You'll never have to cry over spilt milk - Astrapak

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Unpacked is the official newsletter for employees of the Astrapak Group. If you have an
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Cullum Johnston
Tel: 021 671 9143 • Fax 021 683 0644
cullum@imbongisa.com
in this
issue ...
A world of opportunities
You’ll never have to
cry over spilt milk
British retailing giant
Sainsbury’s is creating
a market storm with its
conversion from milk bottles to
plastic sachets – a
concept pioneered and
perfected by our very own
Ultrapak in 1986.
Meet Gene Lapan and
the new accounting staff
‘Our patented Ultralam® brand of
milk sachet film has been the industry
benchmark since we came on the
scene nearly 30 years ago,’ says
Ultrapak’s managing director John
Willmers. ‘But it’s a position we
earned the hard way – the last thing
consumers want is leaking milk.’
To ensure a quality sachet that
performs time after time, Ultrapak
developed a unique method
of bonding two layers of film
together without the use of
adhesives or other materials.
This process creates not
only an extremely durable and
puncture-resistant film but totally
eliminates the problem of ‘pinholing’
which commonly occurs with singlelayer
or co-extruded films – and is a
source of leaks.
‘The cost savings of sachets over
bottles have always been attractive
for dairies and consumers, and the
recent global economic downturn
placed continued focus on this
attribute,’ says John. ‘However, the
jump in future use of the sachet is likely to
Sandra Fortuin sings
Why plastic sachets
trumps glass
come from consumers with an ever-watchful
eye on the environment.’
With 24 million customers a week, Sainsbury’s
is careful not to upset their shoppers. They’ve
conducted tests over two years to determine
consumer acceptance of the sachet over
bottles and have managed to persuade
3% – or 720 000 shoppers – to buy their milk in
the new format. This represents a saving of a
whopping 1 400 tonnes of packaging a year.
John is delighted to see ‘the lowly milk
sachet’ occupying such an important niche
in the packaging spectrum but he’s not
resting on his laurels. ‘For us at Ultrapak it’s
been a solid business for many years,’ he
says, ‘but even with 85% market share, we
need to constantly innovate in what some
would see as an already-mature market.’
Buy right with Glenn
Plastic is far more cost effective
than bottles or cartons
Long service takes on new
meaning with Larraine Gray
2 the WCM song 7 Start-Taylor 8
10
ASTRAPAK NEWS ASTRAPAK NEWS 1
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Start-up costs for new and
emerging dairies using sachets
are a fraction of that for bottles
Plastic is safer in the bottling line,
as broken glass is a real hazard in
a food environment
Plastic sachets create only 25%
the carbon footprint of similarsized
glass bottles
Plastic sachets are fully
recyclable
The cost of transporting unfilled
rolls of sachets is a fraction of
that of unfilled bottles.
April 2010

2
Appointments that
add up to good news
The finance department
has, along with almost
every aspect of
Astrapak’s business,
undergone a major
reorganisation in an
effort to streamline
systems, improve
reporting and ensure
more stringent controls.
Financial results that accurately
reflect the state of a business are
vital if that business is to succeed
and grow, and this is one of the
areas in which increased numbers and
capabilities of accounting staff has
made a difference, says chief financial
officer Manley Diedloff. In addition to the
appointment of George Toop, Renée
Kirkham and André Smit as regional
financial managers, the head office
accounting staff has been bolstered with
a new Group financial manager and
three regional internal auditors.
Gene Lapan
Group financial manager
Gene is a chartered accountant and
comes to Astrapak from one of the
country’s largest construction groups.
He’s responsible for, among other
things, all the company secretarial
requirements, consolidating the returns of
the Group results, preparing tax returns,
managing the treasury accounts and
foreign payments. He sees Astrapak as a
dynamic organisation with a challenging
yet supportive management style. In
his spare time he provides volunteer
administrative support for an NGO and
socialises with family and friends.
