SACMI invests in Africa: inauguration of SACMI Nigeria

The ribbon cutting ceremony for SACMI Nigeria was held to coincide with the ProPak West Africa exhibition in Lagos from 12 to 14 September. With a dedicated team and new premises (House 2 at 9 Adeyemo Alakija Street), the branch will be the country’s point of reference for SACMI customer support and services.

 “This inauguration," underlines SACMI President Paolo Mongardi, "seals SACMI's ongoing investment and growth programme on the African continent”, a strategy that has been in place for many years and that has seen the expansion of SACMI's position, facilities and personnel to accompany the development of the packaging and beverage industry".

Complete systems are actually SACMI's strength in Nigeria, a constantly expanding country in which leading local and international beverage brand owners operate.

"A journey into SACMI Imola's advanced packaging technologies"

Preview already available on a day dedicated entirely to customers, invited to explore the world of SACMI's advanced rigid packaging technologies, with a view to lightweight, digitalisation and sustainability.  The event took place at the Lagos Marriott Hotel Ikeja, exploring market trends – with a particular focus on PET – and the main technical evolution in the development of caps and preforms, including advanced process control solutions integrated in SACMI's range of machines and technologies.

The official presentation of the new SACMI Nigeria office took place at the end of the day. From now on, it will be a reference point for all assistance, support and spare parts services for SACMI customers in the region in addition to the historic SACMI South Africa office and to the representative offices already active in Egypt and Morocco.

ProPak West Africa, from new neck-cap standards to turnkey solutions

Everything was ready for the inauguration of the SACMI stand at ProPak West Africa the following day and the large numbers of visitors that filled the exhibition space provided immediate feedback. The highlight of the event was the entire range of SACMI technologies, which in recent years has gained numerous additional customers between converters and local bottlers, starting with CCM compression presses to the opportunity of integration with IPS preform presses and complete bottling lines.

“We introduced those who visited our stand to the double leap forward in terms of quality that our technology allows, namely producing more sustainable and high-performance caps and containers and, at the same time, innovating in terms of product and design", explained the President, Paolo Mongardi.

As regards the cap production in Nigeria, SACMI's compression technology is already the point of reference for the market. The efficiency of the technology has encouraged the major local players to adopt SACMI's new ultralight caps made by CCM and designed for the modern neck standards 26/22 mm for water and CSD and 25/22 mm for water.

More and more often, SACMI customers in this area are opting for a combination with IPS injection moulding machines for producing preforms, starting from the comprehensive consultancy that the company offers, in synergy with the Rigid Packaging Laboratory, for the development of complete solutions in terms of both technology and design, including targeted proposals for reducing the weight of the most commonly used necks, such as the traditional PCO1881.

The team was delighted with the excellent feedback from visitors, who were also increasingly interested in the advantages provided by SACMI's turnkey solutions – the integration of caps and preforms production with blow moulding, filling and labelling lines – with all the advantages of a single partner and product consultancy services, offered in synergy with the Italian parent company.