PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2012

BOTTLE MAKING 36 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 07+08/12 www.petpla.net According to Prof. Niemeyer who presented the 2011 sales figures to the trade press in Kleve, it is PET that is driving growth at KHS. With 10% growth in order intake, PET is definitely in the driving seat at KHS. With the expansion of the KHS Corpoplast site in Hamburg, the introduction of preform sterilisation as well as a PET bottling plant for still water specially developed for the Asian market, KHS is keen to further reinforce this trend. However, with a turnover of €917m, the 2008 pre-crisis level of €1012m has yet to be reached. Nevertheless, in view of the gap in the sales figures of €688 million in the crisis year of 2009, it at least shows that KHS is back. Despite the harsh competitive environment, Prof. Niemeyer stated that “...we (KHS) are growing faster and we are more profitable than our competitors”. The reason for this is, in his opinion, ”… our superior technology and outstand- ing service”. systems at Kriftel in Bad Kreuznach. The construction of transportation sys- tems has migrated from Worms to the parent plant at Dortmund. As regards the other production plants, KHS has streamlined its pro- duction portfolio, regional lines have disappeared, instead the production of individual installations is being boosted in order to generate learning curves and scale effects in the pro- duction workshops. But even in the individual plants much has been going on, for example, the Kleve plant for the Kistler systems has been completely re-structured. The Kleve people have switched their plant over from workstation-based assembly to a continuous assembly line. At the same time it has proved possible to achieve a significant reduction in throughput times from 12 weeks to 5 to 7 weeks. The stock has been reduced by half, the assembly costs by 25%. All this has not been at the cost of quality either; on the con- trary, the quality costs have similarly seen a reduction of 50%. www.khs.com KHS presents 2011 sales figures Growing with PET systems Worldwide sales are divided between Europe (30%), CIS and Asia (20%), America 29% and Africa and the Middle East 16%. An increase in order intake of approx. 17% was recorded for PET systems. Order intake as regards PET systems in 2010 was 41.4%; in 2011 it even got as high as 45.5%. In order to build machines in the required quantities, KHS laid the foundations in Hamburg in April 2012 to enable a 3,000m² expansion of the production facilities at Corpoplast to go ahead. In China the old JV in Shantou has been dissolved. KHS has not, in spite of considerable efforts, been able to achieve its targets in terms of sales and returns. KHS is now build- ing its own plant in Shantou cover- ing 5,000m², in which the new PET installation for still water – the CBE EcoBloc – is to be set up. Globally-speaking, KHS is work- ing on optimising production. This, as far as Germany is concerned, means concentrating on fewer production locations. This has also involved the integration of the plant for KEG Prof. Dr-Ing Matthias Niemeyer, CEO of KHS GmbH: “We are growing faster and we are more profitable than our competitors”