Acepak Highlights Tray Forming and Stretch Wrapping for Summer Drinks Runs

Summer is peak season for South Africa's beverage and dairy producers. Hot weather lifts demand for water, soft drinks, juices and chilled dairy products, and the festive season adds retail orders, promotions and multipacks to the production schedule. Acepak, the Cape Town based manufacturer of end-of-line packaging machines, is using November to highlight the equipment that helps those producers turn filled bottles, cartons and tubs into secure, shelf-ready and transport-ready packs: tray forming machines, sleeve tunnels, label applicators and stretch wrappers.

The company's message is that peak season rarely breaks at the filler. It breaks at the end of the line, where products have to be collated, packed, labelled and wrapped as fast as they arrive. Having the right secondary and transit packaging equipment in place keeps the whole line moving.

Tray forming for collated packs

Trays are a common format for beverage and dairy products, holding bottles, cans or cartons together for retail display and handling. Acepak's Automatic Tray Forming Machine folds pre-scored cards around collated products using a die press with pneumatic systems, and hot glue is applied to secure the folds. A related tray forming machine wraps pre-scored cardboard around collated products to form sturdy trays, suited to operations that need precise and consistent tray formation with products securely encased.

For producers running higher volumes, the Inline High-Speed Case Erecting and Packing Solution integrates into the production line, feeding pre-scored cards into the machine and synchronising them with incoming products. Pneumatic and servo operated case and carton erectors and sealers are available both with and without automatic product loading, and an automated product insertion system with pneumatic or magnetic grippers places products into preformed cartons.

Sleeving and labelling for the retail shelf

Summer promotions and festive multipacks often rely on shrink sleeves and transit labels. Acepak's Sleeve Tunnel is a stand-alone heat tunnel that shrinks pre-applied sleeves or shrink film tightly around bundled or individual products. It is designed for retail multipacks, tray-packed food items and individually labelled bottles and jars, with consistent and controlled heat distribution for a clean, secure finish.

For secondary and transit packaging, Acepak's Mechanical Case and Outer-Pack Label Applicator uses a roll-fed label system and a sensor-activated motor to label cases, outers, shrink bundles and collated packs. Accurate labelling on outer packs helps distribution centres and retailers handle the extra volume that arrives in the weeks before December.

Stretch wrapping for stable pallets

Once packs are formed, they have to reach the customer in one piece. Acepak supplies a range of stretch wrapping machines for pallet stability. The ATLANTA REVOLUTION series is designed to wrap all kinds of products efficiently, including loads that are unstable, very light or easily crushed. The SFERA mobile wrapping machine starts as a low cost model with a pre-stretch film system and can grow with the needs of a business. SYNTHESI is an economical, easy to operate stretch wrapping machine that can be equipped with three different film carriages, giving producers access to power pre-stretch at an affordable price.

Further along the line, Acepak's palletising solutions and robotic depalletising heads, which use magnetic or pneumatic gripping technology, help manage the movement of full pallets in and out of production.

A full end-of-line partner

As a packaging machine manufacturer, Acepak designs, engineers, assembles and tests its equipment at its head office in Cape Town. Its portfolio covers automated case packers, automatic packing machines, shrink wrap machines, banding machines, pouch fillers, palletising and full line integration. The company has more than 40 years of experience and is family owned.

That in-house capability means producers can approach Acepak as a single packaging machine supplier for a complete end-of-line system, rather than combining machines from several vendors. The company works with clients to understand their goals and design solutions tailored to their products, volumes and floor space.

Built for beverage and dairy, and beyond

Acepak has dedicated solutions for the beverage and dairy industries, as well as for food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics and other sectors. Products such as bottles, jars, cartons and tubs each have their own handling needs, and the company's range of collating, forming, sleeving, labelling and wrapping equipment can be combined to suit them.

The company services clients in over 36 countries, from South Africa to the United Kingdom, and it has offices in Cape Town, Midrand in Johannesburg, Pinetown in Durban and Skelmersdale in England. Its service and support teams assist with programming, upkeep and servicing throughout the life of the equipment.

Banding and shrink wrapping for promotions

Festive promotions often call for bundled products, such as two packs held together or a free item attached to a main product. Acepak's banding machines and automatic shrink wrap machines are designed for this kind of work, grouping products securely without the need for extra cartons. Combined with the company's case packers and tray formers, they allow a producer to switch between standard packs and promotional bundles on the same line as orders change through the season.

Planning ahead of the festive peak

For producers who are already feeling the pressure of summer orders, Acepak recommends reviewing where the end of the line slows down. A manual tray or wrapping step that copes during quieter months can become a bottleneck when volumes climb. Speaking to an experienced packing machine manufacturer early allows time to assess options, from a single machine upgrade to a fully integrated line, before the next peak arrives.

Producers can explore Acepak's solutions by industry and by machine type, download the company's catalogue and contact its sales team at https://acepak.com/.

About Acepak

Acepak is a family-owned manufacturer of end-of-line packaging machines and turnkey packing systems, with more than 40 years of experience. It designs, engineers, assembles and tests its equipment at its head office in Montague Gardens, Cape Town, and has offices in Midrand, Pinetown and Skelmersdale in the United Kingdom. Its range includes case packers, shrink wrappers, banding machines, pouch fillers, tray formers, stretch wrappers and palletising systems for the beverage, food, dairy, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, serving clients in over 36 countries.

Media Contact
Acepak
Email: info@acepak.com
Phone: +27 21 552 5999
Website: https://acepak.com/