New aluminium closure line started by Nampak

Nampak Closures in South Africa has unveiled an aluminium closure production line at its plant in Epping near Cape Town.

The R14 million (US$1.7m) line produces screw caps for the wine industry, and is capable of at least doubling the plant’s capacity.

Nampak Closures offer a comprehensive range of aluminium and tinplate closures for the sealing of glass bottles and jars in the food and beverage markets.

The new line is being used to produce 30mm x 60mm screw caps for the wine industry. The line is a combination of machinery from two leading international suppliers, PackSys Global (PSG) and Alfons Haar. It presses flat sheet aluminium into 30mm x 60mm shells, before rolling and wadding them.

The line is dubbed the ‘007 (appropriately its line number) High-Speed Wine Screw Cap Line’. “This is the fastest known 30mm x 60mm line worldwide. At full capacity it can produce up to 700 closures per minute and will drastically increase our speed to market,” says Derek Coleman, manufacturing director, Nampak Closures Epping.

“The South African wine market is hugely competitive and the swing from cork to screw caps is still in a growth phase. Speed to market in this competitive landscape is key and very important to our customers, and that’s a major benefit offered by our new line,” adds Barry Erasmus, sales and marketing director, Nampak Closures Epping.

Erasmus explains that the market can be unpredictable, as demand changes constantly and it is difficult for customers to provide accurate forecasts early on. This leads to a customer base that cannot always order as early as it would like, but still needs short lead times with a fast turnaround. “It is this responsiveness, speed and added capacity that Nampak Closures intends to further improve upon with the new line,” he notes. “We certainly aim to be the preferred supplier in this industry. We are customer driven, it’s our philosophy and we strive to continuously improve going forward. With this latest investment we are making that clear.”

Customers who will benefit from this new line include leading players in the wine industry, such as Distell, DGB, Accolade SA, Edward Snell & Co, Robertson’s Winery, Neil Ellis, Home of Origin, Spier Wines and La Motte.

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