Bobst details opportunities in South Africa

Bobst and industry partners Atlas Converting Equipment, Coim, Daetwyler Graphics, Daetwyler SwissTec, Gascogne Laminates, Kodak and LEMO Maschinenbau recently held the second conference of their Africa Packaging Roadshow 2014.

Co-hosted by Bobst’s agent in South Africa, Beswick Machinery, the event saw the participation of 55 attendees from 25 converting and packaging companies.

Eric Pavone, Bobst business director in its web-fed business unit, said: ‘Despite the challenges that the flexible packaging sector in South Africa is facing in a time of global economic uncertainty and factors like the increase in the cost of raw materials, it is a vibrant industry which continues growing.

‘It is also an industry that fosters innovations taking on board the trends that have become increasingly popular with end consumers. These range from smaller format packaging for on-the-go consumption to the increased focus on packaging sustainability, which is an increasingly important factor driving consumer purchasing choices, the protection of the packaged goods and their extended shelf-life.’

The roadshow also served to reinforce Bobst’s presence in the South African packaging market.

Bruce Beswick, director of Beswick Machinery, said: ‘Quite a number of delegates told me they had not realized how significant our presence is in South Africa and the level of resources our customers can rely on for Bobst equipment installed here.

‘We have been the Bobst representative in South Africa for 22 years and can count many very successful installations for both flexible materials and carton packaging. Following my presentation, I received several enquiries about upgrades with special interest for the Bobst remote monitoring system Helpline Plus as converters are very keen to keep their machines at peak performance all the time.’

As well as South Africa, the roadshow visited Kenya this month, and will head to Algeria in September.