A line you can afford, from people who are here when it stops.
CISH delivers complete production-line solutions to African manufacturers — sourced from China, installed, commissioned, and kept running with local maintenance, spare parts within a week, and pricing well below European suppliers. You don't need to become a production engineer. That's the part we bring.
"We have never run a line like this before."
That is the sentence we hear most from African manufacturers. Not "my machine is broken" — but how do you size a line, specify it, commission it, run it at rate, maintain it on a schedule, and know which spares to hold?
You run a good business. You have never run a production line. That experience gap — not a shortage of skilled hands — is what stops most first lines from paying back. It is also why looking at machine catalogues gets you nowhere: a spec sheet can't tell you whether the line will work in your building, on your power, with your people.
So we don't sell machines. We sell the outcome: a line that runs at its rated output, operated by your team, supported by ours — and someone who still picks up the phone in year three.
Start with a free feasibility call →What a first-time buyer is actually afraid of
"I'll spend everything, it won't work, and nobody will help me."
Every part of how we work answers that fear: one accountable partner, commissioning to an agreed output, operator training before handover, a wear-part kit specified on day one, and support that is physically in Africa.
Honest number up front: the equipment itself is only 35–55% of what a production-line project really costs. We put the full landed-and-installed picture in writing before you commit. See what the rest is →
Six ways in — one working line at the end.
Spare Parts & Support
Most parts in your hands within a week — through our own China–Africa logistics channel. For lines we supplied, and for Chinese-built lines we didn't.
Learn more →Maintenance & Support
Scheduled preventive maintenance, breakdown attendance, and remote diagnostics — delivered by CISH engineers and appointed local agents.
Learn more →Production Lines
Complete small and mid-sized lines: specified, sourced from China, installed, commissioned to rated output, and handed over with your team trained.
Learn more →Line Upgrade & Recovery
Equipment you already own, back to design output — bottleneck diagnosis, controls upgrade, mechanical remediation, re-commissioning.
Learn more →Operator Training
Your people, trained to run and maintain the line — during commissioning and after. Written procedures your team actually uses.
Learn more →Feasibility & Line Sizing
A free 30-minute consult, then a capacity model, layout, and budget band — so you can decide with numbers, not brochures.
Learn more →What are you actually buying?
| Buy direct from China | Buy European | CISH | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're buying | A machine | A machine plus a service contract | A working line |
| Capital cost | Low | High | Low |
| Someone accountable in Africa | No | Sometimes | Yes |
There's an entry point at every budget.
Start where your capital is today; upgrade when the line has paid for itself. Bands are equipment cost in USD — landed-and-installed totals run ×1.25–1.45 for coastal markets and ×1.45–1.60 landlocked. Why the difference matters →
Recover what you own
US$60k–250kGet idle or underperforming equipment back to rated output. The fastest payback in the building.
Build with used equipment
40–60% of newWhere budget is the constraint — inspected, refurbished, commissioned, and supported like a new line.
New small line
US$150k–400kEntry food, beverage, or packaging line — the class European vendors ignore and direct import can't support.
New mid line
US$400k–900kOilseed, milling, plastics, and larger food lines for the second-line buyer adding real capacity.
Sixteen markets. One support network.
Sourcing and shipping run on our own China channel; installation and support are delivered by CISH engineers and appointed local agents, mobilised from Johannesburg. Six core markets below — the full sixteen, from Ethiopia to Senegal, on the countries hub.
Ghana
Filling & packaging and plastics — including recycling lines — in West Africa's easiest legal entry point.
Production lines in Ghana →Mozambique
Food & beverage and building-materials forming. Página disponível em português.
Linhas de produção em Moçambique →Nigeria
The largest plastics market of our six core markets. We win on parts availability and whole-line know-how.
Production lines in Nigeria →Tanzania
Edible oil and refining, grain milling, building-materials forming. Africa's second-largest sunflower producer.
Production lines in Tanzania →Zambia
Filling & packaging leads — and every quote includes the power solution, because a line that can't run isn't a line.
Production lines in Zambia →Zimbabwe
Line recovery and upgrade first — plus filling & packaging, where 2024 imports more than doubled.
Production lines in Zimbabwe →Food & beverage leads — everywhere.
Food & beverage equipment is 37–54% of serviceable Chinese machinery imports in every market we serve 2024 · UN Comtrade
One partner. Seven stages. No hand-offs.
Consult
Free 30-min call. We listen.
Feasibility
Capacity model, layout, budget band.
Design
Line specification you can hold us to.
Source & Build
Proven Chinese factories, tested before shipping.
Install
CISH engineers on your floor.
Commission
Run up to the agreed output — proven, not promised.
Maintain
Training, spares, scheduled support.
Practical reading before you spend anything.
Why spare parts from China take three months — and how to make it one week
The mechanics of a standing supply channel, and why a one-off buyer can't replicate it.
New, used, or fix what you have — which one does your budget actually buy?
The capital ladder, with honest bands for each rung and the traps at each level.
Your first production line: what nobody tells a first-time buyer
The costs, delays, and decisions that catch people who have run businesses but never lines.
Tell us what you want to make.
What product, at what volume, in which country. We'll come back within two working days with a feasibility view — from an engineer, not a sales script.