Packserv – creating the new for the future

In the fourth profile in our campaign to identify and celebrate Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers, we look at packaging machinery manufacturer Packserv. Peter Roberts spoke to Managing Director Nathan Wardell.

For Nathan Wardell, Managing Director of packaging machinery manufacturer Packserv, innovation in business runs in the family.

Nathan’s father, and grandfather before him all founded packaging machinery businesses, and he reels off a list of familiar names of family companies that have developed and sold – but also rented at times – equipment suited to Australia’s SME manufacturing sector.

But for Wardell, his career veered first into a chef’s apprenticeship, before studying accounting and business, followed by a series of specialised courses in everything from electronics to pneumatics.

Now with 29 years in packaging under his belt, he founded Packserv in 2007 with its first machines refining and improving on fillers, cappers, conveyors and tables suited to FMCG, Food & Beverage, Pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics sectors.

Wardell said: “To me innovation is to build something new, to create something that didn’t exist before.

“We spend a lot of time refining and redesigning (machinery) to come up with something new.”

Packserv, honoured by @AuManufacturing in 2024 as among Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers has a business model that is in itself innovative.

The company manufactures machines, builds complete manufacturing systems that include equipment from other suppliers, provides technical services and has a variety of acquisition options available to manufacturers.

Customers can rent for a day or a project, rent to buy, or buy the equipment they need, with Packserv’s products flexible enough to be repurposed to new products as companies evolve. Packserv’s partners can help with financing if that is needed.

“I suppose the business model itself, the delivery options and how flexible we are, there are some different finance options and purchase options, yes, that is all innovative.

“But I see the (innovation) focus more on developing and designing new technology – things like electronic drives rather than pneumatic drives, PLC controls, and remote access.”

Packserv’s latest machines have a digitally enabled footprint.

“So this means, to have a production line that you can access remotely.”

A manufacturer owner could dial into the machine remotely and access data about how the machine is operating such as uptime and downtime, and could fault find and problem solve from a distance.

“That’s where we are really focused on in terms of developing new products.”

Over time the nature of Australian manufacturers has been changing, with companies increasingly sophisticated and manufacturing in larger volumes.

Packserv has evolved with the sector – and weathered a particularly tough couple of decades alongside its customers, though Wardell said many had fallen by the wayside.

“I am excited I think for the future but I am also optimistic for next year once interest rates drop down, consumer spending returns, confidence returns, there will be an emergence of new manufacturers, new products.

“We will see new market entrants but also those manufacturers that have survived the past five years invest in upgrades and new production lines.

“I think that as we get into 2025 new will see a resurgence of FMGC in Australia, because it has been absolutely decimated over the five years with the effects of covid, inflation and interest rates.”

Perhaps, at the end of the day, that is what is at the core of innovation – Packserv’s confidence in the future and ability to do things better.

Pictures: Packserv/Nathan Wardell/technical services

Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers is an annual campaign by @AuManufacturing, made possible through the generous support of Australia Wide Engineering Recruitment, TXM Lean Solutions, the Industry Capability Network, Bonfiglioli Australia, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre and the SmartCrete CRC. You can nominate here (there is no administration fee) until March 15.