PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2013

NEWS PET news 9 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 07+08/13 www.petpla.net Husky world tour stops at global headquarters Husky Injection Molding Systems brought its World Tour home when it hosted its North American Caps and Closures Conference at its global headquarters in Bolton, Ontario, Canada, June 11-12, 2013. The two-day event was attended by more than 85 business leaders from around the world and showcased the company’s range of solutions for beverage and specialty closure manufacturing. Attendees were given unprecedented access to Husky’s facilities, labs and technology development programs and were able to learn how the company is improving the performance and capability of plastic closure manufacturing through the intro- duction of new technologies. “We are investing in resources to move our products and services forward, and improve our customers’ total cost to produce,” said John Galt, Husky’s President and CEO. “We find that events like our Caps and Closures Conference help support this goal and allow us to learn as much from our attendees as they do from us.” The event included net- working opportunities, product demonstrations and presen- tations from Husky and industry experts. Keynote speaker Bill Hall, Executive Vice President of Manufacturing from Niagara Bottling, LLC, delivered a presentation on manag- ing rapid growth in beverage manufacturing. Key presenta- tions by Husky experts covered the topics of improving spe- cialty closure quality with hot runner technology, specialty closure mould technologies for complex applications, bever- age packaging industry trends and the role of equipment in the reduction of variability. Attendees toured Husky’s testing and validation facili- ties and company specialists demonstrated the compa- ny’s refurbishment capabilities, enabling customers with an aging asset base to bring their operations up to the latest generation performance and production standards. The event also saw the North American debut of Husky’s HyCap High Performance Package (HPP) system for high output beverage closure manufacturing. The system was producing a 1.2g 29/25mm lightweight water closure run- ning a 1.9s cycle time on a 72-cavity mould, with complete downstream IMD vision inspection system. A Hylectric 300 specialty closure system producing a 3.5g sport cap running a 12.5s cycle time on a 24-cavity mould was also demon- strated. The system used in-mould closing technology with downstream part handling from MMC Packaging and resin supplied by Nova Chemicals. www.husky.ca New director for PETcore PETcore Europe, the new association that has replaced the former Petcore (PET COntainer REcycling), has announced the appointment of Patrick Peuch as its new Executive Director. He has professional experience in polymers and chemicals through business, environmental affairs, advocacy, recycling and product regulatory manage- ment in Europe and beyond. The membership of PETcore Europe is made up of four leading industry sector European associations: CPME (the PET manufacturers); EuPC includ- ing Forum PET Europe, and EuPET (the converters); EuPR (the recyclers); and several individual companies involved in the value chain. PETcore Europe says that it will be the voice of the PET industry in Brussels, communicating with European institutions about the importance of the PET value chain, ensuring that PET is positioned as a sustainable packaging material, and responding to any concern or issue. It held its first board meeting in Brussels on April 23. 2013. www.petcore-europe.org Weener absorbs Plasticum Weener Plastic Packaging Group, of Weener, Germany, has announced a restructuring operation that will see Dutch operation Plasticum Group, B.V., of the Netherlands inte- grated into the Weener Plastic Packaging Group as a sub- sidiary. Weener Plastik GmbH will continue under a restruc- tured management. Plasticum manufactures standard (large production run) plastic caps and closures for personal care, food and home care products in four plants located in Tilburg (NL), Ede (NL), Waldkirch (D) and North Walsham (UK). Weener is largely concerned with customised packag- ing projects. Roel Zeevat has been appointed CEO of the group. Other management changes include the appointment of Gerhold Flockenhagen as Chief Technical Officer (CTO); Ralf Sonnenberg as CSO for branded articles; and Ben Mennink as CSO for standard products. Former Weener CEO Johann Meinders will leave the management team but remain connected to the company as consultant. Weener and Plasticum were both acquired by Lindsay Goldberg LLC (private equity fund of New York) in 2012. It is represented in Central Europe by Lindsay Goldberg Vogel GmbH. www.wppg.com