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Provider of processing and packaging solutions for food products Multivac has announced that it will invest approximately €20 million in the construction of a new multi-purpose building in Tsukuba, Japan.  Areas of expansion will include the company's integrated systems, as well as products from the Fritsch (a manufacturer of equipment for both large bakeries and smaller producers of bakery products) and Tvi (a meat portioning specialist) business units. The new building will also include a training centre for customers and staff, as well as showrooms for machines.  “Japan is a significant market for Multivac. The new building will expand the local production capacity and also optimise our logistics systems,” said Guido Spix, group president of Multivac. “In the future, we will therefore produce at one location, which will also enable us to increase our productivity.” Located on the ground floor will be the manufacturing and assembly departments, as well as the training & application centre for processing & packaging, together with the application centre for bakery technology. The upper floor will comprise a small-parts warehouse, as well as a canteen and the offices and meeting/training rooms, which are needed to meet the growing demand. “The new building will not only create additional capacity, but it will also enable us to provide new training facilities for the staff of our Japanese service network, as well as offering customers advice on all aspects of system integration, and bringing our solutions closer to them in our showrooms - including those from the Fritsch and Tvi business units, which will play an important role for us in future on the Japanese market,” says Kenichiro Onuma, managing director of Multivac Japan. Multivac now has 12 subsidiaries in the Asia-Pacific region, employing more than 300 staff.  The building will sit on 14,400 square metres of land and is set to open in summer 2022.