PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2015

BOTTLE MAKING 26 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 09/15 www.petpla.net PET preforms and bottles for the western Mediterranean and Africa by Kay Barton June 26, 2014 - We met: Cristina Fabo Indurain, CFO and Estefanía Villalba Rivera, Head of Purchasing The Resilux Ibérica Packaging plant in the south western municipality of Higuera la Real, not far from the Portuguese border and 130km from Seville, was set up in 1997 as the first plant subsidiary of Resilux N.V. Belgium. We inter- viewed Cristina Fabo Indurain, CFO, and Estefanía Villalba Rivera, Head of Purchasing, who explained the history of the company and shared their vision for the future with PETplanet Insider. A mere two years after the estab- lishment of Resilux Belgium, in 1994, the company was already looking for a location to expand that made sense from a strategic point of view. They quickly decided on Spain; at that time PET was experiencing immense growth here as the change from PVC to the new packaging material became established. January 1997 subsequently saw the construction of Resilux Ibérica’s first building as a 100% subsidiary, and this still forms part of the production facility today. The first two preform lines followed quickly in the following May. Three years later, in 2000, the remaining buildings were added including the warehouse. There are no problems with on-site expansion as Resilux owns around 60,000m 2 of land. But why choose this particular location where we are now standing for a site? “Resilux wanted to be in the south of Spain, beyond Madrid, as the north would not have been a reasonable proposition for us“, says Cristina Fabo Indurain. “If we were based any further north it would mean that the range of our transport trucks would overlap with that of our Belgian head- quarters. As things are at this location, both parties have a range reaching as far as the south of France without any further overlaps. In addition, we have sufficient space here in Higuera la Real, we are within striking distance of the Portuguese market with which we maintain a good relationship and also with Morocco, another key market as far as we are concerned”. Lisbon and Seville are more or less on their doorstep, and their proximity to Cadiz and Algeciras is advantagues for the import of materials and the export of their own products. Meanwhile, their fleet of machinery has been topped up to a respectable level, with the result that today there are eleven Netstal lines in the main factory area. There is also a dedicated test line. Resilux exclusively uses Otto Hofstetter moulds, the 96, 64 and 48 cavity models. According to Cristina Fabo Indurain, the trend is increas- ingly towards 96 and 64. In addi- tion to the sizeable plot, there is still space on the factory floor. “We have been building with an eye to the long-term future of the company,” she continued, “and that means lots of space for new machines and offices”. Up to now they have been adding a line every other year. The lines are geared to Resilux’ require- ments and incorporate influences and ideas that have been developed within the company. For metered dispensing purposes, equipment from among others, Piovan is used. Material dryers come from Somos and other specialized suppliers. Back in the days when the company started, the capacity was around 360 million preforms annually, whereas 1.2 billion are now possi- ble. “We are consistently achieving 100% capacity” says Cristina Fabo. The number of bottles produced is currently around 40 million. If we compare the figures with the annual report for the company as a whole, the impact of the Spanish division becomes clearer: With growth a of 25% in 2010, Resilux sold 4.87 bil- lion preforms in 2013; in the bottles sector it was 441 million bottles with a growth of 20.5%. The Spanish sub- sidiary has more than 120 customers at the moment. Depending on the season, there are around 70 employ- ees working three shifts to ensure a smooth operation. In the outdoor area there are 10 silos, each with a material capacity of 100t. “We tend to rely significantly on local materials suppliers. Depending on the price of PET, we also order from the Middle and the Far East”, says Cristina Fabo Indurain. Look- ing at Resilux‘ portfolio, the fact that the company rates itself as one of the F.l.t.r.: Estefanía Villalba Rivera, Cristina Fabo Indurain and Kay Barton Editour 2014