PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

BOTTLE MAKING 20 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net Single stage feature part 4 Suppliers of single stage machinery Three suppliers of single stage machinery, Nissei ASB, Sipa and Aoki, currently control the global markets. We visited the offices of Nissei ASB, Aoki Technical Laboratories and Sipa. After presenting Nissei ASB in issue 9 we now complete our feature on single stage machinery suppliers with the reports on Aoki and Sipa.. possible by all the people involved in the manufacturing process working together as a team with integrity and a passion, understanding and shar- ing the our vision and ideas. Aoki has come a long way, however, we are not complacent with our success in the market. Our greatest competition is ourselves. We have to remain focused on our goals and apply ourselves to ongoing improvements and enhancements to what we do.” Aoki technology Direct Heatcon is the Aoki flagship. Although Aoki and Nissei ASB share a common origin, the two companies have very different products. The ASB series was and still is based on the four-station model, whereas Aoki developed a three-station machine with Direct Heatcon system in 1984. The three stations are:  preform injection moulding and direct heat conditioning  stretch-blow moulding  product ejection. In the Direct Heatcon process, the preform heat conditioning is car- ried out in the injection mould, where ambient temperature has “no effect on production”, heat energy is retained Aoki Technical Laboratories Meeting with Hidenaga Nakagawa, Director: “Aoki is a laboratory. We are a research and devel- opment based enterprise committed in pursuit of the advancement of international culture and the protection of our natural environment through our business.” The European office of Aoki is located in central Düsseldorf. Mr. Hidenaga Nakagawa, Director of the subsidiary, welcomed us in his office. The spacious offices occupy the top floors a high rise building, with exten- sive areas given over to overwhelming number of samples of all types and sizes of PET containers, all injection stretch blow moulded on Aoki’s single step machines. Aoki Technical Laboratory, Inc., originally founded in 1976 as a R&D company, still consider themselves today as the same and original “research and development-based enterprise” as when it was started. The manufacture of Aoki single step machines and the genuine moulds is carried out exclusively in Nagano/ Japan under the most stringent quality control conditions. The “Aoki philosophy” Asked about Aoki’s philosophy, Hidenaga Nakagawa explains: “Aoki is a laboratory. The role of a labora- tory is not to be satisfied with the status quo, but to set the focus on a span of ten years ahead. If we had sat back, we could not have developed new machine models to differentiate our products from others. We would have moved our machine manufactur- ing facilities to other countries with cheap manufacturing and labour cost, more people required to do the work, mistakes, compromises and errors. To respond to the challenges of the market Aoki has come up with its “Direct Heatcon” molding technology – the unique and simplest molding system that enables stable production of high quality containers, while reducing wasted material and electricity costs. Machines and quality made by Aoki in Japan are made