ALPLA has been active in the national market for high-quality beverage packaging with an in-house production plant for customer and partner Refriango in the Luanda suburb of Viana since 2018. With success, because quality increases demand. And after Refriango was commissioned by The Coca-Cola Company as the official bottler in Angola in 2022, ALPLA's second plant followed in the summer. ‘Angola has enormous potential. We have continuously expanded our capacity and our headcount since entering the country. The market for plastic packaging is developing very dynamically, and we are at the forefront and aiming for further growth,’ explains Mike Resnicek, Managing Director Sub-Saharan Africa at ALPLA.
Opportunities and challenges
By opening its second plant, the packaging company is highlighting its ambitions for the Angolan market. The roughly 4,000 square metre site was built separately and manufactures PET preforms for the country’s beverage industry. The 15 new employees increase the total number of employees to 45. The total production area of the two plants is 5,500 square meters, houses seven machines and includes IM-PET (injection moulding for preforms) and CM-CAPS (compression moulding for closures) technologies.
Though the opportunities in the Angolan market are excellent, so too are the challenges. Plant Manager Aires Filipe is aware of this, saying, ‘Local suppliers are still scarce, and there are bureaucratic hurdles that make business more difficult. On top of that, finding qualified employees can take a while.’ Teamwork, entrepreneurial spirit and mutual appreciation within the Family of Pioneers remain the most important success factors in Angola, too. ‘Family spirit is at the heart of our identity. We are grateful to each and every one of our employees and proud of the great development we have seen over the past few years,’ says Resnicek.
