PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2016

PREFORM PRODUCTION 18 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 09/16 www.petpla.net Interview with SGT - Société Générale Des Techniques The French preform giant upgrades its machinery By Kay Barton June 14, 2016 We met: Mr Frédéric Mignot, General Manager Mrs Lilia Jolly, Manager Marketing and Communications US$15.7 million investment at SGT France promises a billion additional preforms per year Family-run preform manufacturer SGT (Société Générale Des Tech- niques), which is based in Rezé, France, serves Europe and parts of the African continent. In 2015, 35% of the 2.8 billion preforms that left the factory in France were exported to Africa. Two other production sites in Setif and Rouiba, Algeria, serve local markets exclusively (see interview in PETplanet Insider, issue 5/15). We visited the headquarters and talked with General Manager Frédéric Mignot, nephew and son of the com- pany founders, and with Marketing and Communications Manager Lilia Jolly about the technology and future strategic alignment of SGT. SGT currently has a total of 44 injection moulding machines – all of them Husky brand, which it uses exclu- sively. Its roll of about 400 customers includes multinational CSD bottlers and national water bottlers. The total turnover of all of the factories was €212 million in 2015. Of that total, €110 million was generated at the Rezé site, which underwent a programme of expansion from February to December 2015. All the production machinery is now in operation; the company’s inten- tion is to increase its output in France by around one billion preforms. “Our investment of US$15.7 mil- lion in the new buildings enabled us to expand our site by about 1,100m 2 . We now have five of the latest Husky HPP5 machines in full production, mainly using 72-cavity tools, which keep us flexible. The whole design is based on full automation, as in the other production areas,” Mignot explains. “One of the new Husky lines is even designed for multilayer pre- forms.” SGT will increasingly be using this line for customers from the soft drink industry. The first projects are already underway, Jolly divulges, and this market will now be fully tapped and expanded. With its new lines, SGT Rezé now has a total of 21 preform machines. “Depending on requirements, we can deliver more than 200 different models in the drinks and non-food segment, from 9.5g to 650g, with any additives necessary. This includes 19 different neck types – some of which are our own design, such as the 27/31 Frédéric Mignot in front of a new Husky HPP5 Lilia Jolly showing a water gallon preform in front of some product samples.