Canadian Packaging Machinery Market Research Report - PMMI

• Japanese packaging equipment received ratings similar to those of Britain or
France. They were viewed to offer “Good” to “Average” quality, although
technology aspects were viewed to be “Good” to “Excellent”.
• United States packaging machinery manufacturers were viewed to be ‘solid
citizens’, although their quality and technology were felt to be somewhat below
that of the Germans. The majority felt that U.S. machinery quality was “Average”
to “Good”, although by some it was felt to be less durable and not as flexible as
the leading European machines. In regard to technology, equipment from United
States manufacturers was felt to be somewhat less technologically advanced than
German or Swiss equipment.
• Canadian packaging machinery was again rated similarly to that of the United
States in regard to perceptions of quality and technology. It was, however,
believed that Canadian manufactures tended to focus on areas that required less
technological input.
Service and Price
It is in the areas of service and price that United States and Canadian packaging
machinery manufactures outperform the Europeans and overcome the perceived
advantage in quality and technology. Service was perceived to be deficient for many
offshore manufacturers because they all must sell their products through agents and
sometimes the quality of agent representation is lower than it should be.
• German and Swiss packaging machinery are perceived to be very expensive as
all respondents rated German suppliers at the highest end of the price scale as
did most for Swiss suppliers. Although the service provided by German
manufacturers (and even more so for Swiss suppliers) was generally viewed to be
better than that of other offshore suppliers, it was viewed as being well below the
service levels provided by United States and Canadian manufacturers. The areas
of concern were speed of response, provision of on-site support, training and
availability of repair parts.
• The service level provided by British and French suppliers was viewed as
equivalent to that of German suppliers but significantly below that provided by
U.S. or Canadian firms. However, service provided by Italian manufacturers was
seen to be significantly below that of the other packaging machinery producing
countries. The main complaints were lack of responsiveness and difficulty in
obtaining repair parts.
In regard to price, British, French and Italian equipment was felt to be slightly less
expensive than that from Germany. However, they were all viewed to be much
more expensive than North American machinery.
• Japanese sources were viewed to be both quite expensive and deficient in the
service provided.
• United States manufacturers sell both through their own sales/service forces and
through agent representatives so the response to U.S. service consists of a blend
of these two channels. The service provided by U.S. suppliers was felt to be
good (although the specific responses ranged from “Excellent” to “Average”).
Higher ratings in regard to service is to be expected as a result of the U.S.
SMG/Columbia Consulting Group Page 21