MachinePoint, the leading company in used machinery sales and engineering services, provides its vision on how they perceive the African continent undergoing an industrial revolution and how its services help in the development of the agri-food and packaging industries.
Africa is a great continent full of contrasts. MachinePoint’s used machinery division has been doing business mainly in North Africa for the past decade. Over the last few years, and thanks to MachinePoint’s engineering services offer, business opportunities are arising in other markets and regions in Africa. MachinePoint’s team has experienced a great demand for quality used machinery and engineering services required to start up new production plants or expand existing capacities.
Pablo Rodriguez, MachinePoint Engineering Director, points out that they perceive a great development and machinery demand in Algeria, Angola and Ethiopia, followed by other Central African countries such as Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo and Nigeria.
MachinePoint offers these markets used machinery for food and beverage processing and packaging machinery: filling lines, preform and cap machinery, PET blow molding machines, PET fillers, cans and glass fillers, film and agricultural machinery, pipe and profile extruders, multiple size injectors, dairy processing machinery, etc.
MachinePoint Engineering services accompany investors and entrepreneurs who are creating new processing production plants to transform agricultural products into processed products, processing lines for water, juices, carbonated drinks and dairy products. MachinePoint´s engineering team assess customers from the initial project definition to the commissioning of the new production lines. It is a personalized assessment customized to the needs and budget of each client.
The entrepreneurs interested in MachinePoint’s services in Africa are usually medium-sized business owners looking for the best value for money. For them, MachinePoint’s used machinery is extremely competitive, as it gives them access to high quality machinery, mainly of European origin, at a much lower price than new machinery from a well-known brand.
Used machinery from leading brands maintain high levels of efficiency and productivity compared to second-tier brands. This translates into fewer production stoppages, longer life and higher productivity.
For the African business community, used machinery can be an optimal solution, since it drastically reduces the initial investment, while maintaining high quality standards. MachinePoint’s used machinery comes mainly from factories located in developed European economies where companies compete with very tight margins in a highly price-sensitive market. This means that these companies need the latest technology in their plants to maintain their competitiveness, resulting in well maintained surplus machinery with reduced working hours.
In African markets, where price pressure is lower in many food and beverage products because there is a high dependency on imports, the margins are interesting enough for entrepreneurs to start local production. Now with an increasing purchasing power of the population and a growing demand for food and beverage processed products, entrepreneurs are investing in creating new production facilities locally.
The surplus of European machinery supports optimal productivity for the cost and margin infrastructure of African countries. Many entrepreneurs are seeing how starting to produce locally increases their profits, and MachinePoint’s used machinery is in high demand, as MachinePoint offers its customers all the services necessary to import the machinery safely.
In parallel, MachinePoint’s engineering services provide the security that many investors need when it comes to complete plant projects.
Africa is transforming from a subsistence economy to a developed industrial economy. This step is essential to guarantee the increase in the standard of life of its growing population. MachinePoint’s team is highly motivated by projects in Africa as they easily perceive the positive impact industrial projects have on populations. Food industry development will bring food prices down and make them more affordable for the vast majority.
Many entrepreneurs also invest in improving their exporting productivity; this generates income for the countries that hopefully will increase welfare of the entire population.
Pablo Rodriguez comments, “Our recent increase of activity in Africa for the promotion of our engineering services is determined by the fact that we receive more demands from this area than from America or Asia. The local proximity and time schedule help tremendously to the progress of the projects. In Africa, the global situation has improved considerably. Several wars have ended and the prospects for growth are great. We also have a responsibility to help Africa to be able to create jobs and hope for its young people.
The challenge for Africa is to modernize itself and modernize its industry, to become a major player in the globalized world. To feed Africa not only with a collaborative economy but also by exporting quality products that meet world standards. Export is necessary in the early stages of development to secure the income needed to modernize the rest of the industrial structure. All this requires a secure economic and political climate. Corruption remains a limiting factor for growth in these countries.
MachinePoint’s main benefit as an engineering company is our independence from any manufacturer in advising our customers with the best technological solution for their needs. In most cases, our intervention reduces costs. We develop well-defined requests for quotation that allow us ask for prices for perfectly defined equipment to several manufacturers. Offers can be compared, allowing our clients to choose the best technical solution for their interests and budget.
The transfer of knowledge and training of our clients’ technical staff throughout the project is key to leaving value with the client´s team when the project ends. Our solutions are tailor-made factories, most of the times we combine equipment from different manufacturers and brands, as we look for the best technology and value from each manufacturer”.
