PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2012

EDITOUR REPORTS 21 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 04/12 www.petpla.net definitely include Kötsan and Sunpet in Gaziantep. But Eskapet, a processor from Bursa (until recently regarded as one of the smaller fry) made some mas- sive investments last year. Things are looking different on the caps market where all brands buy on the free market. The family-managed company Hasplastik in Istanbul has taken up a good position, but Altinas in Ankara also play an important role. A newcomer in this hotly con- tested market, Köksan is currently coming on-stream. Whilst Hasplastik supplies the market with its own designs, Köksan relies on Corvaglia. One thing that is common to all converters is the fact that they work with a large number of Netstal lines. Murat Aner, Technical Director of Hasplastik, knows the reason for this too: “Netstal’s service here in Turkey is outstanding“. Sipa is also a force to be reckoned with in Turkey. Husky have only gained a significant foothold during the last year. They have been able to supply some new machines to Eskapet. All three sectors, that is, water, CSD and oil are so strong that the 2-stage process is almost exclusively used for these products. Where water is concerned it is not an issue, here the quality requirements for the preform and the cap have increased dramatically. The entire water sector in Turkey has gone over completely from 30/25 to the Shortneck 29/25 over the past three years. In addition, high performance bottling plants have come on to the market which incorporate a distinctly narrower process window than the bottling lines to date. In the CSD sector nobody is thinking aloud about reducing weight. Coca Cola is happily continuing to produce the heavy 1810. It seems that here none of the other CSD bottlers is keen to engage with top dog Coca Cola. There is no doubt that, as regards this considera- tion, the enormous transport distances in Turkey have a role to play. The distance from the eastern to the west- ern frontier is 2,500km and Coca Cola has its bottling plant close to the western border. Which brings us to Turkey’s geographical posi- tion. Contingent on its southerly location, the summer season from February to October pans out at just under nine months. In addition there is a further peak in December. Accordingly, the converters have planned their production capacities to suit the season. In prac- tice no stockpiling for the summer takes place. Within Turkey some 150,000t of PET are currently being produced; the sector has to import the remaining 200,000t. Here Köksan, in its capacity as the largest of the preform manufacturers, sees its chance. At present the company is building a plant with an annual capacity of 216,000t. 2015 will see the addition of an equivalent capacity. This will make Turkey self-sufficient. Alexander Büchler Eskapet The Eskapet team line-up before the Editourmobile We met: Ramazan Akar, Factory Manager Kadir Fota, Service Engineer Breakthrough Eskapet has tripled its capacity in 2011 to a current 50,000t throughput of PET. This tre- mendous step forward has been made possible thanks to a new building located in Inegöl near Bursa. We asked Factory Manager Ramazan Akar for details. To begin at the beginning, Eskapet is situated between Istanbul and Izmir which puts it right at the centre of the water bottling industry in Western Turkey. And it’s not too far either to the capital city of Ankara. This puts the com- pany in a favourable strategic location for its customer base. Whereas these had, until recently, been predomi- nantly small and medium-sized bottling plants, they were now in a position to approach major brand names and to generate enthusiasm for their preforms. These bulk orders are actually the reason why the company has not only ramped up capacity but is also managing to sell the prod- ucts they manufacture. Preform production started in 2002 with two Sipa lines, which were subsequently augmented in 2006 by a Netstal with 144 cavities. At that time it was only the fourth Netstal line with such a high number of cavities.