When Afripack held a party to celebrate its 80th anniversary, it wasn’t just a merry diversion at the end of a hard day’s work, it also underlined a global connection – in this case with Mondi in Austria.
Afripack throws a party
As reported in last month’s ‘hot’ news, Afripack and Astrapak took advantage of Propak to announce their exciting joint venture in the field of MAP technology (PPM Apr13, p15).
Another event involving Afripack, however, was a cocktail party held on the stand to celebrate the company’s 80th anniversary.
‘We exhibited at Propak to celebrate our 80th anniversary and to expose our company’s vision while networking with new and existing customers,’ says Tyrone Voller, Afripack’s innovations and marketing manager.
Taghleef launches ZNV
On the buzzing Taghleef Industries (Ti Films) stand, Muhammad Ali Mirza, head of sales and marketing (AMEA), announced an exciting addition to the company’s metallised films – ZNV, a high-barrier double-sided coated metallised BOPP for use in triple-laminate structures, designed to help converters create competitive, innovative and sustainable packaging, with fine quality presentation.
‘Experience shows that converters use aluminium foil in multilayer packaging applications, based on habit – not on product requirements; and, considering shelf-life expectations of some retail products, they’re delivering over-engineered packaging structures,’ Ali maintains.
ZNV has two key benefits. It significantly reduces the amount of plastic required to produce a barrier-effective laminate and provides significant energy savings. Compared to aluminium foil, its production requires five times less energy, representing a reduction in carbon footprint. It’s also lighter than metallised PET and aluminium foil thanks to its low density of 0,91g/cm³.
‘Available in 15µm and 18µm grades, ZNV is an ideal substrate to replace metallised polyester or aluminium foil in triplex structures using adhesive or extrusion lamination technologies,’ Ali continues. ‘Key characteristics include high surface energy on the non-metallised side, excellent moisture, light and oxygen barriers, mechanical properties and bond strength.’
A triplex film structure is used in applications such as sachets for liquids and pouches for dry goods. Typical structures are reverse-printed PET/aluminium foil/PE or PET/met PET/PE.
‘ZNV is already used by multinationals to replace aluminium foil for milk bags and haircare sachets. I believe it’s destined to have a bright future in southern African where extended-life, sustainable flexible packaging applications are in high demand,’ concludes Ali.
Uniprint leads the way
Among members of the Uniprint team at Propak were Gavin Clark, Valmari Watson, Bev Law and Samantha Anderson.
They were kept very busy promoting Uniprint’s labels and packaging division.
Uniprint produces self-adhesive labels, shrink sleeves, film wraparound labels, and, of course, the ubiquitous litho-printed wet-glue labels.
Other areas of expertise include folding carton production for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors, and the printing of related inserts. Award-winning point of purchase material is yet another capability offered by the Uniprint conglomerate.
Sareltech’s stand is a hit
Led by Sarel Oosthuizen, the Sareltech team and representatives of their overseas principals had their work cut out keeping pace with the non-stop stream of visitors to their stand.
Being promoted were products from BST International, AFS, Softal and Fraser and all were receiving keen interest from printers and converters.
Among the BST systems on show was the Shark 4000 Lex on the STS 320 servo-drive inspection-rewinder, shown at Propak for the first time in Africa. This unit is billed as providing ‘100% defect detection, 100% of the time’ including such things as missing print, mis-registration, hickeys, die-cut variations, and much more. To achieve this 100% inspection, the unit incorporates BST’s well-proven Shark 400 technology.
Another hit was spectral measurement system QCenter.Spectral. This is the outcome of a development partnership between BST and X-Rite (announced at last year’s drupa) that allows inline spectral measurement to be compared exactly to those achieved using a handheld device. ‘These innovations are setting benchmarks in quality assurance and offering a critical edge over other systems,’ comments Sarel.
While at drupa 2012, Sarel secured local representation for AFS and Softal. As a result these products were prominent on the Propak stand; and AFS area sales manager, Gerry Donohue, was present to explain these advanced technologies to visitors.
