PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2014

PET news 6 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 04/14 www.petpla.net Husky reorganises Husky Injection Molding Systems has announced changes in its global organisation. Following the acquisition of Schöttli, the medical and closure mould maker, Husky has created a new combined business unit dedicated to medical and specialty packaging, which combines Schöttli technol- ogy, Husky’s specialty mould making facilities in Austria and the Czech Republic, aftermarket tooling and services, and the Hylectric system platform. Steve Lawrynuik, formerly Vice President, Customer Support, will head the new unit, as Vice President, Medical and Packaging Systems. John Galt, President and CEO, said that the dedicated medical and speciality packaging business will enable the company to provide greater focus on these markets and to offer custom- ers a solution that covers mould, machine, hot runners, con- trollers and aftermarket services. Husky has also announced that Michael Urquhart, Vice President Global Sales, Packag- ing Systems, will retire after 33 years with the company. www.husky.ca Krones tips the light fantastic Krones’ superlight 500mm “PET lite 9.9 carbonated”, which weighs just 9.9g, was among the winners at this year’s iF Packaging Design awards in the beverages cat- egory and is now entitled to wear the “iF” label. It is divided into several functional areas with different wall thicknesses. Most of the PET material is located in the upper part of the bottle, where it is held and opened. The walls in the lower section receive only half as much material. Other weight savings are achieved with the special neck finish, which features a tear-off ring-pull closure. The company claims that PET lite 9.9 combines affordability with ecological aware- ness, as it uses less material than equivalent bottles, con- sumes less energy and has a lower environmental impact. PET lite 9.9 carbonated is now on display with other winners in the iF online exhibition and is part of the iF design exhibi- tion in Hamburg. www.krones.com Bühler Thermal Processes installs 2.5 million t/a PET SSP capacity Bühler Thermal Processes AG (BPAG) and its part- ners in the Americas, Asia, Middle East and Europe have brought to fruition new projects for PET production using advanced SSP technology. PET producer Hainan Yisheng (China), a fast growing PET producer, has commercialised production of 1mil- lion t/y PET by the end of February 2014. Each of the four production lines was commissioned within less than three weeks and has achieved the nominal capacity and pro- duct quality specification. The state of the art SSP Pro- cess of BPAG has again demonstrated its robustness, energy efficiency and reliability. Reliance (India), PQS (Brazil), Sabic (Saudi Arabia) and Polyplex (Turkey) have also decided to expand their PET production capacity with the well proven SSP Tech- nology of BPAG. These plants will be in production and deliver another 1.5million t/a of SSP production capacity within the first and second quarter of 2014. The SSP plants of BPAG are capable of reaching a single line capacity of 1,500t/d. One of Indorama’s SSP lines has reached a capacity of 850t/d and the new lines of Reliance with a nominal capacity of 900t/d are expected to reach 1,000t/day per line. For all plants BPAG supplied its energy-optimised SSP technology, basic and detail engineering, all plant components and supervised the construction and commissioning activities. www.btpag.com P.E.T. Engineering’s year of growth P.E.T. Engineering of San Vendemiano, Italy, which spe- cialises in the design and manufacture of PET containers, has reported financial results for 2013 that show turnover (revenues) up by 45%, compared to 2012, and EBITDA up by 15%. Growth was led by countries outside the EU; 82% of total sales are outside Italy, with nearly 71% from out- side the EU and led by Russia. The company reported that its staff numbers had increased by 30%. Product develop- ment is now being led by multidisciplinary teams, consisting of designers, engineers and researchers. PET Engineering received four design awards during 2013, led by the Oscar dell’imballaggio 2013 for its 5LW, its lightweight 5l container. www.petengineering.co m Sidel takes Knowledgeshare to China The challenges and opportunities of the bever- age market in China were the focus of Sidel’s two-day Know-ledgeshare Sanya 2014 event, which took place March 27 - 28 on Hainan Island, China. This was the second KnowledgeShare, following the launch event in Frankfurt in November 2013. The event attracted almost 300 participants from across the supply chain, includ- ing representatives from the China Beverage Industry Association and from Nielsen, the global market research and data specialists. They provided an insight into the fast-changing Chinese market. Subjects of the first day considered included how automation can help deliver higher productivity; greater efficiencies through smarter investments; reducing downtime by plant optimisation; and specific solutions for sensitive or particle filling bever- age products. Day two’s headline topic was innovation to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Its breakout sessions looked at new product development; aseptic mixing and dosing solutions; reinventing packaging; and solutions in labelling. Fan Lidong, Vice President of Sidel Greater China observed that KnowledgeShare Sanya 2014 was a departure from the more conventional ‘conference’ approach, that the objective was to offer a collaborative forum in which the industry’s real issues could be openly discussed, with delegates benefiting from collective knowledge. After the event the discussions move online, supported by a dedicated KnowledgeShare blog, which is open to all in the industry. www.sidel.com