PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2015

EDITOUR REPORT 19 PET planet insider Vol. 16 market. After the introduction of the PET-Line 2400, there was an increase in questions from customers using 48 cavity preform moulds on old HP preform machines about compatibility with the new preform system. Otto Hofstetter’s response was: “OK, we will create the necessary interfaces for operation on a PET-Line 2400.” China The service unit in China with its complement of at the moment 5 employees has now been in operation for a year. The work carried out here consists primarily of hot runner overhauls for the Chinese market and spare part deliveries out of the Chinese warehouse. The parts are all produced in Switzerland. There are no further steps envisaged towards localised manufacture of moulds and mould components. Thinking is along different lines. According to Otto Hof- stetter: “We are looking to pro- duce the frame moulds here in Switzerland in advance and ship it to our warehouse in China by sea fright. Once the order from the Chinese cus- tomer is placed, we will pro- duce the insert groups here in Switzerland and fly the parts out to China. Then, we com- plete the whole preform mould at our facility in Shenzen and deliver it to Netstal Haiyan or direct to the customer. In this way we safeguard the level of quality implied by ‘made in Switzerland’ and do not expe- rience any disadvantages in terms of delivery time by com- parison to local suppliers.” To conclude our visit, Otto Hofstetter proudly shows us the award certificate for second place in this year’s competi- tion between businesses in eastern Switzerland issued by the Swiss Venture Club (SVC). 150 medium-sized companies (primarily family-owned com- panies) in eastern Switzerland were assessed on the basis of their products and innova- tions, their company culture and quality of employees and management as well as their sustained success. And the jury’s main reason for awarding second place out of 150 companies was the outstanding performance of Otto Hofstetter AG in doing successful international business for almost 60 years as well as the company has trained hundreds of appren- tices over all the years. Otto Hofstetter AG knows how to position itself in the face of powerful major concerns and, despite a share of exports of more than 95%, is continuing to manufacture in eastern Switzerland. We express our thanks for the meeting and resume our journey home. www.otto-hofstetter.ch