With its 27-year history, AFS (based in Germany) is a market leader in the production of corona treatment systems and, in fact, Gerry revealed, some two-thirds of AFS’s output is purchased by world’s leading OEMs for integration into their extrusion, printing and lamination systems.
‘By value, we estimate that we enjoy a 25% share of the world market for corona treatment systems,’ he remarks. ‘We hope to conclude some new business in South Africa as a direct result of the show.’
Generating particular interest at Propak was AFS’s ‘Smart Hinge’ electrode mounting. ‘From visitors, we’ve learnt of the high replacement cost of ceramic electrodes in South Africa,’ Gerry notes. ‘Our patented Smart Hinge design (pictured below) allows electrode bars to move in either direction and to compress in the event of any obstruction. This prevents unnecessary breakages and the associated downtime and cost,’ he explains.
The hinge itself is not directly fixed to the electrode, but to a stainless steel plate over which the electrode bar slides like a sleeve. This allows for thermal expansion while no mechanical stress is placed on the ceramic body.
AFS is also a leader in sophisticated hot and cold needle perforation systems.
As this was Gerry’s first visit to South Africa for several years, he was pleased to note some significant advances in the flexible packaging sector. ‘The gap has closed between South Africa and the rest of the world in terms of quality and extrusion technology,’ he commented. ‘I’m impressed to see far more sophisticated packaging being produced, particularly the strong moves to multilayer coextrusion.’
Technically-advanced pet food packaging
OCC|Plasto-Sac’s expansive stand showcased many of the company’s products, including its pet food range. An array of ready-made bags, in various shapes and sizes (from 500g to 25kg) are manufactured to customers’ specifications with properties such as mechanical resistance, high puncture resistance, and excellent sealability and printability. Numerous features, either as standard or optional, include gussets, K seals, hot-melt in gussets, tear notches, degassing valves (three types to choose from), degassing micro-perforation, recloseable zippers, handles and embossing for palletisation.
A new product for pet food packaging (among others) is the paper match bag. These heavy-duty bags are specially designed for use on high-throughput form-fill-seal packaging lines.
‘They have a paper-like appearance and feel, offering excellent organoleptic properties, and provide excellent printability, grease and oil resistance, and are resistant to humidity,’ explains Andre Brooks, business development manager.
Additionally, they’re 100% recyclable and comply with food contact regulations.
‘Response to our pet food bags was extremely encouraging, while our paper match bags also attracted keen interest and we have a number of good leads to follow up after the show. Visitors were particularly impressed with the characteristics of this modified PE bag, its strength and neat seal, as well as its excellent printability in either a gravure or flexo process,’ he concludes.
GPL goes green
Kenya’s GPL Flexibles likes to lead from the front. With a world-class flexible packaging printing and converting operation plus BRC accreditation, there’s no doubt that MD, Ketul Tanna, is focused on being one step ahead of the competition.
During the show, he announced GPL’s latest ground-breaking project – the establishment of a solvent recovery plant by Donau Carbon, Italy. It’s the first of its kind in Africa.
‘When we established our printing department we had a seven-year plan to retrofit each press to link directly to a solvent recovery plant,’ relates Ketul.
The installation, currently in progress, will take approximately five months to complete; once it’s up and running, GPL will be able to recover and recycle 98% of the solvents used in the printing and laminating process.
‘This investment will allow us to save costs and significantly reduce our environmental impact,’ adds Ketul. ‘As we’ve been driving this project for the last seven years, we’re already 100% compliant with latest legislation.
Alliance impresses the crowds
‘We were very happy with our first Propak show,’ commented Alliance Machinery’s Bradley Bate. ‘Several visitors from around South Africa and beyond our borders showed enthusiasm for our converting machines, especially the entry-level equipment.’
Among Alliance highlights were a new off-line UV coating system from Tec Lighting, die-making systems, and a tape applicator that proved a hit with commercial printers.
‘Overall, the show was good, with various leads being generated,’ relates Brad. ‘It allowed Alliance Machinery to be recognised by the local and African market and, besides showcasing our premium-quality machines, we could highlight our top-end after-sales and service support that’s just as important, if not more so, than the sale.’
