PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2017

BOTTLE MAKING 26 PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 09/17 www.petpla.net Tour Sponsors: Over 30 years of PET in Malaysia by Alexander Büchler Golden PET, Chemor, Spritzer Taiping, April 10, 2017 We met: Ms Tan Poh Fah, General Manager, Golden PET Mr Yap Mou Kar, Production Manager, Golden PET Mr Lam Sang, Managing Director, Golden PET Ms Chong Mee Yoong, Deputy General Manager, Spritzer Ms Winnie Chin, Group PR Manager, Spritzer Mr Sow Yeng Chong, Group Financial Controller, Spritzer In 1983, a small plastic manufacturer had the idea of filling bottles with cooking oil. Until then, it was common practice to use metal cans. Initially with PVC, the business founder, Mr Lam, joined Golden PET in 1986. Ten years later, Mr Lam introduced the first large PET bottles to replace the big 3 and 5kg cans used in the Malaysian cooking oil industry. From these early beginnings, Golden PET factories have expanded their scope of supply to include water bottles, preforms and closures. Today, Mr Lam is the Managing Director of Golden PET, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Spritzer Bhd, a public listed company on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd. Spritzer Berhad owned Spritzer premium brand which, to this day, is the only bottled mineral water filled from its own springs in Malaysia. tles into the cooking oil sector has brought Mr Lam many plaudits. Thirty years ago, he extended his com- pany’s range to include water bottles, preforms and closures. It was started with the 32-cavity preform Husky machine. At the time, preform production equipment was used to manufacture 17g for 500ml and 35g for 1.5l bottles. There was another Husky cap line with a Corva- glia tool to fashion the seals and an approximately 3g PCO 1810. Today, Golden PET’s portfolio comprises eight preform facilities with an output of 210 million preform/ annum and five Huskys producing 600 million caps/annum. They also have seven blowing machines producing various types of bottles for oil, water and juices packaging. Spritzer Berhad, Taiping Bottling under the “Spritzer” brand name began in 1987 in Taiping, about an hour’s drive from Golden PET which used the best quality mineral water extracted from a spring from a depth of around 128m (420ft). The spring is surrounded by protected tropical rainforest which forms part of Spritzer’s 330 acres (134ha) opera- tional site. Two more water bottling plants later opened in the area around Shah Alam, Selangor and Yong Peng, Johor to the south. In 2012, Professor C. Exley from Keele University in the UK discovered that Spritzer’s 35mg/l min- eral water was rich in silicon content and useful in the prevention of Alzhei- Golden PET (GPI) produces preforms and the necessary caps. On the left, Mr Lam Sang, Golden PET’s Managing Director; on the right, Mr Yap Mou Kar, Golden PET’s Production Manager. There is a wider range of beverages other than water – soda, flavoured water and functional drinks. Mr Lam and Ms Tan Poh Fah, Golden PET’s General Manager, explain their portfolio. Mr Lam has a team who have been working with him for many years. Ms Tan Poh Fah is Golden PET’s General Manager and Mr Yap Mou Kar, is in charge of production. It began with the injection mould- ing of household utensils. Golden PET still makes toothbrushes for export to Japan as well as for the domestic market. The introduction of PET bot-