New player Techplas offers top price-to-performance technology
IT WAS HIGH 5 time as Techplas for Sivan Pillay and Jason Smith, as they recently celebrated their 5th year in the equipment supply and service sector. Both partners have extensive experience in the converting sector, and that has enabled them to fine-tune the equipment they supply and manage some challenging projects.
Sivan was originally at Milliken (2003-2008), gaining extensive processing expertise in blow and injection moulding, extrusion-blow moulding, sheet extrusion and thermoforming. He then joined Mpact Plastics and managed its Design Centre.
Jason was involved first at Lapack, gaining blow moulding expertise, and then at Cabletech and Adventure Automotive. They met by coincidence, after Sivan called Jason for technical support. Jason was able to resolve the problem, paving the way for future cooperation. They put their skills together in 2021 to form Techplas, operating from Strydom Park.
Techplas sees itself as a “solutions project-driven company” with the skills to manage the entire process, from product design to selection of equipment. Their emphasis is “not just on selling machinery and moulds, but keeping them running”. With the rapid entry of artifi cial information into the production environment, machine control performance
Complementary skills
With Sivan’s polymers acumen and Jason’s technical skills overlapping, the partners’ abilities complement each other, and their blueprint has seen the company gain market acceptance and expand its services.
Along the way, Sivan acquired the agency for SMC Corporation, a Thai manufacturer of extrusion blow and injection blow moulding (IBM, for wide-mouth jars) machines. “SMC is a key partner,” Sivan notes. It invests heavily in technology and supplies servo-hydraulic and full electric extrusion blow moulding machines, using predominantly European and Japanese components, with Beckhoff or Omron control systems, for improved energy efficiency.
Techplas also supplies Dakumar injection moulding machines. Dakumar (DKM), of China, focuses on developing low-energy machines and utilises Keba PLC systems.
Besides SMC and Dakumar, Techplas’ principals include Alfa (pick-and-place robots); Sinomould (injection moulds); Slecotech (recycling and wash lines) and Tinko (hot runners). It also offers single and two-stage ISBM equipment and automation systems, including camera inspection and feeding systems.
Techplas has the sole agency for Xinzheng Packaging Machinery, a supplier of automation systems, including end-of-line auto-bagging machinery, leak testers and weight checkers, providing full project management and implementation during the process. And it supplies a full range of auxiliaries (material mixers, hopper driers, volumetric dosers, water manifolds, mould temperature controllers and air-cooled chiller) from CHNAO.
Techplas has had a strategic relationship with Bison Technology of China, through which it has made inroads into the closure slitting & folding and closure assembly markets. This has allowed for value creation with equipment capable of running at rates of 2,000 to 30,000 closures/hour, depending on size. “With Bison Technology, we supply IML systems, camera inspection, sheet extrusion and thermoforming equipment. We can supply spares for most converting equipment, and in most cases, we’ve sourced so-called ‘redundant spares,” Sivan notes.
Impressive projects recently completed include supplying several DKM and SMC machines, while Bison’s closure slitting and folding, and assembly equipment also show good growth. The company is active nationally.
• Sivan Pillay 083 635 3051 / Jason Smith 063 011 8452
