National Packaging Systems - Nov 2019

N AT I O N A L PA C K A G I N G S Y S T E M S

NATIONAL PACKAGING SYSTEMS

36 Years of Automating Africa’s Food Packing PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

For almost any food product that needs packaging, Durban’s National Packaging Systems can provide a solution. Whether you’re a company based in South Africa, on the continent, or elsewhere in the world, this innovative and historic business can deliver. Quality is at the centre of everything it does and CEO John Pelucci tells Enterprise Africa that, thanks to a culture of excellence, everything is going well.

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From its base in Pinetown, KZN, National Packaging Systems (NPS) – the local manufacturer of machinery for use in the food and beverage industry – has grown to become internationally renowned and recognised as a business that delivers excellence.

This is quite an achievement for a business operating in what is a

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strained economic environment and a manufacturing sector that is under extreme pressure.

Core in the NPS product range is vertical form, fill and seal machines; volumetric fillers; auger fillers; feeding systems and conveyors. The machines are used to sort and package powders, grains, liquids and other food groups.

While many international

manufacturers play in this space, there is a clear desire from local companies for a South African-based company to assist, and NPS has obliged. Growing from a small team in a minor facility, the company now boasts a group of industry leading engineers, an innovative and highly technical product offering, a wide range of different machines, an all-encompassing after

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

sales service, and a focus on machines built in Africa for Africa.

CEO John Pelucci – a mechanical engineer and a veteran of the packaging industry – tells Enterprise Africa that the NPS edge comes from building close relationships with clients which allows for a deep understanding of exactly what is required from a machine.

“We have a strong design team and we do a lot of design and development,” he says. “We listen to our clients and listen to their feedback about the machines. Some of our machines in the market are now third generation machines. We only build the machines, our clients run them. If a client says that they don’t like a certain feature, we will take it away for the next design – we are always improving.

// WHEN THE CUSTOMER SEES OUR MACHINE AND WHAT IT CAN DO, THEY USUALLY ASKS FOR A NEW MACHINE FROM US ANYWAY // 4 / www.enterprise-africa.net

“We can take control of a machine from anywhere in the world and we have a system that we can put onto any machine, not just our machines, and it will tell you when the machine starts, when it stops, how many empty sachets come through, how many full sachets – it gives a complete production report to our central mainframe.

“We have a lot of feedback from clients right now saying that they want this system on all their machines, not just those manufactured by us,” he adds.

Ultimately, NPS machines offer cost savings, efficiency improvements and faster speed to market for customers. With some of the world’s largest food companies as clients, these offerings are vital for the business.

“We are into many big brands including Unilever, Cadburys, Sasko, Saint Gobain and Tiger Brands.

We have been told we are the biggest manufacturer of packaging machines in South Africa. A lot of our competition build one or two machines but are agents for multiple machines. We are the other way around – we build 40 types of machine with 60 variants and we are agents for just four machines.”

QUALITY & INNOVATION Pelucci states that it is not only customers that understand the level of NPS quality, the rest of the industry is also aware of how innovative the company is.

“The quality of our machine is a real difference,” he says. “We recently attended an international trade show and we had Bosch coming to us and congratulating us on the standard of our machine, saying we are working to international standards and claiming that they see our machines everywhere they go. Because we manufacture locally, and we have local back up service, we have a niche in the market.

If I can’t supply a part ready for shipping by the next day, I’ll give it away for free.”

This commitment to not only a quality product, but also a quality service, gives NPS an advantage in the market and encourages local users to enquire about further service, asking NPS to overhaul machines that they may not manufacture. Of course, Pelucci is happy to assist, happy in the knowledge that every call out on a machine that isn’t made by NPS provides an opportunity.

“90% of the time, we can sort a problem with a machine over the

NATIONAL PACKAGING SYSTEMS

phone. If not, we use our digital system, and if that doesn’t work, one of our technicians is on the next flight.

“We could work on some machines from Europe and we could overhaul machines from big-name brands, but we will not work on Chinese or Indian machines. When the customer sees our machine and what it can do, they usually ask us for a new machine from us anyway.”

The strength that NPS has built its name on comes in the form of vertical form fill and seal machines, often used for the packaging of product into bags.

But, even in this sector where NPS is a leader, it is still vital for the company to produce high-quality because of the competitive nature of the industry.

“Vertical form fill and seal machines are the most common machine in the world and everyone manufactures them,” Pelucci claims.

“The vertical sachet and vertical stick pack machines are different altogether, and very few companies manufacture these,” he adds. “No one in South Africa does it, and only some of the big players around the world do it. When you buy an international machine, you pay through the nose – they are usually three times the price of ours, and you also pay their labour rate when they come over. Also, the backup service is not local and we provide that.”

FULLY PACKAGED The packaging industry in South Africa is big business and, according to Deloitte, is showing great potential for growth.

Consumer markets in Africa are growing, and a focus on health and wellness alongside urbanisation will see the demand for packaging products and reliable packaging machines expanding.

Both East and West Africa remain quickly growing regions and the expectation is that this growth will provide major opportunities for packaging businesses.

NPS is already active in Africa and is keen on furthering its export market on the continent.

“We deal with a lot of big, corporate companies and we do 75% export.

We export into Africa, Australia, the UK, USA – the African market is ok, we completed a large project in 2016 where we had a big order for 75 vertical sachet machines for export that can produce 360 sachets per minute,” says Pelucci.

