PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2011

PREFORM PRODUCTION 18 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 04/11 www.petpla.net sumer bottles in Ukraine is not up to the mark. Yuriy would invest in a bot- tle-to-bottle programme if it were more developed and supported. Importing recycled material is not feasible due to the high prices and the lengthy trans- port distances. In order to cut the number of card- board octabins for preform transport on wooden pallets Retal Dnipro is working on replacing these cartons with multiuse metal boxes, which, in its turn, will allow to eliminate pal- lets and achieve significant savings on packaging and preserve natural resources. There has been a further change during the last few years. Ever since the early days, Yuriy and his team have been cultivating a very good partnership with Husky for injection moulding machines and Corvaglia for capping tools. In auxiliary equipment supply sector Retal Dnipro is marked by long-lasting and friendly relations with Piovan. This cooperation began from the very first machine. “Their support is first rate, their reaction is immediate and there is always a pos- sibility to make coordinated decision“. In the final analysis, this system of cooperation with teams on the basis of trust is Yuriy’s recipe for success. This not only applies to suppliers but also especially to his custom- ers. His friendship with Felix Nosov of Biola goes back decades, but his management style is based on this system of trust and cooperation. He shares all his successes with his team. “In the final analysis we can only move the company forward by working together“ is the maxim that enshrines his corporate philosophy. 10-year cooperation between Corvaglia and Retal (former Uniplast) Long-term customer relationships foster mutual growth – a key factor for success. Uniplast – today part of the Retal Group – and Corvaglia have been connected by a close cooperation for over 10 years. Both companies have grown from local enter- prises to global players in the last decade. Mr. Romeo Corvaglia, CEO and owner of the Corvaglia Group, based in Eschlikon, Switzerland, remembers his first journey to Dnipropetro- vsk in 1999: “At that time, we had already been working with Husky for several years. They invited us to a meeting with Uniplast at short notice.” The cooperation between Mr. Corvaglia and the CEO of Uniplast, Mr. Yuriy Khmara, was excellent from the very beginning. Corvaglia’s focus on research and development and Uniplast’s need for economical cap solutions in the Ukraine and later also in Russia were the basis for this success story. Together with Uniplast’s technicians, Mr. Corvaglia visited bottling plants in the Ukraine. His goal was to convince them of one-com- ponent closures for carbonated soft drinks. The efforts of both companies were successful. Today, Retal Dnipro is a major player in the Ukrainian market in both the production of preforms and one-component closures. The Retal Group will supply well-known brand owners with the new 1881 closure solution, replacing the 1810 clo- sures. This replacement was engineered by Corvaglia. The Swiss com- pany will spearhead the launch of 1881 emphasising the lightweighting and cost-saving aspects of the new cap both to converters and to multi- national companies. As a first step, Uniplast’s two 1810 injections moulds were converted into 1881 moulds last year. Thanks to the modular system of all Corvaglia moulds, the conversion of the 10-year-old injection moulds went smoothly, and proved more economical than buying new moulds. In 2011, Corva- glia also installed two new injection moulds with 96 cavities each at Retal Dnipro. Aseptic closure production Romeo Corvaglia, CEO and owner of the Corvaglia Group. The Retal Group will supply customers with the 28mm PCO 1881 closure solution.