PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2012

imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Häusserstr. 36 69115 Heidelberg, Germany phone: +49(0)6221-65108-0 fax: +49(0)6221-65108-28 info@hbmedia.net EDITORIAL Doris Fischer: f ischer@hbmedia.net Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Ilona Trotter Wolfgang von Schroeter Anthony Withers MEDIA CONSULTANTS Ute Andrä andrae@hbmedia.net Martina Hischmann hirschmann@hbmedia.net Ursula Wachter wachter@hbmedia.net phone: +49(0)6221-65108-0 fax: +49(0)6221-65108-28 France, Italy, Spain, UK Elisabeth Maria Köpke phone: +49(0)6201-878925 fax: +49(0)6201-878926 koepke@hbmedia.net LAYOUT AND PREPRESS Exprim Kommunikationsdesign Matthias Gaumann | www.exprim.de READER SERVICES Kay Krüger reader@hbmedia.net PRINT Chroma Druck & Verlag GmbH Werkstr.25 67454 Römerberg Germany WWW www.petpla.net | in dia.petpla.net PETplanet insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ sub- scription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trade marks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 04/12 www.petpla.net EDITORIAL dear readers, EDITORIAL At the NPE in North America we saw only one PET installation - Sipa was making its debut with its Xform preform system. Instead, the machine builders appear to have re-discovered the closure systems for themselves. Anybody with any reputation to maintain had a fast-running system on the stand. Particular eye-catchers were Husky – who were now exhibiting in the wake of their acquisition of KTW – and Engel, where the fourth generation of owners has now taken over management of the closure caps sector and has every intention of becoming market leaders in this sector. In addition to the high spots in relation to content, the NPE has given itself a complete makeover. The decision to move the event from Chi- cago to Orland in Florida, which raised eyebrows at the time, seems to have come good. Visitor numbers speak for themselves, from 43,125 at the most recent event in 2009 to the current total of 55,359 visitors. The comparison is a bit misleading because, in 2009, North America was still going through one of the most severe recessions it had ever experi- enced. Nevertheless, despite everything, the NPE has garnered a wave of new visitors. Never before had so many visitors from Central and South America been counted at an NPE! The exhibition layout featuring two large halls turned out to be a suc- cess, with visitors seemingly finding them quite acceptable. True, the marginal areas (West Hall F and Nord Hall) were more sparsely visited but overall, visitor appreciation was high. Even the long walk between the halls subsequently turned out to be not quite so daunting; it took me twelve minutes to get from Engel’s stand in one of the two halls to Sabic’s stand in the other hall. Going from one hall to the other at the K Fair in Düsseldorf can take considerably longer. Something else worth pointing out is also the proximity of the hotels and restaurants to the fair, a large proportion of the visitors were able to dispense with the bus service and walk to the exhibition centre. The bars and restaurants were also located within walking distance. Despite all the excellent preparations on the part of the organisers of the fair and the city of Orlando, the only fly in the ointment was the fact that the number of visitors to the NPE had meant that certain speciality dishes were off the menu, and some restaurants actually ran out of beer! Probably a clear sign that the NPE was considerably better than some had thought it would be. Yours Alexander Büchler