PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2013

PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 09/13 www.petpla.net BOTTLE MAKING 47 Direct printing The Innoprint generation of label- ling machines makes it possible to print digital images directly onto PET bottles. Here, plastic bottles are printed with food-grade UV inks which ensure a brilliant colour image. One particular advantage of direct printing is the rapid response. For a sport- ing event, for example, direct printing allows bottlers to offer the consumer a filled PET bottle bearing a picture of the winning team shortly after the end of an event. The required print image can be transmitted directly from the computer to the control unit of the labelling machine. This enables inter- national beverage companies to send print files to all of their plants which can then immedi- ately start printing at the same time – wherever they are in the world. Plasmax coating How can the advantages of PET bottles with an internal Plasmax coating (an ultrathin film of SiO x or pure glass) be communicated to the end user? KHS Plasmax went into this question in great detail, commissioning a consumer study on the subject. The result was that 76% of those surveyed would choose this option, they said, and believe it is a good idea to decorate bottles like these with a Fresh- Safe logo which stands for quality protection, a long shelf life, a fresh taste and 100% recyclability. It is interesting to note that nearly all of those who took part in the study and were impressed by the new Plasmax technology were pre- pared to pay more than usual for a beverage in the Fresh- Safe PET bottle. Plant tour Following the highly interesting presentations the next item on the agenda was a tour of the KHS Hamburg plant. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer, CEO/CTO of KHS GmbH, welcomed the del- egates in the new production shop. with an additional assembly area of 2,300 m² which was erected at the end of 2012. The plant therefore now has about 11,000m² of assembly space, around 3,500m² for logistics use and an office area of approxi- mately 6,500m². Thomas Karell, Managing Direc- tor of KHS Corpoplast GmbH, says, “There are now over 1,500 KHS Cor- poplast stretch blow moulders in use around the world, including approxi- mately 220 InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow moulding machines.” As a result of the global success of the InnoPET Blomax Series IV KHS plans to increase the assembly space by a further 2,300m² for 2015. www.khs.com