Beswick principals pack a punch
With a combined presence, Beswick Machinery and Beswick Office Products demonstrated any number of packaging and printing technologies and ancillary equipment.
With a firm footing in today’s folding carton sector, Beswick Machinery presented the all-new HHS Xtend II cold-glue application system with three glue guns, featuring glue detection using laser sensors, plus the HHS X Melt hot-melt application system, again with glue detection. Also on show was a colour code reader for checking product conformance (so that, for instance, eye-drop and ear-drop cartons don’t get mixed up). Completing the HHS line-up was a detector and rotary ejector that removes non-conforming cartons from the gluing line.
‘German-built HHS machines are designed to increase quality and productivity, to minimise waste and to ensure consistency and repeatability,’ remarks Bruce Beswick, MD of Beswick Machinery. ‘The faster the gluing process, the more important monitoring becomes. The human eye cannot tell if adhesive has been applied or if products are mixed up, so HHS uses “fail-safe principles” to avoid the delivery of faulty products.’
Also demonstrated was the Bobst Plasmatreat system used for preparing glue flaps so that cartonboard coated with UV or aqueous varnishes, or even film laminates, can be glued using standard PVA cold glue at maximum machine speed. Eliminating the need to cut varnish blankets and/or mechanically mill glue flaps, this saves converters a great deal of time and money.
‘Visitors were also impressed by our special Bobst oil filter, designed to dramatically extend the lifespan of lubricants .Several Bobst customers who have purchased the filter have reported using the same oil for as long as ten years!’ Bruce claims.
Konica Minolta features award-winning brands
Konica Minolta South Africa (KMSA)’s space-age stand received positive feedback from the organisers, visitors and competitors alike, providing the ideal backdrop to showcase the company’s innovative products.
Highlights included the bizhub PRESS C6000 digital colour press that combines high quality with low cost, the BERTL 5-Star bizhub PRESS C8000, and the bizhub PRESS C70hc.
Featuring Konica Minolta’s High Chroma toner, that elevates colour, graphics and photographic imagery to new levels, the C70hc has output capabilities up to 70 pages/min.
Visitors also saw the bizhub PRESS 1250 series that features proprietary technologies that ensure high-definition images as the basis for top-quality printouts.
Those interested in the software side were treated to demonstrations of colour management, variable data printing, web-to-print, transactional printing and Photo-PRESS.
‘We had a fantastic experience, meeting all the objectives set out prior to the show,’ remarks Leon Minnie, product manager: production systems. ‘First and foremost, we were able to create interest in, demonstrate and promote our production machines. Secondly, we showed how our solutions and hardware can work together to achieve results not previously possible on lithographic presses. Many local businesses have found KMSA to be a trusted partner to assist them in their transition to digital. Finally, visitors were made aware of our abilities, the quality and cost effectiveness of our systems, and our support and maintenance.’
Global solutions for local leaders
It was an action-packed four days for Paul Clark and the Adex Plastics & Machinery team, who were joined on the stand by representatives of foreign principals – CMD, Sysmetric, Pelican, C&C Flexo and Windsor Machines.
Numerous positive enquiries emerged as visitors watched the latest Pelican Rotoflex Soloslit 3 high-speed slitter-rewinder with remote diagnostics system being put through its paces at 500m/min by Pelican’s Amod Patel, Biren Kothari and Raju Singh.
C&C Flexo’s Luigi Carraro also reported hot leads from African converters for the new-generation Carint flexographic presses with sleeved anilox and print cylinders and leak-proof doctor blade systems. Carint also offers a service to update and retrofit existing presses, carried out by C&C Flexo’s technical team.
US-based Tim Lewis, VP of CMD, and Shaughn Hanley, director of CMD’s international marketing and sales, were both impressed with the quality of this year’s event and the number of legitimate enquiries generated. ‘We’re more than happy with results,’ commented Tim. ‘Undoubtedly, our Bag-on-a-Roll (BOR) machine was the star of our stable, attracting visitor attention because of its value-added features and cost-effective entry price.’
