Ishida is set to unveil its acquisition of National Packaging Systems (NPS) for the first time at Propak Africa 2025, highlighting substantial advantages for the African food and drink packaging industries. Alongside this milestone, Ishida will introduce two groundbreaking innovations to the continent:
The award-winning QX-500 tray sealer and the newly launched Sentinel 5.0 remote production monitoring system.
Additional highlights will include demonstrations of Ishida’s best-selling multihead weighers and X-ray inspection systems, as well as advanced snack food packing solutions and four models from NPS’s established filling and packaging ranges.
Operating out of Kwa-Zulu Natal, NPS has been a trustworthy name for over 40 years, specializing in the design and manufacture of high-performance filling and packaging equipment.
Melika Seiderer, Ishida’s GM for Africa, stated: “Through this acquisition, African food and drink businesses now have even greater access to NPS’s extensive product range alongside Ishida’s world-class weighing, packing, and quality control solutions.”
“The breadth and variety of our combined portfolio enable us to assist businesses of all sizes in automating their packing lines. This helps our customers enhance throughput and efficiency, improve quality and reliability, achieve excellent ROI, and strengthen service and support,” she added.
Award-Winning Tray Sealer
Recognized with the 2023 PPMA Award in the Innovative Packaging Machinery category, the Ishida QX-500 tray sealer has been engineered based on detailed feedback from Ishida’s global customers and partners. The QX-500 offers outstanding seal quality, a 66% boost in cycle speed, and significantly reduces weight and size by 44% and 46%, respectively. Furthermore, it lowers energy consumption by 50%, substantially minimizing waste and providing a crucial advancement in productivity to help food and drink companies achieve their sustainability goals.
Sentinel 5.0 Production Monitoring System
Making its African debut, Ishida’s Sentinel 5.0 remote production monitoring system leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to merge machine performance monitoring with comprehensive data capture. This innovative system offers food manufacturers insightful, consolidated, and thorough analysis of their entire food production line.
Sentinel 5.0 enables manufacturers to track and analyze real-time data, providing immediate insights into performance, efficiency, and potential bottlenecks. Utilizing AI, the system offers predictive analytics, allowing manufacturers to identify potential issues before they arise. It can seamlessly connect with both Ishida and non-Ishida equipment, learning how the production line operates and proposing data-driven performance enhancements, such as notifying operators of machines not performing at their peak capability.
Four Key NPS Products on Display
The 34S Vertical Form, Fill & Seal (VFFS) bagmaker—renowned for its efficiency and durability—is designed for powders, granular products, and liquids. It offers customizable filling solutions for a wide range of packaging formats and materials.
Additionally, the multilane Vertical Sachet machine enhances productivity by packaging multiple sachets simultaneously. Overmounted, servo-driven auger fillers ensure precise weight adjustments for each sachet, guaranteeing exceptional accuracy and consistency.
The semi-automatic A1 Auger Filler delivers reliable dosing and consistent powder flow for products such as milk powder, soups, spices, and various blend applications.
Lastly, the semi-automatic Basculating Volumetric Filler ensures accurate, efficient, and reliable filling for both liquids and solid foods, maintaining consistent portion control.
Three Ishida Multihead Weigher Models on Show
Three multihead weighing solutions will showcase Ishida’s capability to provide high-performance, accurate weighing for free-flowing, challenging, and specialty applications. This ensures a fast return on investment for manufacturers.
The 10-head CHW multihead weigher is perfect for businesses aiming to expand their production capacity while reaping the benefits of automation. It can process dry, free-flowing products like snacks, confectionery, cereals, biscuits, and pasta at speeds of up to 90 packs per minute.
The 6-head Fresh Food Weigher is specifically designed for very sticky, bruise-sensitive products, ensuring maximum speed and efficiency, even in factories with height limitations.
The 14-head Screw Feeder Weigher facilitates the rapid, fully automated weighing of meat, poultry, fish, and seafood that cannot be conveyed via feeder vibration. Unique rotating corkscrews, replacing traditional radial feed troughs, ensure a consistent product flow to the hoppers for high-speed, efficient weighing of sticky fresh food.
Ishida iTPS Snack Food Packaging System
To help snack companies seize opportunities in a rapidly growing market, the Ishida Atlas iTPS™ (Integrated Total Packaging System) provides the fastest and most precise snack food packing system available in Africa. The compact combination of Ishida multihead weigher and bagmaker achieves packing speeds of 160 bags per minute for extruded snacks and 120 bags per minute for potato chips, all while maximizing packing line efficiency and minimizing product and film waste.
Ishida Quality Control Solutions
With retailers and numerous export markets enforcing strict quality standards, Ishida has developed a suite of advanced quality control systems designed to ensure the utmost food safety and compliance, protecting both consumers and manufacturers’ brands.
The Ishida IX-EN-4093-S X-ray inspection system showcased offers manufacturers a high-performance entry-level solution, delivering unmatched foreign body detection and quality control. This machine identifies a wide range of contaminants, including aluminium, glass, stone, and more, at high inspection speeds. The IX-EN range features advanced Genetic Algorithm (GA) technology that allows operators to fine-tune the machine’s sensitivity to specific foreign bodies. Additionally, the IX-EN-4093-S can detect damaged or missing products or components.
From its entry-level checkweigher range, Ishida will present the DACS-GN-SE, which features an exceptionally fast and accurate digital load cell designed for reliability, even in demanding environments.
Melika Seiderer added: “Our participation at Propak Africa 2025 presents an excellent opportunity to showcase our growing footprint in Africa and reaffirm Ishida’s commitment to supporting local food and drink manufacturers’ growth. We eagerly anticipate engaging with attendees to discuss their challenges and growth strategies, aligning them with our expanding equipment range to help automate packaging operations, increase revenue, and reduce costs.”
This exhibition is scheduled for March 11–14, 2025, at the Johannesburg Expo Centre (NASREC), with Ishida and NPS exhibited at stand D22 and D22a in Hall 6.
For additional details about Ishida, please visit https://www.ishidaeurope.com/en/
