PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2017

BOTTLE MAKING 38 PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 06/17 www.petpla.net Tour Sponsors: Go with the flow. South East Asia Road Show Preforms, bottles and closures, all made under one roof! by Kay Barton The outside temperature regis- tered over 35°C with a humidity of 60%, but inside the halls, the air con- ditioning ensured the temperature was a maximum of 28-30°C throughout our visit. Mr Musa pointed to a dryer located above a HyPET: “This mate- rial dryer we have installed does all the hard work, because the humidity in the country can cause problems for the converter.” The new division of the factory was first opened in 2016, with a HyPET 400 and even newer Sacmi compression moulding lines. Signifi- cantly, it has space for future growth. “ This year, we’re planning to expand this section of the factory by installing new machines and moulds. This way, we can meet the increasing demand for PET,” explains Mr Musa. In the second factory located in Cu Chi, an area which is mainly known for the Cu Chi Tunnel dating back to the Vietnam War, we were met by Mr La Son Ha, Deputy General Direc- tor who has been with the company from the very start. This local factory focuses on producing bottles and preforms. The only exception is the single production line for closures. 300 employees work across the three- hectare company premises. “Our market share is 40% for PET packaging in Vietnam,” explains Mr Musa. “Our main competitors are Taiwan Hon Chuan, Sri Thai and Bavico.“ The technical set-up:  16 injection machines ranging from 32 to 96 cavities  8 rotary blowing machines ranging Interview with Ngoc Nghia Industry March 28-29, 2017 We met: Mrs La Bui Hong Ngoc, Vice Chairwoman & CCO PET Division Mr Musa, R&D Officer Mr Tran Quang Huy, Deputy General Manager at International PET (Ngoc Nghia subsidiary) Mr La Son Ha, Deputy General Director La Bui Hong Ngoc in the HQ’s entrance area Seven years have passed since our last interview with all- round producers Ngoc Nghia (see PETplanet Insider No. 6/2010). Over these seven years, a lot has happened on the Vietnamese market, as well as in the company itself, and besides the food trade, PET is their main business. Their management underwent significant internal changes to ensure they are prepared for the long haul in terms of local demands and challenges in the packaging domain. The manufacturing company currently employs around 800 staff in the PET domain. We have given ourselves two days to visit both the two factories located around Ho Chi Minh, as well as the current company headquarters in the city centre. We also plan to participate in some lengthy discussions about the current state of play, the PET market situation and their strategical focus for the future. On our first visit to the InterPET factories in Tinh Tay Ninh, we met Mr Musa. He was for six months R&D Officer, and he accompanied us both here, as well as during our subsequent visit to the factory in Cu Chi. “I actually work at the company headquarters in the city, but I regu- larly travel to our factories to check how our projects are getting on,” he explains. We also got to meet Mr Tran Quang Huy at InterPET, the Deputy General Manager. InterPET employs around 300 staff across its four-hec- tare premises. Husky’s HyPET 300 and the Sacmi compression moulding machines are housed in the older of the two factory divisions. Meeting at InterPET with (f.l.t.r.) Mr Tran Quang Huy and Mr Musa