PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2017

PET news 6 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 06/17 www.petpla.net Inside Bottling: Innovating to reach today’s consumer The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) recently released a new Plastics Market Watch report, Plastic Bottles Today: Innovating to Reach Today’s Consumer, highlighting the demand for plastic bottles continuing to grow in the United States and Europe. This report forecasts positive growth for manufacturers of plastic containers and bottles. According to the report, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) projection for this market segment is anticipated to rise 5.2% by 2020. This will allow revenue to grow $115.2 billion over five years. Some of the challenges, including dependency on soft- drink producers, high capital costs, global competitive pres- sure, industry consolidation and questions of sustainability are off-set by continued increases across products and sectors, including beverage, food and water, household, pharmaceuti- cal and automotive chemicals and fluids. Last year, for the first time ever, bottled water consumption exceeded carbonated soft drinks in sales in the United States according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation. Furthermore, a recent study from Zion Market Research forecasts bottled water consumption growing at a CAGR of 8.5% by 2020. The Plastics Market Watch report attributes the incredible growth of PET to the high ranking of bottling in terms of plastics industry employment numbers, dollar value of shipments and capital expenditures. With bottling’s rapid rise, its vital manu- facturers stay on top of key issues, challenges and advances affecting bottling. To that end, PLASTICS has created the Bottle Zone covering more than 50,000 square feet on the exhibit floor at NPE2018 which will feature more than 40 industry leaders presenting the latest advancements, technologies and supplies in bottling manufacturing. The Bottle Zone will offer concentrated education sessions hosted by PETplanet that address those very topics to keep this important segment on the cutting edge. NPE2018, the triennial international plastics manufacturing exposition, returns to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL May 7-11, 2018. www.NPE.org/Bottle-Zone New preform quality control instrument For measuring the transmission value of preforms, Colour Con- sult introduces the new P1 desktop instrument for quality control. The instrument measures how much light passes through a preform or plastic cap. From trans- parent (100% transmis- sion) to very dark, almost opaque preforms (0,1%). Small changes in transmission values are said to be detected in an early stage minimising waste and valuable production time. The instrument is easy to use and robust, says Colour Consult. It has only two buttons to operate, one for calibration and one to start a measurement. Measurement data is displayed on the instrument’s lcd or can be logged to a pc via Ethernet. www.colourconsult.nl/p1ad Erema extends production capacities and optimises fabrication The manufacturer of recycling systems is relying on new production processes with the optimum use of resources in its production of assembly groups. The new approach enables reduced production lead times for the individual assembly groups, such as melt filters and pelletisers, while at the same time increasing product quality. With the opening of its new assembly shop 4 at the Ans- felden location at the end of April Erema changed over to a production process which is geared towards future customer requirements. Customers benefit from lead times being sig- nificantly reduced, increased delivery reliability and a further increase in quality standards. Besides optimum tool selec- tion for the respective assembly group, each workplace has access to modern fabrication infrastructure such as scissor lifts, slewing jib cranes and a fully automatic Kanban system. The necessary material and information processes are coor- dinated based on exactly timed planning of the individual workplaces. This ensures a smooth production process with upstream and downstream departments. www.erema-group.com