Plastics design and manufacturing renewed for the future

The expansion and upgrade of the Spec Tool & Die facility in 2018 has bolstered the company’s innovation and design capabilities from the Durban-based premises and has provided Berry Astrapak with its own in-house design and tooling capabilities.

Enhancing their professionalism – which was established in 1991 and has earned the reputation as specialists in the design, manufacture and repair of plastic moulding tools and dies – the upgraded facility has seen the company rise to even greater heights and place them shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the biggest tooling businesses in plastic mould design and manufacture within the Berry Group across the world.

After joining forces with Astrapak in June 2018 and becoming part of Berry Group, Spec Tool & Die Innovation and Design Centre prides itself in offering the same innovation and design capabilities as its European and American counterparts, bringing global design concepts and tooling solutions directly to the South African market.

Processes like planning and organising are more streamlined and a dedicated Think Tank Room for the packaging development team allows for creativity to flow. The ability to remodel these concepts into 3D grown samples provides customers with a tangible mock-up. Quality Control seals the deal by ensuring that all tooling and moulds that leave the premises are meeting the stringent quality standards.

Increased focus in the initial design phase is placed on the sustainability of the products, particularly keeping them lightweight yet strong and durable for the intended use.

A new addition to the Innovation and Design Centre’s machinery portfolio is their latest acquisition – Hoffman Innovation Group’s Concept Laser machine – which offers cutting-edge laser cusing capabilities right here in South Africa.

The company also has a 5-Axis CNC machining facility, which parallels their German-based sister companies’ offerings.

Managing Director Dave Murgatroyd, says: “Instilling confidence in our customers of our abilities and capabilities sets the bar to achieve an even higher standard in our offering. Our goal is to be the best at what we do and to ensure that we are thinking, designing and creating with the future clearly in consideration.”

James Meredith, Mould designer operating Siemens NX unigraphics software

Mdumiseni Ngcobo, CNC Programmer for Spark Eroder and Laser Cusing operates the new addition to the Innovation and Design Centre’s machinery portfolio – the Hoffman Innovation Group’s Concept Laser machine – which offers cutting-edge laser cusing capabilities right here in South Africa