Cobus Stofberg
internal auditor, Eastern & Western Cape
A graduate of the University of
Stellenbosch, Cobus completed his
articles at PriceWaterhouseCoopers
(PWC) and has several years’ experience
as an external auditor. In his new role as
an internal auditor he’ll be keeping an
eye on operations in the Eastern and
Western Cape. He’s a bit of a cycle
junkie, with more than 10 Argus Tours
under his belt. Finding sufficient training
time is always a challenge but Cobus was
pleased to once again finish this year’s
event within the cut-off time.
Avisha Budhal
internal auditor, KwaZulu-Natal
Avisha is a Unisa Bachelor of Accounting
Science graduate and has almost
completed her Certified Internal Auditor
(CIA) qualification. She was most recently
with Ernst & Young Advisory Services,
where she included a packaging
company on her client list. She’s looking
forward to a career with Astrapak
because of the exposure to the FMCG
market and the challenges such an
environment brings. She strongly supports
Bafana Bafana and is confident that
South Africa is going to host a wonderful
World Cup.
Vashnee Mahadeo
internal auditor, Gauteng
Vashnee’s demure exterior hides a
serious sports lover. Not only does she
gym and play tennis, she also does
karate – ideal skills to chop her way
through a complicated audit. After
completing her articles at the Office of
the Auditor General and some time in
provincial audit, she went on to PWC and
also worked at one of the large mining
entities. She sees auditing as an effective
management tool, one that helps
an organisation achieve its business
goals through better management
and controls.
Trends changed and as business
became less stiff and formal, Larraine
had to adjust to being called by her
first name by younger staffers and to
operating a computer rather than a
manual typewriter (which she loved)
and telex machine, not to mention
getting her head around cellphone
and email communication.
Do you remember the classic Henry J?
Marie-France Sullivan, a
commercial manager at Alex
White & Co, has an amazing
40 years of service under her belt.
Fresh from Mauritius, ‘with a French
accent and Cambridge University
education’, she began her career
with the company as secretary to
the chairman, Alex White, and
managing director, Jack Kay. She
laughingly recalls how patient Jack
was as she battled to understand his
Scots accent.
‘In the early days, before I had my
own car, I would catch the train into
Joburg city centre and then walk to
the office in Sauer Street, whatever
the season or the weather. And those
were the days of the mini-skirt!’
Marie-France thought the fax
machine and her first Olivetti word
processor were the greatest inventions
ever and is still gobsmacked by how
technology has progressed to enable
It was obviously hard at times to
say goodbye to those who left the
company or passed on but Larraine
has always found strength in her
faith and believes she couldn’t have
survived the good days – and the
not-so-good days – without the grace
of God.
‘The years roll by and people come
and go, and suddenly you realise
you’ve got too old to adjust to a new
environment. And besides, my car
wouldn’t cope with a different route
to work; it would simply make an
automatic detour to Elsies River!’
Larraine has been happily married to
the driver of the Henry J, Robert, for
nearly 43 years and has two children
and five granddaughters.
us to do so much more in an eighthour
day.
One of the highlights of her career
was in 1990 when she was appointed
general manager and then director of
one of the subsidiary companies.
It’s largely the wonderful people that
have made it a wonderful journey,
reflects Marie-France, and the fact
that she’s still learning new things
every day, which keeps her young.
‘In my youth I was very sporty. I cycled
and played volleyball, basketball and
table tennis. These days I enjoying
playing brain games like Sudoku and I
love to cook and socialise.’
She feels credit for her long service
must also go to her husband, Gilbert,
who remains her pillar of strength
through good times and bad. Their
daughter lives in the USA with
her husband and Marie-France’s
three grandchildren.
It’s been an interesting 23 years
of service for Jackie Koen, sales
coordinator for Hilfort Plastics.
She remembers having to do
everything manually back in the
days of carbon paper, adding
machines with tally rolls and writing
out hundreds of railway labels.
‘In the good ol’ days I’d walk
through the factory to pick up a
bottle sample to show clients – an
absolute no-no today,’ explains
Jackie, ‘and I knew every face
and every bottle code. With our
expansion over the last few years
there are now too many faces and
too many codes to remember, not
to mention the new pack sizes.’
She’d just clocked up 10 years
at Trident-Kohler-Xactics Plastics
when Dave Balkwill, ex-managing
director of Hilfort, asked her to
join the old Lindale Plastics family
again. ‘There were just six of us in
the office and we used to get the
most delicious ham rolls for lunch.’
