#acepak

The Cape Town engineering firm pairs turnkey automation with hands-on support as food, beverage and pharmaceutical producers expand output through mid-2026.

Acepak, the Cape Town packaging equipment engineering firm, is heading into the second half of 2026 with a clear message for manufacturers across Africa and beyond. As food, beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetics producers plan output for the busy months ahead, the family-owned business is pointing to its end-of-line automation and turnkey systems as a practical route to steadier, faster and more reliable production lines.

With more than 40 years in the industry, Acepak designs, engineers, assembles and tests its machinery at its headquarters in Montague Gardens, Cape Town. As a packaging machine manufacturer, the company builds equipment that handles the final stages of production, from filling and wrapping through to banding, case packing and palletising. That work now reaches producers in 36 countries and more across Africa, Europe and further afield, supported by offices in Johannesburg, Durban and Skelmersdale in England.

End-of-line automation built for real production floors

The Acepak range covers the machines that manufacturers rely on once a product is made and needs to be readied for dispatch. Automated case packers group and pack finished goods, shrink wrap machines secure bundles and multipacks, and pouch filling equipment handles flexible packaging formats. Banding machines and palletising systems complete the line, taking cartons and cases through to pallet-ready loads. For producers running high volumes, this end-of-line stretch is where bottlenecks often appear, and where dependable automation makes the difference between a line that keeps pace and one that falls behind.

As a packaging machine supplier, Acepak works across a broad spread of sectors. Beverage bottlers, food producers, dairy operations, and pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers each face their own packing demands, from hygiene requirements to fragile products and fast changeovers. Building this equipment in-house means the company can tailor systems to the format, speed and layout a given plant needs, rather than forcing a producer to bend its process around off-the-shelf machinery.

Engineering, integration and support under one roof

What sets a specialist packing machine manufacturer apart is the ability to see a project through from design to daily running. Acepak offers integration services that bring individual machines together into a single working line, along with maintenance and support to keep that line productive over the long term. Because the equipment is engineered and tested at the Cape Town facility before it ships, producers deal with the team that actually built the machine when they need parts, servicing or advice.

That combination matters for South African manufacturers in particular. Long lead times and distant suppliers can leave a production line idle while a producer waits on a part or a technician. A locally based engineering firm with a presence in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban shortens that gap, and the Skelmersdale office extends the same support to customers in the United Kingdom and Europe.

A steady base for the second half of 2026

As the mid-year period brings its usual push in production planning, manufacturers are weighing where to invest to hold quality and throughput steady. End-of-line automation is often the part of the plant that decides whether output actually reaches the loading dock on time. Acepak's four decades of experience, its in-house engineering, and its work with producers across dozens of countries give it a settled base to support that planning through the rest of the year.

The company continues to serve a wide client base across its regions, applying the same approach whether it is fitting out a new line or upgrading equipment on an existing one: understand the product, design for the floor it will run on, and stand behind the machine once it is working.

Manufacturers weighing an end-of-line upgrade can find full details on the Acepak website at https://acepak.com/.

About Acepak

Acepak is a family-owned packaging equipment manufacturer based in Montague Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa, with more than 40 years in the industry. The company designs, engineers, assembles and tests end-of-line packaging machines and turnkey systems, including automated case packers, shrink wrap machines, pouch filling equipment, banding machines and palletising systems. It serves customers in the beverage, food, dairy, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors across 36 countries and more, supported by offices in Johannesburg, Durban and Skelmersdale, England.

Media Contact Acepak Email: [email protected] Phone: +27 21 552 5999 Website: https://acepak.com/

The Cape Town manufacturer points to local engineering, installation and support as South African producers plan for the second half of 2026.

Cape Town, June 2026. As the South African manufacturing sector moves through the middle of the year and producers begin mapping out capacity for the busier months ahead, Acepak is drawing attention to the role of locally designed and built end-of-line packaging equipment. The family-owned business, which has spent more than four decades in the industry, designs, engineers, assembles and tests its machines in Cape Town, and it is using the mid-year period to remind food, beverage, dairy, pharmaceutical and cosmetics producers that equipment built and supported close to home carries practical advantages for any line manager weighing up an upgrade.

As a packaging machine manufacturer, Acepak occupies a position that is still relatively uncommon in South Africa, where a large share of automation equipment is imported. The company carries out its design and assembly work at its head office in Cape Town, and runs additional offices in Johannesburg, Durban and the United Kingdom. That spread allows it to keep engineering knowledge, build capacity and after-sales support within reach of the producers it serves, rather than leaving customers dependent on parts and technicians located on another continent.

