Machinery takes centre stage in Berlin

Global packaging machinery specialist IMA-Ilapak is focusing on innovation and diversification as it looks ahead to 2024, essential characteristics that have been the cornerstone of its growth.

The group, which designs, manufactures and markets a variety of machines for the fresh produce business, will continue to develop packaging solutions and enhance technological and sustainability aspects, according to marketing and communications manager Christian Romualdi.

“The main hope is to continue to grow according to the essential characteristics that have given us credibility in our markets: our ability to innovate and our ability to diversify,” says Romualdi.

“Opportunities and challenges are sides of the same coin and for us it means that we will continue our commitment to research and innovation, increasing intelligent machine and production line investments and providing the market with turnkey packaging solutions – from handling, weighing, or counting products to primary, secondary and end of line packaging – capable of running new, sustainable wrapping materials,” he explains.

Ilapak has in recent months launched several new products including vertical baggers, horizontal flow wrapping machines, linear and multihead weighers, while it has also introduced new digital services to increase packaging machinery performance and optimisation.

The group has invested heavily in research and innovation with the aim of enhancing its intelligent packaging technologies, Romualdi notes, and while the market has been challenging at times Ilapak continues to flourish.

“We experienced a period of slight decline at the end of the year, but it was a completely normal trend,” he confirms. “Now, we are on track with our business plans and we are seeing good growth in some food market segments.”

At Fruit Logistica this week, Ilapak is using the event to showcase a range of its products at its stand, with staff on hand to illustrate the technical aspects and key benefits of the company’s offering.

These include the Scorpion TS RS inverted flow wrapping machine, which has rotary jaws to provide maximum flexibility and is capable of processing different bag lengths for products that have irregular shapes and size; The Vegatronic 2000 ML vertical packaging line for leafy products, an intermittent vertical bagger combined with WA Pro 12-50 multihead weigher; and Ilapak’s V-Series linear weighers, the newly designed high-speed linear weighing machine tailored for onions, potatoes, Brussels sprouts and similar dry produce.