Jackie has been married to Danie
for 34 years and they have a
daughter in London and a son
who’s in charge of the buffet
section on the ocean liner Odyssey.
She enjoys watching sport on TV
and is a committed Chelsea fan.
She also breeds Siamese, Oriental
and American Curl cats.
ASTRAPAK NEWS ASTRAPAK NEWS
11

10
Customers certainly aren’t slippery
fish for Marcom’s key account
manager and koi collector
Gerhard van Reenen: he recently
landed the order for Parmalat SA’s
entire range of yoghurt containers.
Keeping koi
Koi fish are ornamental,
domesticated varieties of
common carp, originally
bred in the Far East for their
gorgeous colour mutations.
These cold-water fish are hardy
little creatures and make
delightful pets – they quickly
come to recognise their keeper and will gather
around enthusiastically at feeding times, and
can even be trained to take food directly from
their feeder’s hand.
Koi can live for centuries – a particularly famous
scarlet koi, Hanako, was 226 years old when she
died in 1977 and had had several owners.
Koi are symbols of love and friendship in the Far
East.
Source: Wikipedia
One that didn’t get away
Pretoria-based Marcom Plastics
is a leader in in-mould labelling
(IML), a method of bonding the
label to the container in the injection-moulding
process. This creates a
finished package that’s branded to
the most exacting quality standards
and offers great visual attraction
for shoppers.
‘Conventional printing often
performed poorly in the dairy
environment. Temperature
fluctuations, water and
condensation are all issues
that contributed to making the
appearance and, consequently,
the finished product unappealing,’
explains key account manager
Gerhard van Reenen. ‘IML has
revolutionised that because the
package and the label are one
seamless unit. The move from
conventional labelling to IML has
caused
some of our customers to increase
volumes by over 40%.’
IML isn’t an easy sell, however. The
process is more expensive than
traditional forms and some of the
larger dairies have been hesitant
to make the move. But Marcom’s
strategy of piloting the technology
with smaller dairies has paid off, with
the larger outfits now accepting IML
as the future packaging wave.
Gerhard’s success didn’t happen
overnight. This dedicated family
man joined Marcom 12 years ago
Staying through
decades of change
Larraine Gray, personal assistant to Henk
de Klerk at Thermopac, has racked up
an astonishing 47 years of service with
the Group.
She was just 15 when she was hired as a typist
by then-MD Willi Schutten and was thrilled
with her starting salary of R60 per month –
good earnings then, when a Coke from a
colddrink machine cost five cents and R30
got you a night at a hotel.
She worked for Willi for 25 years and they’re
still in contact today. ‘What started as a
job very soon became a way of life,’ says
Larraine with her wonderful infectious laugh.
as a print supervisor on a fivecolour
machine and has steadily
progressed through the production
ranks. In 2008 he took over the sales
responsibilities of a key account
manager who left – and he hasn’t
looked back.
‘I see customer service as the
key differentiating factor in our
industry and believe this is an area
where Astrapak must dominate.
My secret to success has been my
willingness to address the issues
that affect my clients’ ability to
manufacture. Coming from a handson
background, I’ve found myself
getting involved in and resolving
technical, logistical and marketrelated
problems. But the results
have been worth it: with these issues
out of the way, sales have grown
naturally.’ And phenomenally –
Gerhard’s annual turnover has
grown almost 14-fold in two years.
‘Gerhard is a diamond in
the rough,’ says Rigids’ Exco
director Craig Lowe. ‘His handson
knowledge is coupled with
an uncompromising attitude
to value and service delivery –
skills that he used in Marcom’s
supply chain function and is
now applying to customers’
benefit. His achievements
in securing new blue-chip
business is an integral part
of Marcom’s success and I
commend Gerhard for his
efforts so far.’
We’re truly fortunate to have many committed
and dedicated people across all the
companies in the Group. Among them are
staffers who’ve travelled interesting journeys
and who fondly recall the good ol’ days.
Larraine remembers being driven to work by
her boyfriend in his grey 1950s left-hand-drive
Classic Henry J, a unique car with a long front
seat. She also recalls how much more formal
the dress code was then.
