PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2016

PREFORM PRODUCTION 41 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 06/16 www.petpla.net Retal opens plant in Luxembourg “This is only the first phase” by Kay Barton Retal Group is a multinational preforms, closures, resin and films manufacturer that can truly be described as a ‘giant’. It has a 22-year history and currently owns 19 plants in 12 countries and cooperates with five further partner plants in four additional countries. It can claim to have the biggest footprint in terms of outputs, local supply and “Who’s Who” customer base in Eurasia. The raw numbers are pretty impressive: it produces about 18 billion performs, up to 11 billion closures and 50 million containers annually. We meet with Mrs Valérie Mure, General Director of the new plant and also General Director of Retal France to discuss Retal’s strategy. “2003 I started working for Sodripack France as Financial Manager. 2009, two years after Sodripack has become Retal France, I became General Director there and 2015 also for our Luxembourg plant. If we see the past three years, Retal has grown at an average of more than 10% anually. We would like to continue this trend further being closer to customers and partners, offering new products and enter new markets. When we thought of Luxembourg as the best place we wanted to strengthen primarily our market positions in Benelux, Germany and France. But moreover we will sell our products also in other European countries like Spain, UK and Greece plus some parts of Northern Africa. Talking about the closure business we are planning with 20% exports in the first year and an increase for 2017.” It bears mentioning that from start- ing the plant from the scratch until now it took only twelve months of time, thanks to a lot of governmental support. With its start the capacity is going to reach about 350 million preforms and 1.5 billion closures per year and Retal plans to increase the capacity further in the near future. The available equip- ment contains two preform and three closure production lines from Husky and in terms of closures equipped with Corvaglia Moulds. “We traditionally start with the production of preforms and caps for the beverage and food industry and cosmetics and technical indus- tries as well. There are plans to add new products and services in the near future”, explains Mrs Mure. At the moment the company employs 20 people and the next steps have been announced as well: “With regard to Luxembourg, this is only the first phase. We are confident that soon we will expand our production. We focus on dynamic growth. In terms of our global expansion Retal will open its first plant in Pittsburgh, USA in autumn 2016.” Certainly enough events to dis- cuss again in the near future! www.retalgroup.com Ribbon-cutting ceremony with General Director Valérie Mure and Anatoliy Martynov, Chairman of the Board At the end of May 2016 the com- pany opened its new Retal Luxem- bourg plant, which has a 4,000m 2 pro- duction area equipped with the latest technologies, along with a dedicated R&D area. The project includes sig- nificant investment in energy saving and ecofriendly technologies includ- ing dryers with heat pumps, advanced chilling systems and machinery with electric clamps. Want the secret to bottle light weighting? Process Pilot ® automated blowmolder control system takes the guesswork out of material distribution management and can help ensure the success of even the most aggressive light weighting program. Featuring 24/7 blowmolder control, the Process Pilot system continuously maintains proper material distribution, on every bottle, to an unmatched level of accuracy. With the Process Pilot system, you have the means to push light weighting to the limit without VDFULȴFLQJ ERWWOH TXDOLW\ RU SHUIRUPDQFH Not convinced? Talk to one of our specialists today to schedule a free seminar and evaluation of the Process Pilot system on one of your blowmolding lines. Web: agrintl.com Tel: +1.724.482.2163 E-mail: sales@agrintl.com See us at booth 11B40