PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2010

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 13 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 01+02/10 www.petpla.net year as a light weight line extension to the DoubleSeal SuperShorty, once again two years later, another 16% of weight saving was achieved. All this efforts save resin and therefore costs for our customers. And please note, these are all caps that were well accepted by the market - not prototypes that never came to market! You will see there- fore that in this field we can talk about a two-year innova- tion cycle. PETplanet: As a global supplier and manufacturer of caps what do you see as typical features of the German market? Henkel: Nowhere in the world exists such a tough competition among retailers. The large number of hard discounters generates enormous pressure on prices for food and beverages which the individual producers pass to the packaging suppliers. The number of discount stores will grow even more in the near future. Only few beverage producers have had the capabili- ties to cope with these tough market conditions leaving behind a fragmentised water industry with many mid-sized companies. PETplanet: Many thanks, Mr Henkel! plant in Lithuania. In Germany they produce standard PCO 28 preforms with weights from 17.5 to 36g. Now, in the quiet season they are switching part of the production in Merseburg over to the new lightweight preforms. Uni- plast Germany still imports other preforms from various of the group’s plants. The next major move can already be seen in the pro- duction bay - in-house production of PCO 28 caps on a Husky Electric 800t machine fitted with a 144 cavity mould tool. Bericap Interview with Thomas Henkel PETplanet: Good morning Mr Henkel. In Germany we are increasingly seeing that beverage fillers are producing own preforms. Lidl have already gone a step further and now make own closures. Do you think that in future more fillers will make own closures, or is this a unique case? Henkel: You are right. I came from a manufacturer of plastic pots and tubs, and originally the pots and the lids always came from the same supplier. The idea of the pot and the lid coming from different sources was a new concept at the time, but nowadays reality. But if we look more closely at the matter it quickly becomes clear - even if preforms and caps are both injection moulded the pro- duction of caps is considerably more complex. Just think of all the different colour changes for caps, and then the printing. A beverage filler can enjoy a considerable degree of product differentiation at the point of sale through the design of his cap, even if the bottles are all the same. This variation doesn’t apply to that extent to preforms. PETplanet: The current trend towards light weighting of preforms is also to a large extent a success for caps. I’m thinking of the 1881. Henkel: We have certainly achieved a lot in recent years with regard to light weighted caps for still water and CSDs, but we shouldn’t forget that Germany, with its mul- titude of small fillers, is still a big market for classic 1810 caps. For small companies it is not an economical propo- sition at the moment - despite the savings in material. We as cap manufacturers are required to supply the new lightweight caps and the traditional, well-proven beverage caps. PETplanet: And just how rapidly does the innovation cycle move in the closures business? Henkel: As a good example I would like to take you through our development programme for beer caps. In 2003, when beer was starting to be filled in PET in appre- ciable quantities, we had our one-piece “DoubleSeal O 2 S” on the market, just two years later we had developed a lightweight version - the “ECO O 2 S” achieving a weight reduction of 12%. Again, just two years after that in 2007, we launched the “DoubleSeal SuperShorty” for the 1881 neck, crown design, based on a request of the beer indus- try. And in case you think that was the end, take a look at our “DoubleSeal SuperShorty Eco“ which followed this Some of Bericap’s beer closure developments: DoubleSeal O 2 S (right) and DoubleSeal SuperShorty O 2 S (left and second) DoubleSeal Super- shorty O 2 S for the 1881 neck