PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2013

CAPPING / CLOSURES 36 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 12/13 www.petpla.net Everything from a single source At the GDXL stand at Drinktec in Munich, Germany, we met Director Deputy General Manager Xiaoping Jiang and Irene Liang, Assistant to the Sales Director. As we walked on to the stand we noticed the centrally sited preform mould with 144 cavities. “Where,” we enquired, “are the GDXL 144- cavity preform moulds currently in operation?” Mr Xiaoping Jiang explained that they could be found on Canadian pre- form machines in Australia and China. by Waldemar Schmitke GDXL is part of a privately run group employing 450 people in Foshan, in Guangdong Province, China. In its capacity as a mould maker, the company has specialised in the development of PET bottles, preform and plastic closure caps. It also has an important second string to its bow in helping to implement development projects in the market place. It does this via its manufacturing activities as regards moulds for injection moulding machinery for preforms, injec- tion moulding and compression moulds for closure and blow moulding moulds for single stage and two-stage stretch blow moulding machines. Xiaoping Jiang gave us a brief profile of the company. “It all started in 1993 with the manufacture of two to six cavity preform moulds. Today the company’s portfolio of preform moulds extends from 32 to 144 cavities and we have a delivery share of more than 50% in the 72/96-cavity sector.” He went on: “Over the years we have added moulds for the plastic closure caps with 12 to 72 cavities as well as blow moulds. Our aim was to be in a position to offer a total solution for the final product. In fact,” he concluded, “we pride ourselves on offer- ing “everything from a single source”. Today the company has more than 500 customers worldwide, the major- ity of whom are beverage brands and processors who are serviced directly by the company. 35% of production is cur- rently exported, 60% preform moulds, 30% blow moulds and 10% cap moulds. The main markets are Asia and Europe, with something in excess of 50%, the Far East, followed by South Africa and Australia. Domestic business (which makes up 65%) is split into preform moulds (35%), blow moulds (40%) and cap moulds (25%). In a nutshell, the pro- portion of preform moulds supplied to overseas market is almost the same as the quantity supplied to the domes- tic market. According to Xiaoping Jiang, pro- duction capacities are as follows:  for preform moulds: 10,000 cavities per year  for blow moulds: 15,000 blow moulds per year  for cap moulds: 3,000 cavities per year. Jiang also emphasised the impor- tant role of the company’s R&D activ- ity in relation to corporate strategy. There are no fewer than 85 engineers working in R&D handling up to 3,000 development projects per year.  35% preforms and bottles  40% plastic closures  25% seminars and customer training sessions “The principal focus of these activities is light-weighting and qual- ity improvement”, Jiang explained. “We have a comprehensively equipped laboratory with a certificate from Coca Cola Atlanta. Attached to the laboratory is a test centre for the manufacture of preforms, bottles and plastic closures within a laboratory operation environment. We also carry out tests on the various properties of the PET bottles”. Preform moulds The preform mould portfolio consists of 32/48/56/72/96/144 cavi- ties with and without hot runners. All interfaces for adapting the preform moulds to existing preform lines are operated by GDXL, and this involves the adaptation of the spaces between the mould cavities and the supply of the preform take out plates. Adaptations are possible to suit all European and Canadian preform systems up to 144 cavities. Interest- ingly, with few exceptions (up to 128 cavities), preform machines made in China only go up to 72 cavities. Depending on the machine, cycle times here are 10% higher. Closure / cap moulds The range of injection moulding tools that can be supplied extends from 12 to 72 cavities including pro- prietary hot runners. Compression moulds are offered with up to 64 cavi- ties. Blow moulds The range includes blow moulds for rotation, linear and single stage stretch blow moulding machines. Strengthening the service and sales structure in Europe is the next stage in the company’s overall marketing strategy. Concluding our discussions, Jiang said that plans are also in hand to set up the company’s own branch in Europe. www.gdxl.com Mr Xiaoping Jiang (right) and Waldemar Schmitke in front of the 144-cavity pre- form mould at Drinktec in Munich