Built to handle high-speed bag production, the line converts popular draw tape-style trash bags on an easy-to-dispense overlapped or perforation connected roll configuration. ‘Two CMD BOR systems are already operational in South Africa and we received a huge number of fresh enquiries at the show, and for our medical pouch makers, tear-off perforation, interleaf and bottom-seal bagmakers,’ added Tim. ‘The opportunity for local growth is enormous and, since partnering with Paul and the Adex team, we’ve made positive inroads with leading converters.’
Also satisfied with the quality and quantity of the visitors was Manoj Pakash from Windsor Machines, who smilingly reported the conclusion of four orders and the initiation of several new projects.
Solid presence for Rajoo
PPM’s Susi Moore with Jinesh Shah (Rajoo Engineers) and Gerhart Mischinger (Technimac). According to Jinesh, Technimac has established a solid presence for Rajoo in southern Africa. ‘We always offer our support at local trade events such as Propak and we’ve been happy with the quality of enquiries generated at this year’s show,’ he comments.
Comprehensive tooling operation
The team from MJH Machine Tools erected a comprehensive tooling operation, showcasing a range of CNC machining centres, a ZNC Ctek spark eroder, a Haixing injection moulding machine for the plastics packaging industry, and a small, entry-level ShuangSheng SSF 380 38-ton injection moulder, which proved to be the star of the show! ‘We had some really good enquiries but I think sales could take time before they materialise. We found there were too many Chinese companies in opposition to local suppliers,’ comments Ricky Lazenby. ‘Nevertheless, Nasrec is a good venue, with ample parking and accessibility for this type of event and it was important for us to be there and gain more exposure to the Johannesburg market.’
360-degree solutions
To provide a better service for customers and with ever-increasing orders from southern African bottlers and converters, Sipa has opened a South African office and exhibited at Propak for the first time.
Sipa has extensive expertise in all manner of PET bottle manufacturing and filling technologies, including diverse manufacturing platforms, from linear and rotary blow moulders and injection preform systems to complete filling lines and tooling for non-Sipa platforms.
‘We consider packaging development, and therefore preforms and bottles, to be of fundamental importance in market success,’ explains Giovanni De Rosa, Sipa’s GM in South Africa.
Sipa’s bottle designs is vast yet functional, focused on innovative shapes, material weight reduction, optimised packaging performance and process stability.
‘Once design and specs are defined, we provide an extensive bottle development programme to verify performance,’ Giovanni points out. Bottle samples are produced on pilot machines (of which the company has 14) for final packaging purposes and marketing tests. ‘Our focus is on stable, consistent processing to obtain the highest performance at the lowest production costs,’ he notes.
Moulds are another key element and Sipa has made major investments in its tooling department, which has a capacity of 5 000 blow cavities and 10 000 injection stacks/year.
Another key point is the versatile XFORM preform system that ranges from eight to 144 cavities and installs legacy moulds.
Sipa also supplies injection moulds for PET preform production on all major brands of PET injection moulding machines.
‘Our SFL linear blowers and SFR rotary blow moulders ensure flexibility in terms of containers (oval, hot fill, wide mouth). They also offer process flexibility at high production rates. The SFR rotary blow moulder especially stand out for its high productivity (up to 2 250 bottles/hour/cavity), low energy consumption, versatility and flexibility,’ Giovanni adds.
Flling systems are at the heart of any bottling line and Sipa’s electronic monobloc is equipped with up to 160 valves for fast, precise and clean filling. ‘A big focus here,’ explains Giovanni, ‘is on our hot-filling machines.’
Complementing these bottling and filling lines are palletisers, depalletisers, craters, decraters, wraparound case packers and a variety of conveying options.
Airsleeve in action
Glenpak’s stand was a hive of activity with visitors crowding in to watch demonstrations of the newly-launched Airsleeve.
This innovative packaging concept is an inflatable security sleeve developed to protect products and improve distribution efficiencies.
‘Airsleeve is a multilayered nylon impregnated polypropylene sleeve with a patented non-return valve that we believe is the future of mass packaging for high-end products,’ claims Glenpak’s Darren Holm.
