Dispak expands to W Cape with purchase of Peckpak GDK
DISPAK Industries group, through its subsidiary Waxpak of Johannesburg, has expanded into the Western Cape through its purchase of Peckpak GDK, a thermoforming business.
The purchase is aligned with Dispak’s growth plans, both in the Western Cape and nationally.
Peckpak GDK, which manufactures blister and clam packs as well as food packaging and point of sale containers, has been in operation since 1996, based at premises centrally located in Elsies River near Cape Town from where it services mainly the Western Cape market; it also offers PET options.
The Western Cape’s considerable economic growth over the past few years and growth potential may have attracted the attention of Dispak, and the purchase thus gives the group a foothold in the area. It is rumoured that other suitors became interested in Peckpak only once the deal was concluded.
Dispak had previously started manufacturing in Cape Town in 2015 but subsequently moved the machines used there back to Johannesburg. That was a result at least partly of its purchase in late 2019 of Waxpak from the Golden Era Group, also a thermoforming business, specialized in PET thermoformed food containers which had operated from Mogwase in North West. Dispak consolidated the two thermoforming entities at its premises in Chamdor in Krugersdorp and renamed it Waxpak. In the latter part of 2022 it reassessed its plans for the Western Cape after changes in the thermoforming supply sector in the region and then put in a bid for Peckpak. A deal was recently concluded and Dispak took over in March.
Founded as recently as 2007 by brothers Ashir and Shainal Patel, Dispak has achieved notable progress since. Based in Johannesburg, the company initially specialised in thermoforming in the same sector that Peckpak serviced in the Western Cape, and at that stage was of an approximately similar size. The company has expanded considerably since, however, with its achievements including that of the purchase of the Transpaco Sheet Extrusion business, which extruded PET and PVC sheet, on auction in 2012. This was a major step for the Patel brothers, which fortunately boded well for the company’s growth.
Dispak still operates from the premises it bought in that deal and expanded through the purchase of a second property in Chamdor in 2018; it now has an estimated of 18,000m² of manufacturing and warehouse in Joburg. It now also produces PP and HIPS sheet and expanded its sheet extrusion operation further with a third APET line being commissioned in February this year. The obvious advantage of this is that it is able to supply the thermoforming businesses it now owns.
Another of Dispak’s ventures was the establishment of Opack Africa, which is a supplier of packaging machinery specifically in the food processing and pharmaceutical industry, namely form-fill-seal machinery for the dairy industry as well as tray sealing and thermoforming machinery for the meat and processed foods sector, in -turn giving Dispak the opportunity to further extend its supply of PET base films to the same sectors.
‘Small player’
“We are a small player entering the Western Cape market and are gearing up to supply into the Agri sector, particularly with fruit punnets and trays which are currently being manufactured at our Johannesburg plant and transported to the Western Cape, as well as for the expansion into the bakery and related sectors,” said Ashir Patel, MD of the Group.
“We are planning to install high-speed and more efficient thermoforming machinery to reduce lead times,” he added.
Dispak is also planning to commence extrusion of APET sheet in Cape Town sometime this year.
The plus for outgoing Peckpak owner Michael Baker was that the jobs of the personnel at the company were assured as far as he could guarantee, which allowed the man to exit the building in a positive mood.
