PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2013

TRADE SHOW PREVIEW 39 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 07+08/13 www.petpla.net drinktec + PETpoint, September 16 -20, Munich, Germany PET trends bundled At drinktec + PETpoint manufacturers and suppliers from all over the world meet up here with all sizes of producers and retailers of beverages and liquid food products. They will present the latest technology for processing, filling, packag- ing and marketing all kinds of beverages and liquid food – raw materials and logistics solutions included. The themes of beverages marketing and packaging design round off the portfolio. drinktec 2013, which takes place at the Messe München exhibition centre in Munich, from September 16 to 20, 2013, is expected to attract over 1,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and approximately 60,000 visitors from more than 170 countries. All the trends in PET manufacture and bottle design will be on show at PETpoint, the PET seg- ment within drinktec 2013, mainly in hall B3. The enormous quantity of PET bottles produced each year (in 2010 worldwide around 500 billion) highlights the importance of increasing energy and resource efficiency in bottle manufacture. A key factor is the weight of the PET bottles – up to 70% of the costs of a bottle are accounted for by the materials, preform manufacture and bottle pro- duction each account for only around 15%. For every 100 million PET bottles produced, roughly 100t of material could be saved by reducing the weight of each bottle by just 1g. In the process of heating preforms and in the use of com- pressed air, there is untapped potential for saving energy, and the new generation of stretch blow molders is achiev- ing impressive reductions in energy consumption. Drinktec 2013 will be showcasing the latest results of the manufac- turers’ R&D efforts, the focus being on optimizing strength, faster processing, heat-tolerance and cleanliness. According to Markus DalPian, Head of Business Units PET, CAP and PAC at Netstal-Maschinen AG, Switzerland, developments in the market are focusing ever more on the overall view of packaging production and ways to optimize the entire value-added chain: “This means even closer integration and a more efficient grouping of the stages in the process. Production and process efficiency are the key concerns that we are hearing from our customers. These requirements can no longer be met by injection moulding machines alone. What´s needed is a more comprehensive system approach, taking into account the entire value chain as well as the requirements of the end product. Part of the answer lies in turnkey system solutions tuned precisely to the needs of the user and optimized machine technology to help reduce the overall weight of packaging. Further efforts are concentrat- ing on reducing processing costs through the use of efficient energy systems which incur very low costs on operation and maintenance.” Visitors can also look forward to some new ideas and solutions from the manufacturers in the area of multilayer bottles. Today all kinds of PET bottles – multilayer, blend or no blend – have established themselves as suitable pack- aging for a wide range of beverage types. Optimizing the characteristics of these barrier coatings is one of the biggest challenges in opening up new markets. As regards the main trend in PET, which continues to be weight reduction, there will be a lot to see at drinktec, as there is still much potential here to be exploited. In this first show preview we gathered some of the PET highlights at drinktec. www.drinktec.com Light as a feather Sipa is planning to unveil a machine that enables further bottle lightweighting. Dubbed “Xtreme”, the new equipment is claimed to treat material very gently and to significantly reduce the rate of acetaldehyde generation and consequent loss of bottle performance. The company’s preform system range has been expanded with the Xform 150, developed in partnership with the Cana- dian company Athena Automation Ltd. It is designed to offer the capacity to cope with a range of applications, from narrow necks through to wide mouths, and will accept legacy moulds. Also on the stand will be Flextronic, a new multifunctional volumetric electronic filler platform. Sipa will be demonstrating its flexibility with the Isotronic Evo valve configured in XFill version, integrated with the Massblend mixer. The valve is capable of placing carbonated, still and hot fill products, with or without pulp, into different type of containers on the same line. The company will also be exhibiting Cinetic, its new generation of space-saving pallet stretch-wrapping equipment. www.sipa.it Sipa Hall A5 Booth 303 PE Labellers Hall A5 Booth 315 Enhanced safety, more modularity, hot glue shuffle Italian company PE Labellers has reserved a 300m² area on which it will be showing its complete range of labellers for the beverage industry. The company says that its latest machines have been designed for higher safety and even claims zero workplace accidents. Its modular labeller is designed to be scalable to cope with present and future needs and its Adhesleeve technology is claimed to be the only way to turn a hot-glue machine into a self-adhesive machine. PE Labellers’ Rollmatic rotary and Roll-Line linear roll-fed machines will also be on display. www.pelabellers.it