Products Division, an innovative and unique supplier of special filters, previously stated that sales of cigarettes have increased in Asia, but have declined in the United States and Western Europe. There is currently a trend of business turning to Asia. Asia will become a fairly strong market for some time. The emergence of Asia will be more of a quantitative change because of the increase in sales in certain markets, at the same time as multinational companies have shifted their manufacturing bases from Europe to Asia. These conditions are happening and will continue to happen.

As the potential of the Asian market has continued to expand in recent years, the Filtrona Group has continuously expanded its presence in the Asian market. In 2008, Filtrona set up Filtrona Specialty Fiber Products (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. in Ningbo Development Zone, which is an important strategic step for the UK's Filtrona Group to deploy the Asia-Pacific market. It is reported that the five companies under the group are There have been three companies competing to enter the Chinese market. The successful operation of the Ningbo company has enabled the Filtrona Group to complete the distribution of specialty fibers in the global market, forming a tripartite situation in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

In addition, on February 18, 2009, Filtrona Filter Products launched a Chinese website. Paul Morris, sales director of Filtrona China, said: "By expanding our website's language foundation, we can enable our Chinese speaking peers in the tobacco industry to keep up with the current development of Filtrona Filtration Products. The combination of the possibilities offered by the technology exchange means that we can build stronger relationships with our customers."

Filtrona's entry into the Asian market is not alone. In 2009, Schweitzer Moody International, the world’s largest cigarette paper company, plans to set up a large-scale new tobacco sheet factory in the world’s largest emerging tobacco market: China. It is reported that Shi Weize is about to reach a new joint venture agreement to establish a Chinese tobacco leaf factory. In addition, in November, Schweitzer Moody International announced that it plans to invest approximately US$117 million in the establishment of a wholly-owned greenfield investment-type leaf sheet production plant in the Philippines. The company hopes to strengthen its leading position in this key product area through the establishment of a planned production plant in the Philippines, while taking advantage of strong growth expectations to expand its exposure in emerging markets.

Increase flexibility to respond to changing needs

As the tobacco industry is increasingly constrained by the law, more and more requirements have been placed on the promotion of tobacco brands. This also requires that the accessories industry can develop products that meet new demands.

In the case of tobacco films, the main trend in Europe has shifted from cartons and paper bags to clear collation using thin films. This has had a major impact on costs, and as retailers and consumers become accustomed to this new packaging, it has also become a continuing trend. Innofine Films also introduced a compact shrink film to this market.

In addition, with the deepening of the concept of environmental protection, there has been growing interest in potential applications for sustainable materials for tobacco packaging films. The big tobacco company that meets customer demand for sustainable packaging has also generated interest in these films. In view of this, Innolux has developed a series of biodegradable, compostable, cellulose-based films under the brand name NatureFlex, which are manufactured from sustainable, renewable resources. These films have characteristics different from those of OPP films currently used for transparent packaging of cigarettes. At present, NatureFlex is the only biomaterial that can provide many of the characteristics required by the tobacco industry. It has the best moisture barrier function, heat sealing performance and machine processability in all biological materials. If such a film is to be used, it is necessary to compromise the properties of these films, for example, shrink tension characteristics. These films are most likely to be used first on brands with a natural or organic appearance.

Puller manufacturer Penn believes that when the law restricts marketing of cigarette brands, there are fewer communication channels between tobacco product manufacturers and consumers. The ability to pull brands and communicate communications makes it an ideal information medium. The company has printed mandatory information on the pull line to confirm that the product has been paid. The company also studied the possibility of using the second puller to transmit information and found it to be more economical than printing out the film.

In addition, due to the increase in consumer demand for personalized products, how to produce new products while increasing the minimum cost; on the other hand, the introduction of new products has increased, and the conversion of product batches has increased during the production process. There is a need for machinery that can reduce production costs between batch conversions.

Assists tobacco product manufacturers in providing unique products to consumers. AccuPac's new tipping paper printing and registration system can meet this requirement, enabling cigarette manufacturers to print unique information on every cigarette in a pack of cigarettes. So each cigarette can be a unique product. This system was developed for Hauni's MAX series of machines, including MAX 80, 90, 100, and S variants. It provides the ability to apply tipping paper with a variety of information pre-printed on the tipping paper web. This type of system requires that the registration mark be printed on the web at intervals of a length of each cut, or at integer multiples of the length of the cut.

In August 2009, the new KDF-M dual-rail filter manufacturing machine developed by Hauni passed the acceptance test of Japan Tobacco Group in Trier, Germany. During the test, this machine was very flexible, allowing quick change of filter size in less than 22 minutes and quick brand change within 2 minutes. Moreover, KDF-M can process high porosity papers, acetate filter rods or carbon filter rods, elongated or elongated and ultra-slim type filters. Hauni Company stated that it has performed well in every field and its flexibility, product quality and efficiency have reached the maximum level.

In the future, although there are many uncertainties, as a tobacco machine accessories business serving the tobacco industry, as long as closely following the development trend of the tobacco industry, we can usher in a bright future.