PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2014

EDITOUR REPORT 12 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 10/14 www.petpla.net Invest, or lose out by Waldemar Schmitke Amos Tonoli, General Manager, in front of the control panel of a Husky 96-cavity preform machine The company manufactures 365 days a year / 24 hours a day, with a plant efficiency of 82%. The Sacmi preform system is used for low volume production and tests and this means that it is only 50% utilised. The drying and air curtain equipment comes exclu- sively from Messrs. Plastic-Systems Italy (today Husky). It is primarily virgin material that is processed; recycled material is seldom used, solely for reasons of cost. Amos Garda Plast S.p.A. After a weekend spent in the beautiful old town of Sirmione on Lake Garda, we head off in the direction of Popenazze (BS) where we visit Garda Plast, manufacturers of PET preforms. The company, which was set up in 1996, is wholly owned by the family of Amos Tonoli, General Manager of Garda Plast, whom we meet here on site. Geographically, the company is at the heart of Italy’s PET industry. Within a radius of 200km, 70% of Italy’s PET companies are concentrated. This location was not only chosen because it was where the family had settled, but so as to keep the transport costs as low as possible. Compared to other states in Europe, transport costs in Italy are extremely high and therefore make up a significant proportion of the cost- ings for any converter. By the end of 2014, Garda Plast’s overall capacity will amount to approx. 1.8 billion PET preforms with a workforce of 37 employees, one of whom, Lucas, is also the brother of Amos Tonoli. Preform Machines The fleet of machines is made up of a total of nine pre- form machines.  4 x Husky 72-cavity  4 x Husky 96-cavity  1 x Sacmi 48-cavity Nuremberg Milan Rome Naples Palermo Tunis Al giers Rabat Casablanca Marrakech Seville Madrid Lisbon Bologna Monastir Agadir Tan gier Valencia Cordoba Bilbao Oporto Andorra La Vella Venice Turin Florence Messina Barcelona Zaragoza ITALY Part 2