PETpla.net Insider 08 / 2017

9 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 08/17 www.petpla.net Alessandro Paini is new General Manager of Sacmi Beverage Alessandro Paini is the new General Manager of Sacmi Beverage, the company Division that, since 2009, covers all areas concerning the design and manufacture of machines and complete plants for beverage packaging. A mechanical engineer - and previously a key figure in a leading international Group that designs in-PET liquid packaging solutions - Paini has extensive Product Management experience. His past duties ranged from the coordi- nation of R&D and global product portfolio management to developing and implementing of new sales strategies. The new Sacmi Beverage General Manager takes over from Vezio Ber- nardi, who led the Division for nearly five years. During that time the Divi- sion strengthened its role as global partner to the industry while exploring new business avenues. With the arrival of Alessandro Paini, who officially took over as head of the Beverage Division on Monday 10th July 2017, Vezio Bernardi now moves on to head Sacmi’s other packaging ‘pillar’, the Closures & Containers Division. Also facing a new challenge is Giuseppe Lesce. Currently General Man- ager of the Closures & Containers Division, Lesce will soon be taking over as General Manager of the newly-formed Customer Services Division, a unit that Sacmi has established to coordinate the Sacmi network and develop aftermarket services for all Group businesses and Divisions. The challenge is to link the various Business Units by supplying excellent training, techni- cal assistance, spare parts, overhauls and maintenance engineering and, more generally, comprehensive customer care services that also focus on Industry 4.0. www.sacmi.com U.S. market for plastic bottles expected to remain upbeat In the first quarter, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) - in real terms or adjusted for inflation - was $16.9 trillion. With per- sonal consumption expenditures compris- ing 69% of GDP, that’s $11.7 trillion in the first quarter; the market can expect upbeat consumer spending as the U.S. economy remains in the expansionary mode. U.S. personal consumption expendi- tures rose 3% in the first quarter from a year ago. The share of food and beverage purchased for off-premises consumption remains stable at about 7% of personal consumption expenditures. As a %age of household nondurable goods consump- tion, food and beverage purchased for off-premises consumption was 34% in the first quarter - up from 33% from the first quarter of last year. In dollar value, the expenditure on food and beverage consumed off-premises in the first quar- ter stood at $857.5 billion, a solid 5.0% increase from the first quarter last year. On a monthly basis, retail trade sales in healthcare and personal care stores, grocery stores and food and beverage stores provide some encouraging signs of increasing plastic bottles and food packaging use. In June, retail sales for healthcare and personal care stores were up 0.3% from a year ago. Retail sales at grocery stores and food and beverage stores rose 1.4% and 1.8%, respectively, over the same period. The retail trade sales in these three sectors totalled $140.0 billion in June - up 1.38% from June of last year, with a twelve-month average change of 2.2%. “This data indicates the need for plas- tics manufacturers to be at the forefront of their industry, in order to continue to meet growing consumer needs and demands,” stated Perc Pineda, chief economist of the Plastics Industry Association. “At an event like NPE 2018: The Plastics Show, manu- facturers can gain unequalled access to processes, technology, innovation and ideas to help them achieve this goal.” Although the U.S. economy is expected to grow at a moderate pace this year and the next, U.S. consumer sentiment continues to stay positive. In addition to such encouraging soft data, hard data points to higher household consumption considering that the house- hold sector’s balance sheets are in good form. The tailwinds of tepid inflation and a lower unemployment rate are keeping U.S. consumers more engaged. By exten- sion, higher consumption should generate more plastic bottle use moving forward. The positive outlook is part of why NPE2018, the triennial international plastics manufacturing exposition rep- resenting the entire plastics supply chain produced by the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), will from May 7-11, 2018 feature the Bottle Zone, a dedicated section of the trade show floor full of supply chain solutions for the bot- tling industry. www.NPE.org/Bottle-Zone