FMT is located in Parma’s Food Valley and since 1997 it has been developing tailored packaging and free-standing solutions for the food & beverage technology industry. Michele Busi, the Sales Director of FMT, talked about this excellence on a global scale in anticipation of the innovations at Ipack-Ima 2025.

How important is it for you to have a stand at Ipack IMA?

Busi: “We are F&B specialists, so we develop complete systems for stiff containers like glass jars, bottles, tinplate and aluminium containers, and stiff plastic containers. Our technology caters for liquid F&B, ranging from sauces to fruit juices, beverages, soft drinks, beer, etc …. Ipack ima is a general packaging trade fair at which we are interested in presenting the division specializing in handling stiff and non-stiff cartons and bundles. When we attended the fair in 2022, we noticed that there were a lot of international visitors and that is why this is the first fair that we have chosen to attend as exhibitors in order to attract new customers who are expected to increase our already significant share of the world market.” 

What innovations will we be seeing at the FMT stand?

“Because of the size of our machines, we will not be bringing them to the fair but a LED wall showing our operating lines throughout the world so people can appreciate the operating advantages that make the entire range so special. The FMT range starts with depallettizing and covers the entire process as far as palletizing the product and wrapping it in stretch film. Then there is all the technology between the two phases, including automation, filling, closure, and heat treatment for preservation. And that’s without forgetting the R&D work on energy saving. The LED walls will also host a slide show of case histories showing present and future customers the complete systems that we supply. We are one of the few family businesses left in an industry in which we have been successful for three generations.

What are you working on at the moment? 

FMT is exhibiting at Ipack-Ima to illustrate two essential aspects. On the one hand, there is the customer’s need for bespoke solutions. Unlike most Italian and international companies in the industry, we forge a genuine partnership with customers and accompany them through all stages of the project. On the other hand, we use highly qualified people not only at the design and engineering phase but also on the assembly lines.   

In addition to in-house R&D, we work with Emilia-Romagna Region and academic bodies like the University of Parma and SSICA (Parma Experimental Station for the Food Preserving Industry), with whom we are developing an innovative heat treatment system. This is a pasteurization and sterilization asset that provides greater product stability and durability. As these processes are energy-intensive and have a great environmental impact, we take sustainability seriously, with a particular focus on hybrid systems designed to reduce emissions and consumption. The aim is to integrate heat-pump systems, thus reducing as much as possible the use of fossil fuels.

Parma Experimental Station

So over the next few months, we will be presenting innovative projects for reducing the environmental impact with energy recovery systems for the different plant machines that exchange heat to cut consumption significantly. Water consumption is also at the centre of FMT research activities in an industry where the heat cycles require large additional amounts of water as well as energy from fossil fuels. Our R&D department has in fact developed a system to ensure simplified, fast container-changing and washing procedures that slash machine downtime. Pasteurizing a sauce in a jar can consume up to 70 - 90 m³ of water that has to be disposed of whereas an FMT machine consumes 0.5 m³ for the entire process.  

What market trends do you see? 

That depends on the industries and markets you are looking at. People like us who cover a global market will hardly be affected by perturbations because local trends tend to balance things out. Our main markets are global with a focus on Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Asia and, when this was possible, Russia. Turnover was in excess of 60 million euros in 2024, exponential growth compared with the 18 million euros of 2018. This success is due to R&D, technical expertise and a broad approach that is able to solve customers’ problems with bespoke and personalized solutions.