PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2010

imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Landhausstr. 4 69115 Heidelberg, Germany phone: +49(0)6221-65108-0 fax: +49(0)6221-65108-28 info@hbmedia.net EDITORIAL Doris Fischer f ischer@hbmedia.net Ruari McCallion Tony O´Neill Ilona Trotter Wolfgang von Schroeter Anthony Withers MEDIA CONSULTANTS Ute Andrä andrae@hbmedia.net Miriam Kiesler kiesler@hbmedia.net phone: +49(0)6221-65108-0 fax: +49(0)6221-65108-28 France, Italy, Spain, UK Elisabeth Maria Köpke phone: +49(0)6201-878925 fax: +49(0)6201-878926 koepke@hbmedia.net READER SERVICES Kay Krüger reader@hbmedia.net LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Kommunikationsdesign www.exprim.de PRINT WDW Druck GmbH Gustav-Throm-Straße 1 69181 Leimen-St.Ilgen Germany WWW www.petpla.net | w ww.pet-point.net PETplanet insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ sub- scription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trade marks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 05/10 www.petpla.net EDITORIAL dear readers, The same thing done by two different people is not necessarily the same thing. How can it be that Krones, at its Annual Press Conference, desig- nated 2009 as having been one of its most difficult years whilst Husky, Netstal and Hofstetter are talking about one of their best years in the PET business? As far as the preform system manufacturers are concerned, possible savings in materials here as a result of the new base geometry and the new cap have seen a return on investment within two years, in some cases within just one year. This meant that it was easy, even in times of crisis, to scrape the last few cents together and to invest in new sys- tems. The consistent increase in the price of PET (which, according to our research for the PETplanet Pulse price index, is already back up to the level of June 2008) has, in particular, had the effect of spurring this process. Unfortunately the stretch blow moulding and bottling plant manu- facturers have not been able to profit from this trend towards more lightweight PET bottles. Their installations last for ever and, if anything, a new cap can also be produced on the old plant using a couple of mouldings. Return on investment on bottling plants is difficult to estimate. In this respect the Krones situation is typical of manufacturers of complete sys- tems. Quite simply, you need the plant before you can do any bottling. It’s only when we compare the old plant with the new investment that we arrive at an ROI. And that is quite often outside the 10-year margin. So the fact that Krones Financial Director Hans-Jürgen Thaus does not envisage a return to the boom levels of 2008 until 2013 / 2014 is not to be wondered at. As long as the complete systems manufacturers do not succeed with their new plants in saving you, as bottlers, 0.4 Euro- cents per bottle, we are looking at achieving ROI over 2 years (assum- ing a plant investment of 1.2 million Euros at 25,000 bph 6000 hours per year). It will take them at least two years to even get on to the final straight that the preformers have been targeting for years. In addition to cost reduction measures and the modular principle, Krones and the other complete system manufacturers should not lose sight of this goal, otherwise it could well be doubtful whether the high level last seen in 2008 can in fact be achieved again in 2014. Yours A. Büchler