PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2011

NEWS 7 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 06/11 www.petpla.net Are your standard PET preform molds making you as much money as they should? Ask how MPET with iFlow technology improves production and achieves greater quality results. Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when blue-sky thinking meets down to earth know- how and exceptional supply chain execution. The sort of innovation that Mold-Masters is known for, now applied to PET tooling for industry-leading results. Introducing MPET – the new PET preform tooling solution designed for the standards of tomorrow. Mold-Masters and theMold-Masters logoare trademarks ofMold-Masters (2007) Limited. ©2011Mold-Masters (2007) Limited.All rights reserved. Think about it. moldmasters.com/thinkaboutit info@moldmasters.com KHS machine operating concept wins two iF awards KHS GmbH has won both the iF prod- uct design award 2011 and the iF gold award for its new machine operating con- cept. The concept was developed in close collaboration with the Fraunhofer IAO Insti- tute. It enables both machines and entire production lines to be controlled and monitored on a single interface, rather than by many and differing graphical user interfaces (GUIs). KHS says that operator prompting uses easy-to-decipher but- tons, coloured graphics and icons, and interactive handling instructions in a plain, simple, user-friendly way, present- ing complex processes in a manner that is easy to under- stand. The multistructured layout grants access to various detailed views and operat- ing levels. The new interface also allows user profiles to be accessed with an ID card, displaying relevant data to spe- cific individual users. The next development planned for the operating concept is adaptation for use on mobile hand-held devices, enabling operation independent of any particular stationary workstation. Over 2,700 products from 43 differ- ent countries were entered for the iF product design award and around 1,000 of them received a prize. Nearly 900 entries were submitted for the iF communication design award 2011 from 27 countries, with the jury presenting the iF seal over 200 times. Only 30 of the prize-winning products were later given the additional iF gold award. www.khs.com R&D/Leverage increases manufacturing and support capacity Four consecutive years of double-digit growth has led R&D/Leverage – UK to expand its manufacturing capacity by 40% in 2010. Recent new busi- ness wins in the UK and continental Europe have prompted the company to install another injection stretch blow moulding machine to its Product Solu- tions Laboratory (PSL), to further increase capacity. The PSL is a building- within-a-building that offers customers training modules and the capability to provide first-to-market samples. The company says that it can now qualify almost any product, including extreme shapes and extreme specifications, in-house. Earlier in 2011, the company added two new sales account man- agers to handle customers throughout northern and central Europe. www.rdleverage.com