The mid-year timing matters. Many producers use the second and third quarters to review the performance of their lines before the demand that tends to build towards the end of the calendar year. For factories that ran their existing equipment hard through the first half of 2026, this is the window in which decisions about new machines, additional capacity or replacement of ageing units are usually made. Acepak is positioning its range as a ready answer for operations that want to plan those changes now and have equipment commissioned before the busier period arrives.

What Acepak makes

Acepak specialises in end-of-line packaging machinery and turnkey systems, the equipment that handles products once they have been filled or assembled and need to be grouped, wrapped, sealed and made ready for dispatch. Its range includes automated case packers, automatic packing machines, pouch fillers, automatic shrink wrap machines, shrink wrappers, banding machines and palletising equipment. These are the machines that sit at the end of a production line, where throughput, reliability and consistent presentation of the finished pack all come together.

Because it functions as a single packaging machine supplier rather than a reseller of equipment made elsewhere, Acepak is able to supply individual machines or to integrate several units into a complete end-of-line solution. For a producer, that means the same company that designs and builds the machine is also the one that programmes it, installs it on the factory floor, and returns to maintain and service it over its working life. Acepak provides machine programming, installation, maintenance, servicing and custom integration, and it offers ongoing technical support across the life of the equipment rather than treating the sale as the end of the relationship.

Who it serves

The company works across several sectors, each with its own packaging demands. In the beverage industry, speed and the ability to handle large volumes of bottles and cans are central. In food and dairy, hygiene, gentle handling and the ability to deal with chilled or perishable products shape the equipment. In pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, accuracy, traceability and the careful treatment of small and often fragile items are the priority. Acepak builds and configures its machines around these differing requirements rather than offering a single fixed product, which is part of why custom integration features so heavily in what it does.

Its reach extends well beyond South Africa. Acepak services more than 36 countries, a span that runs from its home base through to the United Kingdom, where it maintains a local presence. For a business operating from Cape Town, that international footprint reflects a level of engineering and support capacity that producers tend to look for when they are committing to equipment expected to run for many years.

Why local build matters now

There is a wider context to the announcement. South African manufacturers have spent recent years contending with currency movement, the cost and lead times of imported equipment, and the practical difficulty of getting overseas technicians and spare parts to a factory quickly when a line goes down. Equipment from a domestic packing machine manufacturer changes that calculation. Parts, engineering drawings and the people who understand a given machine are all in the country, which can shorten the time it takes to resolve a fault and keep a line moving.

Local manufacture also tends to make customisation more straightforward. When the design and build team sits in the same country as the customer, adapting a machine to an unusual product, an awkward factory layout or a specific throughput target involves fewer barriers than working through a distant supplier. For producers whose packaging formats change over time, that flexibility has a real bearing on how long a piece of equipment stays useful.

A track record across major brands

Acepak counts a number of well known producers among the companies it has worked with, including Unilever, Danone, Kellogg's, GSK, L'Oreal, Nandos and Tiger Brands. These are businesses that run demanding, high-volume operations and hold their suppliers to strict standards on reliability and consistency. A supplier list of that kind speaks to the company's capacity to deliver equipment that performs in serious production environments rather than only in controlled tests.

The combination of long experience, in-house engineering and a footprint that reaches across more than three dozen countries gives Acepak a foundation that few local equipment builders can match. For a producer assessing where to place an order this year, the questions usually come down to whether a machine will keep running, how quickly support can arrive when it is needed, and whether the supplier understands the specific product being packed. Acepak's structure, with design, assembly, testing and support all kept under its own roof, is built around answering those questions directly.

Looking ahead

As 2026 passes its midpoint, Acepak's message to the market is a measured one. Rather than announcing a single new product, the company is encouraging producers to use the quieter middle stretch of the year to review their end-of-line equipment and to consider what locally built and locally supported machinery can offer. With offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and the United Kingdom, and a service capability that spans installation through to long-term maintenance, the company is presenting itself as a partner for the planning that many factories are doing right now.

Producers who want to understand the full range of machines, the sectors Acepak works in, and the support that comes with its equipment can find more detail on the Acepak website at https://acepak.com/.

Media Contact Acepak Email: [email protected] Phone: +27 21 552 5999 Website: https://acepak.com/