The annual shutdown was a time of great
festivity. ‘There was always huge excitement on
the last day of work before everyone went off
on holiday and the female staffers would come
all dolled up in their Sunday best to celebrate.’
She also fondly remembers how the tea lady
at the time dressed up to the nines on Board
meeting day because all the directors
were coming.
Waste not and be
well rewarded
Care for a condom? From left, Diedericks Diseko, Rina
Sekatane, Alpheus Masebe, Carol Kleinhans, Deon
Swart, Robin Teasdale, Deedee Mudzunga and Evelyn
Noge (kneeling, front).
Debbie Kidwell, executive PA
at Cinqpet, and colleagues
decided to do something
different to celebrate national
Aids Day at the end of last year. Dressed
in their bright-red corporate T-shirts and
armed with all things proudly South
African, they took to the streets to spread
the message of safe sex by handing out
condoms courtesy of the Department
of Health. Their first stop was their own
factory and they ended up at Cinqplast
down the road.
Bernelene Narayanasami was justly
rewarded when she used the plastic
offcuts from Pacon’s factory floor to
create a unique recycled dress for a
school project – she scored full marks.
The 15-year-old daughter of Booysen,
Pacon’s driver for the past six years,
approached her dad for help with a
consumer studies assignment on recyclable
material. Booysen and some colleagues
collected the offcuts while Bernelene went
to work on the style and design of the
fashion ensemble, complete with handbag
and shoes.
Bernelene didn’t just receive 100% for the
project; her teachers were so impressed with
the end result that they invited her to model
her unique creation for a wider audience at
the school to show what can be achieved
with innovation and hard work.
Pounding the pavement
for Aids awareness
Message from Marco
We need to
keep our eye
on the ball
We’re into the final
countdown to kick-off
and the excitement
around World Cup 2010
is starting to become
real. The stadiums are
looking stunning and
South Africa is ready to
host this extravaganza.
Still, in the face of this
global party, we need to keep our focus on
matters closer to home – running our business as
productively as we can.
First off, it’s a very big thankyou to each and every
staff member for your hard work and commitment
over the past financial year. As you know, 1 March
was the start of a new accounting period and this
brings new budgets, new projects, new strategies
and, probably, a few
new challenges.
While we’re not yet able to divulge the details
of the past year’s financial performance, I’m
positive that when we release the figures in May,
we’ll be reporting results that the market will find
acceptable.
One of the areas where we’ve made significant
progress is on the subject of our culture change.
As a business, we’ve started to do things
differently. Through programmes like WCM
we’re empowering every employee to make a
contribution and we’re already seeing significant
improvement in morale, production
and efficiencies.
A culture can’t be imposed. An organisation can
be guided through actions but it needs to earn
its own identity. It’s a sort of rite of passage – you
have to have done the hard yards first. I’d like
Astrapak to be a place where every employee
sees themselves as a vital part of the bigger team.
This is a topic of great importance to me and I’ll
be personally driving it this year.
We’re planning to communicate with staff
differently from how we have in the past and
want to include as many people as possible in the
three regional mini-conferences, on 13, 18 and 19
May, in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg,
respectively. There’ll be more information on this
closer to the time.
The past 24 months have been a tumultuous
period in our corporate history but I’m extremely
confident that we’ve probably finished with the
hardest parts of reorganising our business. Now
we’re a few weeks into our new financial year and
need to become focused on achieving budgets
as projected. We have the right team in place
and our systems and plans are prepared. Now,
we just need to go and do the job. Remember, at
Astrapak there’s a world of opportunities.
Thanks again for last year’s outstanding effort and
here’s to an even better one this time round.
ASTRAPAK NEWS ASTRAPAK NEWS
Regards
3

4
This won’t come as a shock
‘It not only makes financial sense
to use electricity wisely because
of the significant price increases
we’re about to see introduced over
the next three years, we should do
it because it’s part of our role as
responsible business leaders caring for
the environment,’ says Henk.
Astrapak’s energy-management
policy has a number of very specific
objectives.
