Tetra Pak's packaging material factory in Izmir, Turkey, has received the world's top award for manufacturing excellence. In doing so, it becomes only the twenty second factory worldwide to win the prestigious award in more than 40 years.

Appraised by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance, the World Class Total Production Maintenance (TPM) Award is presented to facilities that have achieved outstanding levels of production quality, reliability, efficiency and environmental performance.

"The TPM Award is tremendous recognition for the hard work, dedication, and focus of our Izmir team," said Eric Baudier, EVP, Supply Chain Operations at Tetra Pak. "The commitment they have shown to ensuring our customers receive products of outstanding quality, while maintaining the highest standards of operational performance and sustainability, is truly reflected in this achievement.

"Izmir is a strategic location for our global supply chain network. In the past five years alone, the company has invested more than EUR 60 million in this plant, and will continue to do so, especially in digitalization and new technologies," Baudier added.

With a capacity of more than 10 billion packs, the Tetra Pak Izmir factory produces 20 different packaging products. Last year, of the 8.2 billion packages produced, 50% were exported to customers in 36 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, with a delivery lead time of less than one week.

This is the second time in two years that a Tetra Pak facility has received this award, following the 2016 success of its Gornji Milanovac factory in Serbia.