He explains that the largest project NPS has completed was in Nigeria, a $3.8 million job, for one of the largest companies in Africa.

“It is a company that packs milk powder into sachets,” he says. “The beauty of our machine is that, if you buy

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a four-sided-seal sachet machine, and you want to increase from a 60mm wide sachet to a 70mm wide sachet, you’d have to buy a new machine. With us, the Nigerian company can now do a 65, 70, 80 and 120mm in the same machine.

No other machine in the world can offer this, and it offers huge cost savings for our customers with just a 30-minute change over time between sizes.”

After more than 35 years in business, the company remains future-focussed and has lined up a very strong pipeline, both in export and local business.

“We have a contract coming up in Papa New Guinea, we are doing work for Walmart, we have just landed a major contract with a large sweet company in South Africa where we competed against five international companies but won the contract. That is for six major lines and we are busy manufacturing right now, ready for installation in November.

“We are busy with a machine for De Beers – a diamond packing machine. That is a major project where the first machine is about to be commissioned. They will likely go onto ships that draw diamonds from

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the seabed and they are then packed through the machine with an RF tracker so they can be traced anywhere in the world. The machine will also be used for land-based mines as well, not just in South Africa but internationally too.”

Fortunately for NPS, the country’s exchange rate is promoting export business. The Rand against the Dollar, Euro and British Pound makes South Africa attractive to buy from.

“The exchange rate right now is horrific but that is better for us in the export market. We still work in South Africa but 75% of our business is now export.

“We are a well-known business on the continent – when it comes to salt or sugar packaging, no one can touch us for speed, not even the big international players. Some machines are doing 50 packs per minute for 500g, 45 for one kilo and 30 for two kilos. We are 55 per minute across all three sizes. We also offer the full turnkey project from raw material coming in to finished product going out of the door,” explains Pelucci.

HISTORIC SA BUSINESS Pelucci’s involvement with the company started in 1994 after the

// WE HAVE BEEN TOLD WE ARE THE BIGGEST MANUFACTURER OF PACKAGING MACHINES IN SOUTH AFRICA // initial registration of the firm in 1983.

He purchased the company from one of the original owners after the other partner passed away. In 94, the company was a small concern and the new owner was keen to expand.

“At the time, the company was building one machine. Today, we build 40 different types of machine and 60 different variants.

“In 1994, the business was just keeping its head above water and not much more. It was operating out of a 400m2 premises. In 1996, we doubled the floor space, and in 2001 we moved to a new location with 1250m2. Two years ago, we moved again into 3100m2 and our staff has grown from 10 to 65.”

NPS has always been located in KZN and remains a South African business, building machines for the

NATIONAL PACKAGING SYSTEMS

African environment.

Pelucci is confident about the future, and he is buoyed by the response to his company’s success by the industry.

“We are growing all the time. You just have to look at the others in our industry – one wanted to buy us to close us down because we are affecting them, the other wants to buy us because they can see where we are going. They see our technology and they see the standards we are working to.

“Going forward, we would like to push for more business in the UK and USA but we are not too worried about where we sell machines,” he says.

MANUFACTURED SUCCESS South Africa’s manufacturing sector has seen mixed success over the past few years. The wider industry is driven by automotive manufacturing, petroleum and chemicals, and food and beverage, but these parts of the manufacturing industry have all realised their own struggles, often shedding jobs and witnessing a decline in contribution.

// I ENJOY WHAT I DO AND IF YOU DON’T ENJOY IT THERE IS NO POINT DOING IT //

Specialist manufacturing is hit and miss, and if a company cannot deliver for its clients, it can soon pay the price.

But NPS is a picture of health and is taking advantage of all of the opportunities coming its way.

“In the engineering industry and construction industry, people are struggling. In our industry, everybody has to eat food and it has to be packaged. A lot of the companies have old machines that are having a lot of downtime, so they have to buy new machines. Yes, the economy is upside down and we often do not know what is happening one day from the next, but we are still busy,” says Pelucci. “Africa is growing, Nigeria is going through the roof. We have a project with a major global food company in Nigeria where a bespoke system was needed that didn’t exist. We have designed the system and other players in the industry are looking to us to supply something similar.

“We do a lot of bespoke machines.

If we are at an exhibition and someone approaches our competition with something specific in mind, they will say ‘we only do standard machines, go and see NPS’. Our machines are specialised and customised for what the client wants,” he adds.

This innovative and forwardthinking business - whose machines go on to do most of their work behind the scenes in Africa’s food supply chain - has

become an example to follow. Every aspect of the company is under one roof and this allows total quality control.

“We train people from the floor up.

People start at the bottom and work their way up. My current partner started out as an electrician and he is now a shareholder in the company. A lot of people have been with us for 20 years,” says Pelucci. “We manufacture everything under one roof.

Raw materials come in, we manufacture all the parts in our machine shop, we handle all fabrication, we assemble the machine, and then run the machine in our factory with the clients materials and conditions for factory acceptance testing (FAT) purposes, and when they are happy we strip it down, crate it, send it to site, and then we go and install and commission it.”

This approach has seen NPS become an integral part of its customers operations, and when a business can achieve this status, growth should come organically.

Pelucci is happy with where NPS is now and excited about the future.

“I enjoy what I do and if you don’t enjoy it there is no point doing it,” he concludes.

WWW.NATIONALPACKAGING.CO.ZA

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