• To reduce operational costs by at
least 10% by 2015 through energy
conservation and efficiency
practices;
• to reduce expenditure on energy
by investing in cost-effective
plant and equipment upgrades
with a simple payback return on
investment of three years or less;
• to educate and train employees
to be energy efficient; and
• to buy energy at the most
economic cost.
An energy management team has
been established, representing all
regions within the Group, and they
are tasked with reporting back to
Exco bi-monthly on savings goals and
SABC weatherman Simon Gear’s
Going Green is a wonderful little
handbook offering ways to make
the planet a better place, one
day at a time. Simon offers 365
easy-to-implement ideas – and
we’re going to feature some of
them in this and future issues to
help get you started on
decreasing your carbon footprint and making your
environment more sustainable.
We have a copy of this fantastic little guide to give away
to someone who has their own ‘Going Green’ tip to offer
(one that isn’t featured in the book). Email your
suggestion to savings@astrapak.co.za by 30 April and
you could soon have your very own copy of Going Green:
365 Ways To Change Our World .
We have to become more
efficient consumers of all
forms of energy, and the
new policy adopted by Exco
is going to give us a jumpstart,
says energy champion
Henk de Klerk.
achievements. In addition, they will
be spearheading a communications
programme focused on every staff
member and what they can do to
reduce energy consumption – some
tips are given alongside as a starting
point.
Measuring consumption is the starting
point and a sophisticated monitoring
program is being installed at every
operation. This online system will
enable remote monitoring of every
aspect of electricity consumption
and includes extensive reporting
mechanisms to compare previous
versus current usage levels among
other measurement tools.
This programme isn’t aimed only
at management. ‘We see it as a
programme that everyone can
participate in,’ says Henk. ‘We’ve
included a list alongside of some
simple things that each one of us can
do at work and home to reduce our
energy consumption. So let’s look
at all the things we do every day
that use electricity, and identify and
change those habits or processes that
are wasteful.’
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HANGE
your world
for the better
Give green gifts
The opportunities to change people’s
lives with fairly simple gifts are
boundless. Chat to your co-workers
and friends to get a sense of what sort
•
Simple but smart
Making these easy energy-saving
behaviours a habit will contribute
towards fewer expenses for you and a
better planet for our children.
Switch off all lights and appliances when
they’re not in use, including your cellphone
charger and your computer.
Replace all your ordinary light bulbs with
energy-efficient ones.
In summer, keep the doors and windows closed
during the hottest part of the day and open
them in the evening to allow a cool throughflow
of air.
In winter, wear extra jerseys and thick, woolly
socks and use a hot-water bottle rather than
a heater.
When making tea or coffee, fill the kettle with
only the amount of water you need, and use it
immediately rather than letting it cool and then
having to reboil it.
When boiling water on the stove (eg, for pasta
or potatoes), put a well-fitting lid on the pot to
keep the heat in and speed up the process,
and match the pot to the correct-sized stove
plate – make sure the pot completely covers
the stove plate.
Defrost your freezer regularly, two or three times
a year. Make sure the fridge and freezer seals
are tight, and don’t site your fridge or freezer
near the stove.
Open the fridge only when necessary to take
out or put food away, and keep the door open
for as short a time as possible.
Wait till you have a full load before you run the
dishwasher, and make sure its filters are clear
of debris. Use short wash cycles or the ‘eco’
setting if your dishwasher has one.
Wait until you have a full load before you
run the washing machine, and use lowtemperature
settings whenever possible.
Dry clothes naturally whenever possible.
Showers are much more energy-efficient
than baths.
Turn your geyser temperature down to around
55 degrees, and insulate it and the hot-water
pipes with newspaper or old blankets.
of lives they lead and then find
something that will make a difference.
Be creative by considering
alternatives such as a selection of
vegetable seeds, organic toiletries or
an LED headlamp for reading in bed
at night, or adopting a zoo animal.
Keeping fit,
losing weight
and seeing the
countryside are just a few of
the benefits you can get from
cycling, so why not dust off your
bike and sign up for the annual
Amashova Durban Classic?
It’s become a regular feature for a
team from Astrapak to participate in
the 106km Amashova Durban Classic
cycling event and 2010 will be no
exception. It’s a fantastic day out and
there’s loads of entertainment for family
and friends.
