Propak Africa 2019 and co-located events The GAPP Print Expo, Pro-Plas Expo, FoodPro and Pro-Label Africa will showcase latest innovation and technologies from 12-15 March at the Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

The trade exhibition will afford over 600 exhibitors the opportunity to display and demonstrate their newest products and will give visitors the opportunity to see the latest state-of-the-art equipment and machinery, auxiliary products and services.

An all-encompassing event and a forum for trading, networking, learning and product sourcing, visitors to the show can expect to see many leading South African companies across Halls 5, 6 and 7 and outside exhibits, as well as international exhibitors.

Many new packaging trends are emerging globally. Euromonitor’s August 2018 Packaging in South Africa report outlines a growing demand for both smaller and larger pack sizes, as well as a boost in the development of formats such as plastic pouches, no frills packaging and more convenient packaging options for on-the-go lifestyles.

Companies will be looking for efficiency improvements, cost containment and targeting new market segments as a priority in 2019, to drive improved profitability and better returns. Spending time at Propak Africa will enable visitors to find products and solutions to address these priorities.

“The show is ideally positioned for visitors to learn about latest industry trends, speak to technical experts, find solutions to their business needs and to benefit from seeing the live demonstrations of machinery and products in action,” says event director Sven Smit. “With packaging being an essential requirement across most industry sectors, we understand the importance of reflecting this at the show, which is why we bring packaging, plastics, print, labeling and food processing together at one venue.”

Free-to-attend seminars

New to Propak Africa this year is the Seminar Theatre in Hall 7. More than 20 industry leaders from the packaging, printing, and plastics industries will be sharing their insights into the latest developments and challenges in these industries over the four days of the show. The seminars are free to attend and the topics will be aligned with the themed days.

Four days, four themes

Also new to this year’s Propak Africa is an ‘every day a themed day’ experience, where each day of the show will focus on a different theme. Day one will focus on new products that are being showcased at Propak Africa. Smit says that “we want to celebrate these and will be highlighting a few of the top ones.” On view close to the visitor registration area will be ten new product display showcases that feature end products and a QR code that can be scanned to access a short video. Visitors will also receive a show programme where they can find which exhibitors will have new products on their stands.

On day two, sustainability will be in the spotlight and ways to promote good environmental practices through packaging. Visitors will be able to learn more at the Sustainability Pavilion in Hall 5 where Producer Responsibility Organisations will be exhibiting alongside Packaging SA. Many exhibitors will also be highlighting their latest sustainability initiatives.

A new Skills Development Area in Hall 5 has been developed in partnership with the Artisan Training Institute (ATI) and will showcase a fully functional workshop. Students will be demonstrating skills learned at ATI that are relevant to the industries represented at the show. Taking place for the duration of the show, it will provide a focus point on day three’s skills development theme in addition to spotlighting exhibitors’ skills development initiatives. Visitors will also see innovative designs from the Institute of Packaging Southern Africa (IPSA) Student Goldpack Awards finalists; a window to the future of packaging

“The final day of the show is our ‘local is lekker’ South African day,” states Smit. ”Propak Africa is celebrating its 44^th year and the success of the co-located events, and the day is also a celebration of both our local and our international exhibitors who contribute to the industry and to the South African economy.”

New products on show

Pyrotec PackMark will be showcasing their fully-integrated operational coding and labelling equipment using PackLink, a customised product tracking system. Visitors will see the Anser U2 mobile hand-held printer and the 9405 CIJ coder from Markem-Imaje. Witness a South African first with the unveiling of a ground-breaking new machine and to see new NFC technology and product samples relating to the launch.

Visitors to the Eptech stand will see the all new Vanmark 1820 Peeler/Scrubber which will peel all root crop vegetables up to 1800 kg per hour. Also new on the stand, the Alexander Solia SWA75.2 Washer and Dryer, this machine washes and dries delicate product in one easy step.  With the effective wash system and catching of dirt this is a must for the small to medium fresh processing plants.

On the Thermo Fischer Scientific stand will be the new Sentinel™ Multiscan Metal Detector unit. This utilises an innovative new technology to overcome the limitation of fixed single or dual frequency metal detectors that can miss metal contaminants hidden in product signals. Multiscan technology scans a combination of up to five userselectable frequencies from 50 to 1000 kHz. This enables users to identify contaminants that are up to 70 percent smaller in volume than previous technologies, thus reducing the probability of an escape to near zero.

Explore Polyoak’s 100% recyclable packaging including its natural PET bottles and preforms with matching closures. Visitors can also try out the robust OctoGrip™ 20L bucket lid with eight robust locking tabs designed to prevent accidental spills. South Africa’s lightest dairy closure, the C5, is a must see for dairy brands and milk or dairy juice packers. It’s lightweight and features an anti-litter tamper evidence band. Also on display will be a diverse range of generic bottles, closures, tubs, drums and buckets, and more, all to be viewed while visitors enjoy an Ella Cappuccino coffee packaged in the award-winning IML retortable barrier tub.

Several new products will be on display at the IPEX stand including the Wittmann Battenfeld Eco Express, Hasco, and Achberg Silo Systems.

New machines can be discovered at the Burns Machinery Sales stand. They will be introducing Pulselectonics, a new addition to their company for electronic parts used on their Turkish principles machines. New machines on show will be from Gur-is Makina, ATAC, Umut and Pulselectronic as well as the new Akdemir Makina wide bag on a roll with pneumatic loading system machines.

Corrufold, fanfold corrugated board from Corruseal, and Panotec Box On Demand are the new Austro products that can be seen at the show..

Visitors can look out for three new products on the J-Pak stand including Jet-Air for the cleaning and sanitation of bottles and jars before filling and Evolabel, Swedish label applicators tailor made to the Print and Apply applications, from single packets to Pallet Application. Also on display, the Herma range of label applicators specialising in apply only applications.  

Now representing Jongerius and Rovema, Qualitechs invites visitors to their stand to learn about the Aligning Collating Multipackaging Machine (ACM), from Jongerius. Designed to handle pre-packed individual servings of product directly from a vertical form fill machine, the ACM is a fully automatic multipackaging machine, used for polysack packaging. Visitors can also find out about the continuous motion Form Fill and Seal machine BVC from Rovema. Designed for maximum output performance, the machine is equipped with the Sense&Seal product detection and the high-quality sealing technology Premiumseal also at high speeds. This results in very high machine efficiency whilst producing perfect bag quality.

Many more new products and services will be unveiled to visitors across Halls 5, 6 and 7 as well as outside exhibits.

Conferences alongside Propak Africa

In addition to the seminars, four conferences will be taking place alongside Propak Africa, providing additional learning opportunities for visitors. The Institute of Packaging SA (IPSA) Think Tank will take place on 12 and 13 March, the Printing SA and South African Institute of Printing (SAIP) Conference will take place on 13 March and the SAPRO and WWF-SA Design for Recycling Workshop will take place on 13 March. VDS Media’s Propak Africa Packaging Innovation and Sustainability Conference will take place on 14 March.

For further information and online visitor registration, visit www.propakafrica.co.za