PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2011

PET TOP TALK 11 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 01+02/11 www.petpla.net John Galt of Husky: “Ownership, leadership and strategy are completely aligned on where we are taking the business.” We are here at K 2010 in Düsseldorf in the Husky booth, talking to John Galt, President and CEO of Husky Injection Molding Systems. Prior to becoming Robert Schad’s suc- cessor in 2005, John Galt was Vice President of Operations and COO. Prior to that he was Vice President Engineer- ing in the Canadian based company. He gained a wealth of experience and business knowledge which would enable him to eventually lead Husky into a new epoch, from a pre- dominantly family-owned and family-dominated company to the company owned by private equity finance, from PET pioneering to a profitable enterprise. art in preform and closure manufactur- ing solutions are still relatively imma- ture, relative to what they could be. Therefore the prime duty for us is to continue to improve through technol- ogy, manufacturing efficiencies – to find a better way even in a saturated market. PETplanet: How far are environ- mentalists responsible for this market saturation? Is recycling the answer to protect the PET business against political interference? John Galt: PET packaging is the most environmentally friendly option - if you look at the product created, used and reused. We – the industry - ignored the opportunity to recycle material for a long time. Now the per- ception of PET packaging as an envi- ronmentally friendly product needs to be addressed. PETplanet: Given the linkage between the environment and the PET business, pressure is mount- ing on companies, especially in the highly significant bottled mineral water category. Public water companies are constantly improving tap water. John Galt: There’s a place for tap water. If you have access to clean quality drinking water, at the end of the day the consumer will make the decision. For us it’s about providing a packaging solution that meets the PETplanet: Dynamics have returned to the plastics markets, as seen here live at the show in Düssel- dorf. John Galt: I don’t think the mar- kets ever went away – not for food and beverage packaging . PETplanet: European injection moulding machine makers have suf- fered a 50% drop in order intake in 2009. We need to ask the question, how can industries survive and what are the recipes for survival, in view of these dramatic falls in sales and revenue. John Galt: We don’t have all the answers to that very big question. But to us, it’s fairly simple. Try to have the best products possible, continue to invest in R&D for leading technology, keep investing in customer service, develop a globally competitive cost structure so that regardless of swings in the economic cycles, regardless of where your competition will come from in the future, that you’re prepared. I don’t think that in principle that set of priorities has changed. PETplanet: France, for instance, is a saturated market. Growth is no longer the driver there. How does a company handle a saturated market, when growth is no longer the driving force? How does one operate in a saturated market? John Galt: There was a plaque on the wall in Robert’s office with a quote – my favourite quote from Thomas Edison that said “there’s always a better way - find it”. The state of the