PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2013

TRADE SHOW REVIEW 36 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 06/13 www.petpla.net Chinaplas, Guangzhou, May 20 - 23, 2013 Dynamic development With its rapid economic growth, China has become the most influential country in the plastics markets worldwide. Last year, the total output of plastic products in China reached 57 million tons, representing a growth of 9% compared to 2011. And the total sales value of plastic prod- ucts was about RMB 1,600 billion, a 15% growth compared to 2011. Once again, Chinaplas 2013 reflected this dynamic development. 2,900 exhibitors from 38 countries shared a total area of 220,000m². More than 3,200 sets of machines were on display in 25 exhibition halls. The four-day show’s 114,000 visitors (not including exhibitor staff and media) represented an increase of approx. 4% compared to the Chinaplas 2012 show in Shanghai. The international component of Chinaplas also continues to grow, with visitors from outside China increasing to 27%, up from 25% at the previous Shanghai show. Chinaplas is certainly no longer a “Chinese Affair”, but the meeting point of suppliers and customers from the West, Asia and Middle East. Not much has changed over the previous years. New Chinese machinery manufacturers appear virtually out of nowhere and present working machines, while other compa- nies from previous years disappear. Although the organiser is keen to expand the show by another day to five days, some participants question the logic of an annual show which incurs significant costs, especially when machines are exhibited or in operation. Some PET technology leaders, such as KHS, Sidel and Husky, did not take part this year. The copying of other company’s technologies is still wide-spread and common. Visitors, equipped with digital cameras and iPhones, not only take pictures of every part of the machines, some even crawl directly into the clamping unit of the machine in order to snatch a close-up view. Stand personnel had to push back the crowds. Some companies (e.g. Akei) frantically erected additional barriers only a few hours after the show started. Some companies relied on external security guards. One of the hottest topics of the exhibition this year: compression moulding machines for the production of PE closures. Sacmi set the benchmark, Chinese machinery manufacturers follow and copy. And the quality and perfor- mance of the machines from the different manufacturers vary. Most machines were equipped with 48 cavity moulds (please note: the stated outputs vary and cannot be con- firmed by us). Sacmi sets the benchmark Sacmi still sets the benchmark when it comes to compres- sion moulding of single-piece caps used for CSD, mineral water, hot filling and cold aseptic filling. The compression moulding machine at the company’s booth produced up to 96,000pph with just 48 moulds (previous machines achieved this output only with 64 cavity moulds). The CCM48 on display featured a mould for the production of S29W-3 HDPE (high density polyethylene) caps with a diameter of 29mm, weighing just 1.25g. Besides Sacmi Imola’s Closures & Containers Division, the booth was shared with Sacmi Automation & Inspection Systems, Sacmi Hong Kong, Sacmi Nanhai, Sacmi Shanghai and Negri Bossi. Sacmi Automation & Inspection Systems, for instance, presented several inspection solutions, the most important being the new CHS cap quality control vision system, a high speed machine that sorts and inspects caps. CHS series machines were developed for the installation downstream from compres- sion and injection production lines and provide the possibility for complete cap inspection, both inside and outside. They are par- ticularly suited for inspection after slitting and printing or before packing. Thanks to its modular structure, the CHS machines can be set-up according to the customer’s specific quality control needs. Sacmi does not want to rely on compression moulding alone. Heavily promoted, but not on display was the IPS220 preform injection moulding machine which was officially launched in 2012. Called IPS (Injection Preform System), this system has been designed for the production of preforms and is currently available with a clamping force of 2,200kN and 48 cavity mould. Sacmi mentioned the company Gardaplast as a reference . Here a similar preform injection moulding system has been running in continuous production for more than 10 months now and has achieved very good results. www.sacmi.it The closure corner Cap making at Chinaplas