Untha secures distribution in Japan

Kuchl, Austria-based Untha has agreed to a new distribution partnership with Yokohama-headquartered engineering firm Sun Earth. The deal is intended to result in the supply of Untha shredders to waste and alternative fuel production facilities in Japan.

Untha describes Sun Earth as a company with £30 million ($40.2 million) in annual sales that provides several different types of technology to Japan’s waste management and recycling sectors. According to Sun Earth’s website, it also distributes German-made Sennebogen material handlers in Japan.

A growing number of requests for a shredding system that can tackle complex production waste, pulper ropes as well as single-step solid recovered fuel (SRF) manufacturing represented a gap in Sun Earth’s prior machinery portfolio, according to Untha. Thus, talks between the two companies began in the spring of 2017.

“We want to offer our customers the most advanced waste technologies in the world,” says Yutaka Ebihara, Sun Earth CEO. “We are constantly on the lookout for innovative yet proven equipment and already have established relationships with other processing and sorting machinery manufacturers in Europe.

“But the world of shredding is becoming increasingly difficult. We therefore needed to source a machine with a tough yet economical cutting system that can withstand the pressures of demanding waste applications and still achieve high performance.”

Sun Earth began speaking to Untha’s Asian Pacific waste specialist Andreas Senkbeil prior to the N-Expo environmental event in Tokyo in May. Colleagues from Austria have since visited the team in Japan, and vice versa.

“We’ve welcomed members of the technical team to our Salzburg, Austria, headquarters, so they can see for themselves how serious we are about shredding,” says Peter Streinik, head of UNTHA’s waste shredding division. “They’ve toured our innovation center, seen our shredders being built, and met various members of the team. Yutaka brought 15 key customers on a similar tour and we’ve since hosted our guests on a number of client sites, before delivering sales and technical training to the engineers.

“This is the start of a very exciting relationship which will further cement our presence in Eastern parts of the world,” adds Streinik.

Sun Earth has placed an order for an Untha XR3000C shredder scheduled for shipment in early 2018.