SATO Signs Master Service Agreement with Fonterra

Tokyo, Japan, June 05, 2014 – SATO, a leader in barcode printing, labeling, and EPC/RFID solutions, announced today that it has signed a Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Fonterra Cooperative Group Limited, a leading global dairy company based in New Zealand, to provide supplies, services, and support for barcode systems in Fonterra’s factories and distribution centers worldwide.

SATO has been working closely with Fonterra in New Zealand and Australia, playing an instrumental role in standardizing their barcoding systems and configurations. Furthering this partnership, SATO Holdings Corporation and Fonterra have signed an MSA which will cover all countries Fonterra operates in, allowing SATO’s global subsidiaries to better offer localized services matching the requirements of Fonterra operations in each country. Key applications that can be provided under the agreement include product traceability solutions, product anti-counterfeiting solutions, label management and printing solutions, wireless infrastructure solutions, and many more.

“We’re extremely excited that Fonterra, the world’s leading dairy exporter, has chosen SATO to offer our products and services throughout their entire supply chain, transitioning our long-term collaboration to a more robust alliance,” said Kaz Matsuyama, President & CEO of SATO Holdings Corporation, “SATO will continue to enhance and expedite our globalization strategies with specialist teams we have built to take care of global key accounts like Fonterra, and we are confident that this agreement represents an excellent opportunity to strengthen the win-win business relationship between both companies moving forward.”

“The agreement for SATO to extend its services worldwide is a natural extension to the great work SATO has already done for us in New Zealand and Australia standardizing our systems and processes, and we believe that this will help improve the end user experience and our operational performance globally,” said Mike Saint, IT Service Owner for Fonterra, “SATO is an integral solutions partner of Fonterra and we rely on their responsive support, technical expertise and extensive knowledge in the automatic identification and data capture solutions domain. This, coupled with SATO’s worldwide footprint, made the choice to use SATO the logical choice, based on their common values and their approach to deeper customer and user engagement.”

About Fonterra
Fonterra is a global leader in dairy nutrition - the preferred supplier of dairy ingredients to many of the world’s leading food companies and is also a market leader with its own consumer dairy brands in Australia/New Zealand, Asia/Africa, Middle East and Latin America. The farmer-owned New Zealand co-operative is the largest processor of milk in the world, producing more than two million tonnes of dairy ingredients, value added dairy ingredients, specialty ingredients and consumer products every year. Drawing on generations of dairy expertise, Fonterra is one of the largest investors in dairy based research and innovation in the world. Its more than 16,000 staff work across the dairy spectrum from advising farmers on sustainable farming to milk production, ensuring Fonterra lives up to exacting quality standards and delivering every day on its customer promise in more than 100 markets around the world.

About SATO
SATO is a pioneer and leading global provider of integrated Automatic Identification and Data Collection solutions that leverage barcode and RFID technologies. SATO manufactures innovative, reliable auto-identification systems and offers complete solutions to businesses by integrating hardware, software, consumables and maintenance services. SATO’s solutions enable businesses to realize precision, labor and resource savings that help preserve the environment and deliver peace of mind to consumers. All of which contribute to the development of a sustainable world.

Founded in 1940, SATO is publicly listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan. It has sales and support offices in over 20 countries and is represented globally through a world-class network of partners. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, it reported revenues of JPY 87,256 million (US$ 1.0524 billion). More information about SATO can be found at www.satoworldwide.com

*Conversion is based on an average exchange rate of 1 US Dollar = 82.91 Japanese Yen.

For Media Enquiries:
Daphne Tay
Public Relations Office
SATO Holdings Corporation
daphne.tay@satogbs.com
Mobile: +65-9665-2145

This release was published on openPR.