Our History

Jean-Jacques Graffin, Founder

Jean-Jacques Graffin, Founder

“… Jean-Jacques Graffin, who founded Serac in 1969, probably had no idea that 50 years later he would have a global group employing more than 600 people. This “Arts et Métiers” engineer is at the very heart of a success story matched by very few others in French industry.

Coming from a family of craftsmen, Jean-Jacques Graffin began his career in the early 1960s working in civil engineering in Senegal and then in Cameroon. But France was where he was to find success. In May 1966 he joined Nova Socimec, a company specialising in the manufacture of milk pumps and taps. He designed a machine for filling plastic bottles for packaging the output of a small Breton dairy. At that time there was no supplier of equipment of that kind for small dairies. Sales of these machines followed on…but an idea was taking root in the mind of this engineer…” *

 

Serac was created out of an inspired idea!

Jean-Jacques Graffin had realised that dairies weighed their plastic bottles when full to monitor the quantity of milk. As the regulatory volumetric measurements were calibrated at a temperature of 20°C and the milk filled at 4°C, weighing made it possible to avoid gaps due to the expansion of the liquids. Hence the apparently simple idea of weighing the container during the filling process.  He therefore created the first weigh filler, a first for the food industry. Serac was established in June 1969 and this was the beginning of the success story…

The first Serac machines

Some key dates

1969

Creation of Serac by Mr Jean-Jacques Graffin – First linear  filling machine for milk in plastic bottle. 600 bottles per hour.

1972

Serac introduces the first rotary filling machine for fresh milk and sterilized milk. 8000 bottles per hour.

1973

Agreement with Sidel for the production of a linear aseptic machine for the filling of milk in plastic bottle (Siderac).

1978

Serac presents the first electronic weight filling machine at the Interpack Packaging tradeshow, Düsseldorf.

1981

Creation of Serac inc at Chicago in United States.

1982

Serac installs an aseptic rotary filling machine for UHT milk in Belgium (5 liters container).

1985

Creation of Serac Do Brasil at Sao Paulo in Brasil

1987

Birth of Serac Group Holding

1988

Creation of Serac Aseptic in France

1994

Creation of Serac Asia in Malaysia

1999

Creation of Serac Japan

2004

Acquisition of Nova Socimec in France, specialized infilling machines for preformed cups

2008

Creation of Serac China

2012

Serac introduces its first PET bottle blowing machine.

2013

Creation of Serac Indonesia

2014

Acquisition of Agami in France specialized in PP & PS bottle manufacturing

2015

Creation of Serac India

2019

Creation of Serac Middle-East

2020

First Blustream® module for chemical-free decontamination of caps in production at a beverage company.

2021

Creation of Serac Moscow

2023

Acquisition of Doselec in France, specialized in filling machines for preformed cups

Creation of the CUP Division (Nova+Doselec)

* Arts et Métiers Magazine – June 2009