PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2015

CAPPING / CLOSURES 47 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 11/15 www.petpla.net 8 m² footpr int . Cav i t y number reading. Up to 72,000 per hour. PreWatcher I I I – l ike no other. W W W . I N T R A V I S . C O M / P R E W A T C H E R the official press conference. “Our declared aim is to become the lead- ing company of reference in the caps and closures segment and to organise our work to be even more customer focused.” The company says that it is investing in technologies, in devel- oping capacities in new and current markets and in expanding its existing portfolio. United Caps’ management says that it has been investing several million Euros a year over the past 10 years, with the majority being devoted to tool development. The number of R&D staff has increased from four to 15; the Group’s payroll now totals 490. Total revenues of €116 million in 2014 were generated by the produc- tion of 8.5 billion closures, made of about 37,000t of HDPE and PE along with masterbatches available in over 600 colours. Just over half (54%) of United Caps’ production is standardised products; the balance is customised to specific requirements, such as an unusual flower-shaped PCO1881 closure that we saw during our tour of the facility. It was devel- oped for water bottler Wattwiller, part of the Belgian Spadel group, which has been embellishing its PET bottles for about a year. Around a quarter of all United Caps’ closure production is for the beverages and dairy seg- ments; approximately 82% altogether is destined for the food and beverages sector as a whole. The recent expansion project at the Hoboken plant consumed a total of €10 million. The new halls are gradually being filled with modern electrical injection moulding equip- ment; the production facility is planned to expand from 32 to 64 machines. One of the main suppliers is Engel, which is located close to United Caps’ Benelux division and has enjoyed a long-term business relationship with the company. “In future, we intend to inten- sify our efforts aimed at other conti- nents, like Asia or North America,” Mr Henckes said. “For example, we have been working with customers in Sin- gapore for a few years. These kinds of intercontinental relationships will continue to grow from 2016. Depend- ing on demand in individual markets we will decide whether it remains as a pure export market or if local produc- tion and supply makes more sense.” An estimated 4-5% of the output is currently exported directly overseas. Philippe Thivet observes: “Think- ing of lasting trends, then you are cer- tainly talking about small-volume bot- tles, like single serve and lightweight still. However, manufacturers have also put their customers to the test over the years as far as the handling of very light bottles or closures are concerned. We serve both sectors: brand bottlers with an affinity for more complex packaging and mass bottlers. Our aim for the next few years is to increase the current turnover to €150 million.” www.unitedcaps.com