Improve your life – cycle
‘We take out all the schlep involved in
entering the race and the logistics prior to
the event,’ says unofficial organisers Erica
MacDonald and Maureen Haslehurst.
‘We do our best to get sponsored with
Astrapak-branded cycling gear, collect
and distribute all the goodie bags and
arrange for a hospitality tent after the
race. All you have to do is let us know
you’re committed and we’ll take care of
the rest.’
This year’s event takes place on Sunday
17 October, starting in Pietermaritzburg
and finishing at the brand-new Moses
Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Erica and Maureen are looking for about
70 participants for Team Astrapak. If
you’re keen, contact Maureen on
mo@pacon.co.za or phone 031 569 6100.
‘I love to go a-wandering…’
At work, Charles Bushby is a buyer for Hilfort Plastics
in the engineering department. At play, he’s happiest
with his hiking buddies exploring a new trail and being
close to nature.
Over the 18 years Charles
Bushby has been with the
company, he’s been a
driver and done time in
Design and Development and in the
toolroom. Three years ago he was
assigned the task of buying the parts to
operate the machinery.
It was around the same time that
a friend invited him to join a group
tackling a two-day hike in Swellendam,
as one of the team couldn’t make it at
the last minute. It was this that sparked
Charles’s love for backpacking.
Charles has since completed 12 hikes
around the Western Cape, each
presenting unique surroundings and
challenges but all equally inspirational
and cleansing for the mind and soul.
Charles’s latest conquest was the sixday
Outeniqua Trail, one of the tougher
walks covering almost 90 kilometres
through the mountains between
George and Plettenberg Bay.
‘We were a small group of four that
set off on the first day with backpacks
It’s more about participation and fun than winning,
here Western Cape internal auditor Cobus Stofberg
races across the finish line.
weighing in at almost 20 kilograms. It
was a challenging trail with plenty of
climbs up and down mountains and
walks through forests and across rivers,
but there’s nothing like the feeling of
being removed from everything and
totally focused on your next step. And
the simplest of foods taste absolutely
magnificent when you’re in the
wilderness; my most memorable was an
avo-and-ham sarmie and boiled egg at
the lunch stop on day two.
‘There were some really sweaty
moments, like when we had to
negotiate our way around the cliffs
overlooking the sea knowing that two
American tourists had fallen there a
few years ago, and coming across an
angry puffadder. Fortunately, we had
an experienced leader and great team
spirit, a must for a successful hike.’
With the many pressures and stresses of
business today, it’s important to pursue
leisure activities that are both physically
and spiritually rewarding. Hiking, says
Charles, is definitely worth considering –
but not, he adds, without a good supply
of Voltaren and Deep Heat!
ASTRAPAK NEWS ASTRAPAK NEWS 9

8
Opening the doors The
A
group of 25 post-matric students from the National
Tooling Initiative recently toured Cinqpet in Denver
as part of a Department of Trade and Industry
programme to boost the number of people
embarking on tool-and-die-making apprenticeships.
In recent years the number of candidates signing up for
traditional apprenticeships has fallen and this coincides with a
corresponding massive skills shortage throughout South Africa.
Cinqpet general manager Jeff Carder supports the
programme. ‘I was really impressed with the quality of the
trainees touring our operation and think the initiative is
great,’ he says. ‘I’m sure that Astrapak as a Group will likely
be recruiting from this type of programme. It was impressive
to see how many women were also interested in taking on
an apprenticeship – clear signs that the traditionally maledominated
shop floor may be a thing of the past.’
The saving potential of procurement
‘Best practice’ is a process, technique
or innovative use of resources that has
a proven record of success in providing
significant improvement in cost, schedule,
quality, performance, safety, environment
or other measurable factors that impact the
health of an organisation.
Durban-based Group procurement manager
Glenn Start-Taylor gives us the bottom line.
Main responsibilities of a procurement manager?
I coordinate and negotiate purchasing contracts so that we can achieve our
goal of lowest-cost producer. To do this, we need to bring together the total
buying power of all the business units.
