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