Quick and easy to use, the durable Airsleeve wraps products in a bubble of safety, withstanding vigorous distribution processes.
Airsleeve is easy to use. Products are placed in the bag, an air nozzle is inserted into the non-returnable valve and the bag is inflated using compressed air, securing the product within the air bubble. ‘The construction ensures the bag can’t be easily punctured, while the time it takes to package products is cut from around 78 seconds to below 20 seconds,’ Darren explains.
Initially developed for the pharmaceutical industry, Airsleeve is now attracting the attention of couriers and mobile phone companies, on-line retailers and cosmetics manufacturers (among others).
‘In addition to speeding up packing and distribution, Airsleeve is well priced, making it an appealing alternative for distribution managers,’ Darren points out. ‘With our range of custom-made carton boxes, specially designed for Airsleeve’s sizes, we’re able to offer a quick, easy solution for getting customers’ products from the factory to consumers,’ he continues.
Airsleeves are manufactured locally and, as we go to print, trials on bags with an aluminium foil outer and suitable for nine-colour print are underway.
‘We were delighted with the interest in Airsleeve at Propak and, from the enquiries we received, we know its launch was a tremendous success,’ Darren sums up.
Integrated packaging lines
Responding to the need for integrated solutions for the FMCG and tobacco industries, Reitech SA and a number of its overseas principles were on show.
From Oystar, area sales manager, François-Xavier Torchon, was at Propak to meet visitors. ‘We’re focusing on southern Africa as a major growth market and already have a strong presence in South Africa,’ François-Xavier commented. ‘With many machines already installed here, we’re concentrating our efforts on driving sales in sub-Saharan Africa,’ he added.
Oystar specialises in packaging lines for form-fill-seal (FFS) cups, stick packs and vertical FFS bags, filling and sealing of preformed cups and bottles (often under sterile conditions), cartoning and palletising for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, dairy and food sectors.
Another of Reitech SA’s principles, groninger Cosmetic, specialises in machinery for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.
‘We see South Africa as a strong growth market, particularly as manufacturers move away from semi-automated equipment and turn to automation to improve output and reduce labour costs,’ explained area sales manager, Dennis Haas. ‘We’ve partnered with Reitech to increase our presence in South Africa and to be closer to our market,’ he commented.
groninger offers proven production lines for processing perfumes, colour cosmetic, skin and hair care products. With its aim to supply complete filling lines, groninger’s machinery includes palletisers, depalletisers and machinery for sorting, cleaning, filling, closing assembling and labelling.
From Germany’s Focke & Co comes equipment for the tobacco industry (for hinge lids, shoulder boxes, soft cups, shell and slide cigarette packers, pouch packaging equipment), as well as for materials handling systems and end-of-line equipment.
Reitech sales engineer, Olaf Socher, sums up: ‘We respond to manufacturers’ packaging equipment needs and, with our partners, deliver integrated solutions for the FMCG and tobacco industries in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Fairpak has it wrapped
Fair Plastic Packaging, or Fairpak as it’s commonly called, has come a long way. The company’s 27-year history is a classic tale of a family business founded on hard work, sacrifice and determination.
Started by Joe Ryklief in 1987, with just a car and a toolbox, this specialist shrink packing and pallet wrapping business now boasts 100% year-on-year growth.
Contributing to its success, Joe’s sons and a number of other family members have joined the business over the years.
‘I remember the first shrink wrapper we built,’ recalls Joe’s son Redewaan, who joined Fairpak straight from school. ‘When we’d completed the machine in our factory (that was previously a barber’s shop), we realised we’d have to cut out the door to deliver it,’ he smilingly remembers.
What a long way this company has come since then, testament to which is its move 18 months ago to premises in Montague Gardens. In fact, so great is its success that Redewaan is on the lookout for yet more space.
Adding to already widely-installed shrink wrappers for printing and FMCG applications, the latest news is Fairpak’s appointment as sole South African distributor for Italian-based Noxon.
