PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 12 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net UAB Orion Global PET (Indorama Ventiures) The Indorama Ventures team with Alexander Büchler (left) Orion Global PET, the Indorama Ventures’ PET plant in Lithuania is one of the most efficient plants in the world. It was built as the first Indo- rama PET plant in Europe and from day one it has been running at full capacity. Following the set- ting up of further Indorama facilities in Europe, the plant is focussing on supplying its customers in the North and East of Europe. Indorama Ventures decided to make the transition from Asia to Europe in October 2004. At that time PET usage in the markets of Eastern Europe was growing by leaps and bounds and it subsequently became clear that any expan- sion would need to be targeted on Europe, including also Eastern Europe. Klaipeda in Lithuania was the first choice, because it lies on the Baltic and supplies of raw materials can be delivered by ship. In addition, Klaipeda was situ- ated very close to the markets that were booming at the time. Klaipeda has, despite its northerly position at latitude 57 0 N, an ice-free harbour, essential as regards logistics, allowing year round deliveries of PTA and MEG and subse- quent export via container. An additional advantage is that Lithuania boasts the best trained workforce in the area, and a long, eventful history. It has no fewer than four world cultural heritage sites. The icing on the cake was its loca- tion in the Klaipeda Free Trade Zone where, although there were no direct investment subsidies, there was still a time- limited significant tax reduction. Thus Indorama came to build its first greenfield plant. One of the harshest winters of the previous few years delayed completion by six months but, in 2006, the plant went into production. The plant is an Uhde Inventa Fischer plant featuring four reactors. Its design capacity is 500t per day. However, it was not long before the specialists were able to exceed this capacity. “Debottlenecking“ is what they call it. Following work on the details, production today is 132% of the original installed capacity. And, for 2012, they have set themselves the goal of 700t per day. This makes the plant the most efficient single PET line in Europe, if not the world. This “debottlenecking know-how“ is being applied by Indorama worldwide. In this way it is continu- ously optimising all its plants. Initially Indorama Ventures supplied the whole of Europe from Klaipeda. But it was not long before the resourceful PET manufacturers were purchasing other plants in the heart of Europe to add to their portfolio. At the moment Lithuania is still supplying central, east and north- ern Europe but, even here, Indorama Venture has in the meantime been busy with acquisitions. This means that the delivery radius may be expected to shrink. Nevertheless, the plant has, since its inauguration, always operated at maximum output. Even when, over the last few years, PTA became scarce and many PET manufacturers found that they were forced to implement unscheduled maintenance works, Indorama carried on under full load operation. The reason that it was able to do this is that Indorama has its own reliable plants for PTA production. www.indorama.net UAB Putokšnis F.l.t.r.: Roland Koch (Husky), Simona Stulpinaite and Ramu- nas Undzys We met: Edmundas Jakas -Technical Manager Simona Stulpinaite – Member of the board On the borders of the EU It is eight years since we last paid a visit to “Putokšnis”. At the time there were three Husky lines standing in a small, old factory on the former military airfield at Siauliai in Lithuania producing preforms for a German customer. In the intervening years, the picture has completely changed. The company has refurbished all the buildings to include a 2000m² production facil- ity for up to 12 machines, a large warehousing area covering 7,000m², a new office building and a new silo installation with a capacity of more than 1,000t. With 9 Husky lines providing a total capacity of 1.4 billion preforms the factory is now almost completely occupied. However, it is not just the hardware that has changed, it’s also the customers. Eight years ago, “Putokšnis”benefited ago from Lithuania being outside the EU, which meant that it incurred punitive tariff duties on imported PET material.