Page 53 - Food&Drink Magazine Aug-Sep 2021

Apex packager
Australian flexible packaging manufacturer, Apex Films, is now registered to use the Australian Made and Owned logo and has launched a new outer packaging design for its latest cast pallet stretch film range.
APEX Films, based in Melbourne, has seen strong sales growth in the past 12 months, particularly with its cast pallet stretch film range, as distributors and end users alike are increasingly recognising the value in a locally produced cast stretch film. The company says distributors continue to battle with longer lead times on imported films due to more complex supply chains and delayed shipping schedules combined with significantly increased shipping costs.
Apex Films was founded in 1995 and is privately owned by
Peter and Robert Zanatta, who are joint MDs and second- generation packaging manufacturers. Their father, Bob Zanatta, founded Beaver Plastics in the early 1970s. The business was subsequently sold in the late 1980s.
Apex Films has a range of blown and cast extrusion capability along with 8 – and 10-colour flexographic printing presses, solventless lamination, a range of slitter/rewinders, and bag converters.
The company says the new stretch film outer packaging
features a modern design style to reflect the high-quality product along with the Australian Made and Owned logo.
“We are proud to market our products under the Australian Made and Owned logo,” says Peter Zanatta.
“Our mission is to ensure all flexible packaging we manufacture is made to exact specifications and our customers receive world-class quality products. We do this by ensuring we have the latest extrusion and printing technology coupled with a highly skilled and experienced workforce.”
Zanatta says the latest range of cast pallet stretch film is testament to the company’s focus on efficiently producing a top-of-the-range quality product, which is very competitive in the market both in terms of performance and price.
In late 2020, Apex Films appointed Rob Archibald as sales manager, Industrial Films to complement its existing sales team. Archibald has over 30 years’ sales and marketing
experience in packaging at senior levels and will focus on the growth and development of the company’s pallet stretch film and stretch hood film range.
“Apex Films has a vision to be recognised as Australia’s leading sustainable polyethylene (PE) film producer. We continue to work with major resin manufacturers to develop films which will use 50 per cent recycled content,” Zanatta adds.
“We will continue to promote being proudly Australian made and owned and expand our operations with a focus on quality and sustainability. We have ordered a new multi-layer line due for installation late 2021 to supplement our existing modern equipment.”
Underpinning Apex Films’ growth strategy is the requirement to expand its production capacity with the best film extrusion technology available in the world. ✷
This article first appeared in the July-August 2021 edition of PKN Packaging News.
The stretch film outer packaging shows the Australian Made and Owned logo.
SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
Heat exchangers are widely used to cool or pasteurise drinks, including beer and cider
of spent grains which can then be used as animal feed or bioenergy feedstock.
REUSING HEAT FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY Recapturing and reusing heat from other sources (such as surplus heat from cooling operations or spare boiler capacity) can increase capacity or allow a new production process without the need for major new heating or energy
infrastructure. Depending on the application, HRS Heat Exchangers’ equipment has been shown to recover as much as 50 per cent of previously wasted heat, which can then be used for other applications.
The type and model of heat exchanger will depend on many different factors, such as the nature of the process to be carried out (pasteurisation, sterilisation, dehydration, etc.) and the viscosity of the drink being processed. ✷
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | August/September 2021 | Food&Drink business | 53