Introduced to the South African market at Propak, Noxon is a global leader in the production of pallet wrapping and pallet stabilisation systems, including self-propelling robots and wrapping machines with rotating tables for pallet stabilisation, winders with rotating rings for horizontal wrapping of elongated-shaped products, and manual and automatic machines to close folding cartons.
The Fairpak team was delighted to have Andrea Battistoni, Noxon’s sales manager, on the Propak stand to explain these systems to visitors.
Fairpak also distributes Stiicker taping machines. These innovative and modular machines feature standardised mechanical parts and ergonomically-designed features for ease of use.
Manufacturing 15 shrink wrapping machines/month coupled with growing agency business has seen Fairpak’s horizons expanding to include regular orders from sub-Saharan Africa.
Within South Africa, a growth area is the KZN market, that takes up 30% of Fairpak’s sales, where Fairpak has teamed up with Servetech for distribution of Fairpak and Noxon equipment.
‘Our primary commitment is to service excellence and designing and manufacturing equipment to customers’ specifications,’ Redewaan notes.
Zetes launches serialisation capability
While complete product identification and traceability is a relatively modern concept within supply chain management, it has become a strategic consideration for companies meeting food and pharmaceutical safety, legislative or economic imperatives.
Although not yet legislated in South Africa, serialisation is becoming an important aspect of effective product identification and traceability. At Propak, Zetes South Africa showcased its expertise in this field.
Becoming increasingly important is a manufacturer’s ability to affix unique random codes, show lot numbers, expiry dates, serialisation codes via Datamatrix, and to secure checkout at point of sale, eliminate risk, improve traceability, combat counterfeiting and ensures regulatory compliance for individual packages.
‘Serialisation is the first and an important step in the product identification and traceability process,’ comments Karin Parker, senior executive – marketing for Zetes South Africa. The process also involves several more steps, including product validation and verification, primary labelling and data aggregation, followed by secondary and pallet identification.
Effective product ID and traceability systems are used to improve management of risks related to product safety and to guarantee product authenticity.
Action by the FDA, the European Medicines Agency and GS1 has resulted in a trend towards unit rather than batch processing solutions. The benefit of each product having its own identity ensures traceability from origin, through the supply chain and into consumers’ hands.
Zetes also used Propak to highlight some of its packaging lines, including the recently-launched MD3000e labelling device that, according to Karin, is 38% smaller than a typical print-and-apply machine.
This devise provides standard functionality, including high-speed labelling at item, box, bag and tray level, but alsoit contributes to reduced manufacturing costs with 68% lower operational energy consumption.
‘Product safety throughout the supply chain is a global imperative and while the packaging line is only one aspect of this process it plays a vital role in achieving requisite safety standards,’ concluded Alex Driesen, Zetes South Africa’s MD.
Signea on show
Signea Systeme’s Christo van der Colff, Gerhard Neuhoff and Frank Mason were impressed with visitor numbers and the quality of enquiries. ‘We received several promising leads on our EBS 6500 Boltmark continuous inkjet printer, and the Foba/Alltec Laser and HAS,’ remarks Gerhard. ‘Additionally, more than 100 enquiries alone were obtained on the versatile EBS250. The show allowed us to get a better “feel” for what the packaging and printing industry needs and this will enable us to target specific markets.’
TNA committed to Africa
Following a successful Propak, TNA Packaging Solutions has announced the opening of a regional office in Johannesburg. The move demonstrates a commitment to strengthen its presence in the region and forms part of TNA’s global expansion strategy.
Traditionally used as a gateway to Africa, South Africa provides TNA with direct access to one of the most promising new markets in terms of stable growth. The new office will host TNA sales and service staff and provide a direct link to its growing local customer base in South Africa and across the continent.
‘We’re pleased to expand our global reach with the opening of a dedicated South African office,’ comments Michael Green, MD. ‘We’ve been involved in the African market for ten years and we’re excited about the opportunity to provide customers with a dedicated base, allowing us to react quickly to local trends and, more importantly, enabling us to better serve our numerous customers in the region. Together with our representative in Egypt, we’re now well positioned to cater for the specific needs of all TNA customers across Africa.’
