PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2014

EDITOUR REPORT 13 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 05/14 www.petpla.net World Tour 2013 On May 15, 2013 the paths of the Husky World Tour 2013 and the PETplanet Go with the flow South America Tour coincided in Jundiai, São Paulo, Brazil. In Husky’s Brazil Technical Center in São Paulo I touched base with Keith Carlton, Husky’s Vice President, Global Sales, Beverage Packaging, who at the time had been recently appointed to this role. This is where the South America Beverage Packaging Conference is cur- rently taking place. Regular readers will recall that Husky had embarked on a major World Tour 2013. After visits to South Korea and Europe, the Husky team moved to Latin America. According to Keith Carlton, a Beverage Packaging Con- ference traditionally takes place here in the Brazil Techni- cal Center every year, and this year attendance has been particularly high. The number of participants is around 130, representing more than 70 companies. These range from small and medium-sized family enterprises to representa- tives from the major players, all from the beverage packag- ing sector. Husky created something of a stir within the industry when it decided to forego the big international plastics fairs in 2013 to organise its own world tour, meeting and talking with its customers face to face. I wanted to find out what Husky’s experience to date had been. According to Keith Carlton, the response to date had been very good, and the idea of having more intimate, local customer events had paid off. The tour had also proved an exceptional oppor- tunity to network amongst industry professionals and has enabled richer, more focused customer interactions. I asked whether Husky would repeat the event. The answer was guarded, not surprisingly since a final judgement can only be made once the World Tour has been completed. Further stopovers for the Husky World Tour 2013 took place in June in Istanbul, Turkey, Bolton, Canada and Chi- cago, United States, which are being followed by further events in Delhi, India in August and Dudelange, Luxem- bourg in September, where Beverage Packaging was the focal point. Preforms and closures Brazilian style The Brazilian market is highly diverse. There are, inevitably, innumerable smallish companies for whom their own PET preform and/or bottling operation does not represent a paying proposition. Then there are the big converters who benefit from a global network. Just to add a few complications, there is a multiplicity of bottle sizes and geometries to take into consideration, which makes it all the more difficult to do like-for-like comparisons with other markets. Prepare for Life. From preform to bottle. We ensure a perfect process. www.intravis.com