THE COMPOUND FACTOR
The growth of UBIS may have been helped along by Thailand’s healthy canning industry, but the company is looking beyond Thailand to become a regional rather than a national player. Can Tech International visited the UBIS coating factory near Bangkok.

Ubis (Asia) Ltd. was formed in 1983, originally producing can sealing compounds and can coatings. At that time there were very few companies based in the region supplying coatings and lacquers from a local manufacturing point, and UBIS was well placed to fulfill the need for a local, high quality coatings manufacturer. The company is part of the UBIS Group consisting of three companies, two of which supply construction materials and chemicals.

The coatings factory in Sampran, 50 km from the center of Bangkok, employs 40 people.  The product range has grown substantially in the last 19 years, from the original products to a wide range of water-based sealing compounds, PVC plastisol, PVC dry blend pellets, and inside and outside lacquers or coatings. The list of brands using UBIS products ranges from Red Bull and Nescafe, through Del Monte, Dole and other fruit producers, to a huge list of tuna and sea food brands.

UBIS Group president is Sawong Dhangwatnotai. Two years ago Doug Rasic joined the company as technical director, bringing a wealth of experience in can coatings from several major manufacturers.  “We are fortunate because our growth has coincided with the growth of the can making industry in Thailand.”  Sawong Dhangwatnotai explained. As any can industry visitor to Thailand will rapidly discover, the country’s filling operations center around two main products – pineapple and tuna. Both Dole and Del Monte, the biggest canned fruit exporters in the world, are present in Thailand. And in the tuna sector, Thailand has the world’s second and third largest canned tuna manufacturers, namely Chicken of the Sea and Unicord (formerly Bumble Bee).

Over 70 per cent of canned food produced in Thailand is exported. “ So though we are a small company, UBIS is actually a world player, particularly for canned sea food,” commented  Mr. Dhangwatnotai “ In the last ten years, our compounds have been exported onto at least 40 billion ends worldwide.”

The rapidly growing popularity of full aperture easy-open ends, particularly in the US and Europe, has led to the development of lacquers for the score line of which UBIS has a minimum 70 per cent share in Thailand. Its sealing compounds, lacquers, white coatings, varnishes and PVC plastisol products are used on food, beer and beverage cans, general line, aerosol cans, pails and drums, crown, lug and crimp caps, and aluminium tubes.