Greek investment to create jobs
Alrode’s metal crown manufacturer celebrated the launch of new machinery, which is expected to create jobs.
Coleus Packaging, which creates metal crowns or bottle caps, used by Heineken, South African Breweries and other brewers, launched a brand new machine at its factory in Alrode on February 20.
Coleus Packaging, the metal crown manufacturer in South Africa, is on track to benefit from its deal with Greek company, Astir Vitogiannis through the investment in a new machine PMC 500 crown manufacturing machine.
“Previously, we were majority-owned by SAB but in mid-2022 Astir Vitogiannis acquired 75% shareholding in Coleus, and left the remaining 25% to Nokusa Packaging, our BEE partner. We are ready to do business with everyone,” said Ian Victor, managing director of Coleus Packaging.
While the SAB is no longer a majority shareholder, Coleus will continue to supply the brewer with metal crowns, as well as other customers in the brewing and beverage market.
The Astir Vitogiannis deal also represents a huge vote of confidence in South Africa. They expect to create about 40 jobs throughout the company in the coming years, from blue-collar to administration.
“The heavy investment in our company means we are on track to become more globally competitive and also provides the opportunity to diversify and move into other metal closures,” said Victor.
Coleus is the largest supplier of metal crown closures for the brewing and beverage industries in Southern Africa. The company plans to extend beyond its current footprint in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region into the rest of Africa.
The current big change in the factory is the investment of a PMC 500, a press and lining machine manufactured by Italian original equipment manufacturer (OEM) SACMI.
The machine takes printed and decorated tin-free metal sheets and cuts and moulds them into shells.
According to Victor, they expected the machinery to provide growth opportunities and improve plant efficiencies.
“This investment proves that Astir Vitogiannis is serious about growing its market share in Southern Africa and through the continuous investments expected over the next few years it will ensure we become a regional and globally competitive organisation,” he said.
