Propak East Africa 2023 Review

As a leading supplier of equipment and services to the packaging and label industries, Bobst focused on sustainability and innovation, two key areas that are shaping the future of these sectors.

Bobst unveiled its latest products and solutions, which have been designed to help customers achieve their sustainability goals, including energy-efficient equipment, recycling and waste management solutions, and innovative materials and technologies that reduce the environmental impact of packaging.

A highlight of Bobst’s participation was its latest innovations in the field of packaging automation for the folding carton industry, which can help customers increase efficiency and reduce waste.

Carton cutting

Eric Pavone, region business director of Africa, Middle East, Turkey, and Russia, explains that in 2021, Bobst introduced the ACCUREGISTER system on the NOVACUT 106 range – a sheet-register system adapted with the best attributes of the optical POWER REGISTER brought to market over 20 years ago. ‘This latest sheet-register system thus enables very short set-up times in the die-cutting process and minimises stops caused by the feeder. Waste is reduced in set-up and during production, saving on costs and increasing sustainability,’ Eric reports.

He describes the NOVACUT 106 E/ER as a high-speed automatic flatbed die-cutter for paper, cartonboard (up to 2 000g/m2) and corrugated board (up to 5mm thick), which delivers impressive speed and automatic stripping and blanking, resulting in uninterrupted production and excellent product quality.

According to Eric, the advanced human-machine interface (HMI), SPHERE, offers a simple set-up process where all settings are displayed for intuitive navigation, enabling repeat jobs to be loaded quickly to reduce downtime. ‘The integrated Quick Lock system for automatic locking and unlocking of the upper stripping tools, combined with the CENTERLINE system for assembling, positioning and centering of the tools, ensures that materials are cut and handled with perfection.’

Related products for speeding up production include the CHASE CHANGER make-ready table for job preparation, which allows operators to exchange the cutting chase in under a minute. For easy checking of the die-cut sheet, a standard control table can be installed on the podium barrier.

As converters move towards more digitalisation in their operations, Bobst has developed TooLink, a digital platform that connects die-cutting machines with the tooling for advanced process automation. This means that chips are built into the die-cutting tools, which then register the data of every die-cutting job. The next time the tools are introduced into the machine, the data is read directly into the HMI, allowing for immediate identification of individual die-cutting jobs and automatic setting of values.

Folding and gluing

The next stage in the converting process is folding and gluing, another area where Bobst is providing configurations for high-quality, fault-free boxes for any market as well as peripherals and devices for increased performance and productivity, Eric remarks.

In 2022, the OEM introduced the NOVAFOLD 50|80|110 to help converters boost capacity and end-product quality by producing a wide variety of box styles across a range of substrates, at speeds of up to 300m/min, thanks to its essential features, which include a highly steady feeder through to blank aligner, accurate prebreaker, flexible crash-lock module and four- and six-corner device.

Among its complementary automation features, Eric highlights the ACCUEJECT device, which provides enhanced quality assurance. Operating in conjunction with all commonly used glue application systems, ACCUEJECT automatically ejects boxes that don’t meet the quality control specifications.

Another key area of focus for Bobst at Propak East Africa was its commitment to customer service and support, and experts provided advice and guidance to regional customers. ‘Bobst is well-positioned to continue driving the packaging industry forward, helping customers to achieve their goals while reducing their environmental impact,’ says Mohamed Hassairi, regional marketing and communications manager for Africa, Middle East and Turkey.

‘Overall, Bobst’s participation at the exhibition was a resounding success. Our team’s focus on sustainability and innovation resonated with visitors and our products and solutions generated a great deal of interest and excitement,’ Mohamed concludes.

Successful showcase

This year’s Propak East Africa featured 150 exhibitors from over 35 countries, with 93% stating that they met the goals set for exhibiting and 86% believing that their sales would increase as a result of taking part in the show. Ninety-four percent of the 4 622 visitors achieved their goals for attending the show, which ranged from sourcing new products or suppliers (60%) and gathering market information (31%) to networking (54%) and attending a conference session (23%), which featured 26 global experts.

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