PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2015

EDITOUR REPORT 11 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 01+02/15 www.petpla.net All Netstal preform machines produce with Otto Hof- stetter moulds.The total capacity in this hall is 2,925mill preforms per year. In the second hall older preform systems for special preforms are used with 48 and 56 cavities:  3 x Sipa  1 x BM Biraghi  1 x Netstal HP The total capacity of this hall is 455mill preforms per year. Giuseppe Silveri explains: “This variety of preforms means huge investment in injection moulds and in the pro- curement of raw materials. But this means that our busi- ness model works well with client materials and preform moulds. In approximately 50% of cases it is our client who supplies the raw materials and occasionally the moulds as well. R-PET is not used, simply because R-PET prices in Italy are significantly higher than new material.” Paolo Vittori takes up the story: “A very significant pro- portion of our deliveries, some 1,500mill annually, consist of preforms with a 38mm neck finish. In addition to juices and hot-fill with a 38mm neck finish, the fresh milk market is very important for us in Italy. The market size for milk in PET bottles amounts to 1,000mill litres in 1l PET bottles with a 38mm neck finish, split between 800mill litres of fresh milk and 200mill litres in UHD. The special feature here is the use of transparent PET bottles for fresh milk without any further barrier. For this applica- tion, we produce here at Anangni 140mill preforms per year on four preform machines (2x72-cavity, 2x96-cavity). In contrast to other customers we supply here mainly the smaller milk bottlers, because the big milk bottlers in Italy have their own preform capacity as a rule. Otherwise, our customers include the large blow moulders and bottlers. The 10 largest customers of Plasco account for 75% of production.” Due to the high transport costs the domestic market accounts for 95% of production. The remaining 5% is spread across Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Spain and Belgium. Paolo Vittori again: “In Greece, we have a cooperation agreement with EP SA and have installed two preform sys- tems there. A 48-cavity Sipa and a 48-cavity Biraghi pro- duce preforms with 38 and 48mm diameter neck finish for the Greek market. In 2013, another plant was built in Atella, Italy for mineral water preforms near the Coca Cola bot- tling plants. Three preform machines (Netstal 72-cavity and 96-cavity and one Sipa 48-cavity) produce preforms here with the Alaska finish. The advantage for us is that we are here close to our customers with the consequent reduction in transport costs.” According to Giuseppe Silveri, “We are constantly facing the challenge, in what is a stagnant market Italy with its myriad of product variants, of competing with the fillers and converters themselves. We have to seek out markets in which we can grow, such as the market for the 38mm neck finish applications where we have specialised, and to use other cost saving measures both in production and on products ie preforms themselves. For example, we can look to weight savings projects for preforms in cooperation with our customers and partners, so that, with the same preform volumes as 2012 (70,000t), it proved possible to make savings in PET material of a total of 5,000t of PET material up to 2013 (65,000t). With regard to energy savings we have for example installed a gas powered dryer in the preform production and some of our energy needs are met via solar cells. Equipment upgrades and process optimisation are a further area to consider to reduce costs and increase productivity. We have ambitious plans on the table. We thank our hosts for the informative discussions, and prepare ourselves for the most gruelling section of our jour- ney which will take us from here to Sicily. www.plascospa.it f.l.t.r. Waldemar Schmitke, PETplanet, Paolo Vittori, Sales Manager in the main preform production hall in Anangni. f.l.t.r. Giuseppe Silveri, Vice President, Paolo Vittori, Sales Manager, Waldemar Schmitke, PETplanet at the entrance to the Plasco Plant in Anangni Italy.