A transformational leader in industrial packaging in Senegal, La Rochette Dakar, covers 80% of its country’s demand for corrugated cardboard boxes. In April 2017, the company installed a DISCOVERY FFG 8.20 gluer in its Dakar plant (see sidebar below). Developed by Bobst Lyon, this machine allows four-color flexographic printing and in-line folding-gluing. This equipment is especially suited to the company’s needs, because of its ease of use and very high performance (its production can reach 18,000 boxes per hour). It assembles American boxes in one pass, using corrugated cardboard sheets.
Buying the DISCOVERY FFG 8.20 marks a new era in La Rochette Dakar’s industrial strategy (see the interview with its director, below) and completes its fleet of machines, which already includes a BOBST FFG 924 NT gluer purchased in July 2016. Since this highly automated equipment was put into service last spring, the package quality and production have increased considerably:
- The production rate has increased 50% and reduced delays between the corrugation shops and the box plant.
- The forming quality (printing, trimming and gluing) has improved significantly.
- Four-color printing has offered the company a chance to develop new types of packaging.
At its production site in Dakar, spanning more than 50,000 m², the 245-employee Senegalese company focuses on industrial packaging and printing. Its activities include producing American corrugated cardboard boxes, converting flexible boxes, paper bags for Kraft and self-adhesive labels, along with printing of publishing products (brochures, planners, posters, leaflets, flyers, calendars, etc.).
La Rochette Dakar actively pursues a strategy of modernizing its production equipment. Since 2016, it has been growing and making large investments in its plant. It has bought an in-line corrugator and two BOBST gluers, and sent an order to the Swiss company for a new Autoplatine VISIONCUT 106 LER die-cutter in July 2017.
Like other countries in Africa, Senegal hopes to export more products, especially to Europe. Packaging plays a strategic role in access to these new markets: Packaging for food products and commodities must meet very strict international sanitary, phytosanitary and traceability standards. Thanks to BOBST technology, La Rochette Dakar has acquired high-end equipment to speed its growth and play a key role in Africa’s packaging industry.
Now La Rochette Dakar is the packaging industry leader in Senegal and the entire West African region. Its exports are growing full tilt, especially to Mali, Guinea, Gabon, and recently to Gambia and Mauritania.
Number one in packaging in Senegal, La Rochette Dakar opened its plant in 1946. Originally called the “Colonial Packaging Company”, the company took its current name in 1960. A Senegalese family group bought the company in 1983. For more than 35 years, it has collaborated with BOBST to modernize its production site in Dakar, equipping a quality control laboratory and acquiring high-tech machines for transforming cardboard and paper. La Rochette Dakar has more than 1,000 customers, including several large international brands, and works in industries as varied as tobacco, agrifood, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.
This technological development has allowed them to include companies as demanding as Philip Morris International and Nestlé among its production customers. In 10 years, the company has evolved from a local to an international supplier. Modernizing its production site has allowed La Rochette Dakar to produce packaging and printing with strong added value. These high-quality, sophisticated products require printing with special varnishes, embossing and special trimming. Complex assembly processes are now possible thanks to the latest-generation machines’ repeatability and register control functions. Today, La Rochette Dakar has become a factory of reference, where its customers experiment with new products before launching them on the market.
