DAEJEON, SOUTH KOREA — Satake announced on Aug. 8 that it is opening an office in Daejeon, South Korea, to better serve its customers in the Korean market.

Satake began operating in South Korea in the 1980s, mainly selling rice milling equipment. Later as business expanded into the flour milling and rice cooking industries, demand grew for a local office to strengthen sales operations as well as customer support.

Although sales representatives and service crews had been sent from Japan when needed, a local office within the same country will speed up the response time, helping serve better Satake’s valued local customers, the company said. Sales for the new office are estimated to be 5.8 billion Japanese yen for fiscal year 2016.

Daejeon is located in the center of Korea, and has access to all the major cities nearby. With its improved local communications, Satake Corporation will be better placed to evaluate customer needs and market trends, which will feed into an increase in its business sales, the company said. At the same time Satake will be able to respond more rapidly to the customer requests for support leading to improved customer satisfaction.

Additionally, Satake will continue to expand its business into new industry sectors such as food packaging, where there exists a high demand for Satake’s technologies in removing contamination and foreign material from its products, the company said.