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 | Since 2012, SMI has been present in Southeast Asia with the subsidiary SMI ASIA SERVICES SDN BHD, founded with the aim of quickly and efficiently meeting the needs of several customers in the area. SMI ASIA SERVICES is based in the city of Shah Alam, a few kilometers from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), in a structure of 1500 m2, in which the sales office, technical department and spare parts stock are located. | ||
| Expertise, professionalism and helpfulness of the staff, currently composed of 21 people, are the key factors behind the activity of the branch. | |||
We talked in more detail about this subject with Davide Danna, SMI ASIA SERVICES SDN BHD.'s Managing Director. | |||
| What are the main reasons for SMI's direct presence in Southeast Asia through a local subsidiary? | |||
| Davide Danna: Compared to 15–20 years ago, production facilities have become larger and larger and meet higher production speeds with 24-hour shifts running 6/7 days a week. With these work rhythms, our customers need to rely on a fast, efficient service for spare parts supply and on-site technical support. | 
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| For this reason, when food & beverage manufacturers decide to invest in a new production plant, the after-sales technical assistance structure is one of the decisive criteria in the evaluation and choice of supplier. Therefore, SMI has invested in Asia to create an important base, which grows year by year, to meet all the needs of local customers. | |||
| What are the main demands of the Asian market? Davide Danna: First of all, the speed of response to customers, both for the supply of spare parts and for service interventions. In Asia we have several customers who, over the years, have repeatedly purchased machines and plants and who today find themselves managing complete or partial lines (end of line) within which there are SMI machines of various eras and technology. The SMI ASIA branch is contacted more and more often by these customers for technical interventions related to audits, updates, upgrades, etc., which, allow them to obtain detailed reports on the state of wear and tear of the components within their plants, in order to promptly evaluate the possible order of spare parts, necessary to perform scheduled maintenance before facing the period of maximum seasonal production. | ||
| SMI S.p.A. | |||