It’s the company’s third facility opening in 2013, following the successful introduction of an office in São Paulo, Brazil, and the launch of its European manufacturing hub in Birmingham, UK.
Success for product identification solutions
Pyrotec’s PackMark division showcased innovations in coding and labelling equipment. Reflecting on PackMark’s participation, GM Brandon Pearce reckons that Propak was one of the best shows he’s attended.
‘We were overwhelmed by the number of enquiries – approximately 50% more than in previous years,’ he claims. ‘There was a great deal of interest from African visitors, with about 15% of inquiries export-related,’ he adds.
A key attraction was a self-adhesive labeller from Harlands. ‘An expert from the UK was present to demonstrate the machine’s capabilities and he was pleased with the attention it attracted,’ Brandon enthuses.
The centrepiece of Pyrotec’s stand was another hit – the Markem-Imaje 9232 IP66 small-character inkjet printer. The live demo featured water poured over the printer during operation to prove its ability to function even in wet conditions. Additionally, one of Pyrotec’s OEM customers, USS Pactech, demonstrated PackMark’s Markem-Imaje 7031 HD laser coder in action on its stand. This coder prints best before dates on yoghurt sachets, across four lanes, while simultaneously scoring the sachets for the insertion of drinking straws.
Comments Jacques Loubser, PackMedia’s national sales manager: ‘ElastiTag is a distinctive hang tag that acts as a brand enhancement tool, custom manufactured to suit brand requirements. Its key feature is an elastomer loop that fits snugly around products. It was definitely the star of the PackMedia display.’
Also well received were PackMedia’s Fix-a-Form and Do-It products. ‘The Fix-a-Form multi-page leaflet label is always popular as it enables the inclusion of a great deal of information in a small area,’ Jacques explains, going on to report great interest in Do-It display strips and hang tabs for positioning products at various points of purchase in a retail environment.
Rowan Beattie, Pyrotec’s MD, sums up: ‘Propak Africa was a great opportunity to showcase the latest innovations from PackMark and PackMedia and we were pleased with the degree of interest in our products. With the industry in a state of recession, it was encouraging to see such a great turnout.’
Preferred partners in packaging solutions
Visitors from the bottle filling sector seeking service, quality and operational excellence needed to look no further than Marefa’s stand.
Following a recent rebranding exercise and with its strong reputation for the manufacture of world-class liquid packaging equipment and continual focus on after-sales and maintenance support, Marefa used Propak to launch a new logo and website, and to promote itself as the ‘Preferred Partners in Packaging Solutions’.
Offering an extensive portfolio of services, Marefa’s operating units include design, sheet metal machining, machine building, and after-sales service. The latter includes spare parts, equipment refurbishment, service and repairs, a breakdown service, installation and commissioning, training, and an advisory service for system improvements.
‘We believe in sustainable customer relationships and provide accessibility and availability of spare parts from our head office in Paarl. Approximately 95% of our components are manufactured on site, while the remainder are sourced from reliable partners,’ explains Marefa’s sales and marketing manager, Frederik van Zyl.
Another value is the Marefa team’s belief in a culture of preventive maintenance and they’ve developed programmes that ensure quality, system performance parameters and processing efficiency to minimise unforeseen breakdowns.
For customers requiring upgrades, Marefa breathes new life into old equipment by keeping abreast of technological improvement and industry demands.
‘Customers have access to upgrade parts for container and closure size changes, cap unscramble/chute changes, new seal sections, filling valves for new container sizes and upgraded or retro fitted new technology on older equipment,’ Frederik points out.
Along with technology upgrades, Marefa offers a programme for equipment refurbishment. ‘By refurbishing equipment, customers receive optimum return on investment, an extended life span, higher performance standards, and decreased waste,’ Frederik adds.
When it comes to servicing and repairs, Marefa’s experienced technicians are trained in electrical and mechanical fault finding, preventive maintenance and scheduled repairs; and breakdown teams in Cape Town and Johannesburg are on 24-hour standby.