Aren’t the people in each operation closer to the action, so better able to know
their needs?
In some instances this is true and, where required, we call on their expertise.
However, we need to ensure we use ‘best practices’ across the Group to
maximise our purchasing power.
Experience you bring to the table?
I have 25 years’ experience in plastic packaging and I’m a qualified Cost and
Management Accountant. I’ve spent time in senior management positions
within Finance, as well as having held senior positions at various packaging
companies.
Does your work really save us money?
Most definitely. The Astrapak Group spends in excess of R1.5 billion per annum
in the area of controllable costs. Each 1% saving would add R15 million to the
bottom line.
When not keeping tabs on our spending, what do you do to relax?
I play golf and enjoy gardening.
The Group’s organisational structure
has been streamlined
Group has been reorganised into two divisions, Flexibles
and Rigids, with those companies in Industrial now
becoming part of the renamed Flexible unit. The name
Alex White
Barrier Films
City Pack
East Rand Plastics
Knilam
Packaging Consultants
Pack-Line
Peninsula Packaging
Plusnet
Saflite
Tristar
Ultrapak
• Marco Baglione – chairperson
• Manley Diedloff
• Keith Watkins
• Charles Muller
• Geoff Cuttler
• Henk de Klerk
• Herman Jacobs
• Craig Lowe
• Robin Olbrich
• Alan Payne
Manley Diedloff and Marco Baglione
serve on the main Board of Directors
and report on all matters to them.
change from Films to Flexibles is in keeping with international
terminology and the reduction in divisions emphasises our desire
to increase focus as we grow into the future.
Flexibles Rigids
Overseeing the activities of each business unit is a Divisional Board.
Keith Watkins – chairperson
Charles Muller
Geoff Cuttler
Henk de Klerk
Herman Jacobs
André Smit
Deon van der Merwe
Cinqpet
Cinqplast Plastop Denver
Consupaq
Hilfort Plastics
JJ Precision Plastics
Marcom Plastics
Pak2000
Plastech
Plastform
Plastop Bronkhorstspruit
Plastop KZN
Thermopac
Weener Plastop (changed from
Euromatic Plastop)
The operations have also been arranged into business units so they can extract the maximum efficiencies and synergies among
like-focused product ranges.
Flexibles – Coastal
• Packaging Consultants
• Pack-Line
• Peninsula Packaging
• Ultrapak
PET Unit
• Cinqpet
• Hilfort Plastics
• Plastech
The
operational
buck stops
at the Exco
team
Flexibles – Inland
• City Pack
• East Rand Plastics
• Plusnet/Geotex
• Tristar Plastics
Rigids – Coastal
• Consupaq
• JJ Precision Plastics
• Pak2000
• Plastop KZN
Barrier Unit
• Barrier Films
• Knilam
• Thermopac
• Saflite
Flexibles Rigids
Keith Watkins – chairperson
Charles Muller
Craig Lowe
Robin Olbrich
Alan Payne
George Toop
Rigids – Inland
• Alex White
• Cinqplast Plastop Denver
• Marcom Plastics
• Plastform
• Plastop Bronkhorstpruit
• Weener Plastics
ASTRAPAK NEWS ASTRAPAK NEWS 5

6
The correct type
and quantity-onhand
of raw
material is the
cornerstone
of efficient
manufacturing.
Thanks to Syspro,
the process
of managing
this important
resource has
become much
easier and more
accurate.
Accurate stock control, be it raw materials or finished goods, is a cornerstone of efficient production techniques, thanks to hand-held scanners and the Syspro enterprise
management system this is now a breeze in most Astrapak operations.
Syspro takes the hassle
out of stock control
‘It all starts with a bill of material,’
says systems consultant Renée
Kirkham. This bill – it’s called a BOM
– lists quantities of all the materials
required to produce a particular product,
the machine needed to run the product
on and the amount of time needed
to run it.
‘You can imagine, in our Group, there are
thousands of these records,’ says Renée.
‘Each one must be kept accurate and
up to date because, together with the
current stock on hand, other orders in the
system, jobs currently planned and
safety stock levels, that’s what the
system uses to calculate the quantity
of product required when the sales order
is received.’
