Acepak Spotlights Pouch Fillers for Food and Liquid Makers

This October, Cape Town packaging specialist Acepak is turning attention to its pouch filling machines. The family-owned business builds end-of-line packaging machines and turnkey systems. Producers in food, beverage, dairy and personal care are now checking their lines before the summer rush, and stand-up and spouted pouches feature in many of those plans. Acepak designs, engineers, assembles and tests all of its pouch filling equipment at its South African head office.

Acepak has been in business for more than four decades and has customers in over 36 countries, from South Africa to the United Kingdom. Pouch fillers are only one part of its catalogue. It also makes case packers, shrink wrappers, banding machines and palletising systems, and it offers line integration. That means a producer can plan pouch filling as part of a complete end-of-line setup instead of buying a single machine on its own.

The pouch filling range at a glance

There are three pouch filling systems in the current line-up, and each one fits a different scale and way of working.

The first is the Automatic High Volume Pouch Filler, also known as the Blank Pouch Filling System. This fully automated machine fills and seals blank stand-up pouches whose tops are still open, including pouches with side-mounted spouts. It is aimed at high-volume producers who want filling and sealing done in one automated process.

The second is the Center Fitment Pouch Filler, built for efficient, precise filling. Pouches feed automatically from a magazine rail into a rotary turret. It suits products packed in spouted pouches with a central fitment, and operations that need consistent, repeatable fills.

The third is the Manual Spout Pouch Filler, a manual system for filling and sealing. It packs products into pouches formed from centre-folded film. The film comes off a roll that is already folded in half and runs through a splitter loading arrangement. Smaller producers, or businesses testing pouch formats for the first time, get a practical entry point into pouch packaging.

The right choice usually depends on three things: output, pouch format and floor space. A plant running long stand-up pouch runs at high volume will lean towards full automation. A business packing smaller batches, or putting a product into a pouch for the first time, might start with the manual system and move up later. Acepak's team can talk producers through these requirements and recommend a solution built around their packaging and processing needs. This matches the company's focus on customised, cost-effective automation.

Local manufacturing and support

There are practical benefits to buying from a packaging machine manufacturer that builds its equipment in South Africa. Design, engineering, assembly and testing all happen in-house in Cape Town. Acepak says it supports customers at every stage, from manufacturing and programming through to machine upkeep and servicing.

A dedicated service and support division handles maintenance, training and technical assistance, so plant staff learn to run and care for their equipment. Acepak has offices in Montague Gardens in Cape Town, Midrand in Gauteng and Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal, which puts it in South Africa's main industrial regions. A fourth office in Skelmersdale, England, serves the United Kingdom.

From filler to pallet

A pouch filler is seldom a stand-alone machine. After filling and sealing, pouches still need to be collated, packed into cases or trays, labelled and palletised. Acepak is a packaging machine supplier that covers the whole end of the line, so it can connect pouch filling to the equipment that comes after it.

On the case packing side, the range includes carton and tray erectors, case sealers, end loaded case packers, robotic case packers and wrap around case packers. For integration there are labellers and barcode applicators for cases and outer packs, as well as trolley packers and sleeve shrink tunnels. Shrink wrappers, banding machines and palletising and stretch wrapping systems round out the offering. A producer can therefore plan an entire pouch line with one supplier responsible for every machine from filler to pallet.

Acepak calls its approach end-of-line packing reinvented. Its turnkey systems bring machine design, programming and long-term support together under one roof.

Sectors Acepak supports

Acepak supplies tailored solutions to the beverage, food, dairy, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, as well as other sectors with specialised packaging and processing needs. Its website has a page for each industry listing the relevant machines. The dairy page, for instance, covers pouch machines, case packing, integration, palletising and shrink wrapping.

Acepak describes itself as Africa's leading robotics and secondary packaging equipment manufacturer. Its vision is to make packaging automation efficient and transformative for customers. The company lists four values: simplicity, customer-centricity, integrity and transparency, and sustainability. The last includes a commitment to responsible manufacturing practices.

Planning ahead in October

The last quarter of the year is when many producers finalise next year's budgets and find out how much capacity they really have for summer and the festive season. Looking at the pouch filling stage now leaves operations teams time to compare machines, weigh up pouch formats and fitments, and work out how a new filler would fit with their current case packing and palletising equipment.

A local packing machine manufacturer can also arrange installation, operator training and servicing through the same team that built the machine. Acepak is open from 07:30 to 16:00, Monday to Friday. Enquiries can go through the website contact form or by phone to the relevant regional office, and a downloadable brochure lists the full machine catalogue.

Machine details, industry pages and contact information for the pouch filling range, and for complete end-of-line systems, are available at https://acepak.com/.

About Acepak

Acepak is a family-owned South African manufacturer of end-of-line packaging machines and turnkey packing systems, founded 40 years ago. At its head office in Montague Gardens, Cape Town, the company designs, engineers, assembles and tests its equipment, which includes automated case packers, pouch fillers, shrink wrap machines, and banding and palletising systems. Acepak serves customers in more than 36 countries in the beverage, food, dairy, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. It also has offices in Midrand, Pinetown and Skelmersdale in the United Kingdom.