The system determines if additional
raw materials are required and can
produce a purchase order at that point.
Importantly, input costs are established
right up front to ensure that product
won’t be manufactured at a loss.
Stock management is another important
aspect. All material should be controlled
on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis, and
Syspro generates picking slips to help
with this.
Reconciliation of theoretical stock
levels with actual material in the
warehouse is also a fundamental of
good manufacturing, and daily cyclical
counts have to be carried out. These are
entered into the system and a variance
report showing the difference between
system stock and physical stock is
generated by Syspro for investigation.
‘One area that was often forgotten
was the scrap,’ Renée says. ‘Taking
greater interest in this item not only
raises awareness of trying to reduce its
occurrence, but in the average plant
it’s worth a substantial amount of
money and needs to be looked after
and reused.’
As with any system, though, the quality
of the information coming out is directly
linked to the data entered throughout
the capturing process. For this reason,
it’s vital that absolutely everything – raw
material, semi-finished and finished
goods, consignment stock, consumables,
engineering spares, scrap, inks, labels – is
properly updated on Syspro.
‘We haven’t yet completed the rollout
to every operation but the savings
experienced are already significant,’
says Renée of the Syspro system.
‘For example, in Pak2000, while sales
increased significantly this year, the stock
levels have only increased by 4%: this is
because they’re using the MRP system
to its potential and their stock levels on
Syspro are correct.’
Sandra’s song
We are the family of Penpak.
We now know what cleanliness is.
We learned a lot what 5S is -
Sort, Shine, Store, we all agree.
Roll-on the
good times
If you’re one of the increasing number of consumers
who’ve ditched aerosol deodorant for roll-on, give a
thought to the guys at Bronkhorstspruit because that’s
where the perfectly shaped ball gliding smoothly
around your armpit probably comes from.
Weener Plastop – formerly known as Euromatic
Plastop – is in the process of completing a massive
technology upgrade to bring production and
quality standards up to international benchmarks.
‘We supply product to many local and international brands
– including L’Oreal and Revlon, among many more – and
consequently have to meet the most stringent manufacturing
tolerances. The upgrade has seen the installation of fully
electric Engel machines that use a patented injectionmoulding
process to create zero-defect balls,’ says general
manager Brent Grant.
Weener Plastop is now the largest manufacturer of roll-on balls
for the personal-care industry in Africa. The company is a joint
venture between Astrapak and Weener Plastik AG in Germany,
one of the world’s premier manufacturers of roll-on balls and
other plastic packaging.
Sing, sing a song...
Penpak’s Sandra Fortuin expresses herself in a
particularly creative way – she writes songs. This
one sings the praises of 5S training.
Sandra Fortuin, a quality controller in the bag-making department
of Penpak, recently underwent 5S training and was so inspired by
the principles of world-class manufacturing that she immediately
composed a song about her experience.
General manager Deon van der Merwe asked her to sing her composition
for Marco Baglione and the other directors attending a budget meeting.
Although Sandra was initially very nervous, enthusiasm and pride in being part
of the Penpak family helped her overcome her stage-fright, and she delivered
a great performance, to the delight of her audience.
We all begin to clean our place:
No more dirt; what a pretty face!
We can set our standards now.
Surely, our bosses can be proud.
Thank you, trainers, for your time;
You really opened all our minds.
We all know now what 5S is.
That is the key to a world-class team.
Nelson Mokoena, Evelyn Westcott and Annies Malete show off their excitement
with the commissioning of a new technology welding machine.
According to Brent, the state-of-the-art machines are not only
highly precise and efficient but they operate to the most
exacting environmental standards. They incorporate a
patented water-filtration system and contribute to reducing the
carbon footprint – an important environmental measure.
‘This development is a significant achievement for a local
company and will contribute to replacing roll-on balls that
were previously imported. In addition, it has meant skills and
technology transfer to South Africans, as employees have had
to go overseas for training in Ireland and Austria.
‘The lowly roll-on ball hardly seems to be at the leading edge of
technology but, in fact, it is and we’re proud to be leading the
South African charge on that front,’ concludes Brent.
ASTRAPAK NEWS ASTRAPAK NEWS 7