PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2018

CAPS & CLOSURES 36 PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 04/18 www.petpla.net Closures from Melbourne by Kay Barton Australian company Caps & Closures’ manufacturing facility is situated in Dandenong South, to the south east of Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria. The company’s name perfectly describes its main activity: it manufactures plastic closures locally for domestic and foreign manufacturers. Its products are used across a wide range of business areas, including the food and beverages industry and almost every conceivable area of non-food. For managing director Brendon Holmes, who is also the company owner, PET plays an essential role; a growing trend towards this material as the preferred packaging is clearly evident in the market. Caps & Closures intentionally focuses on smaller manufacturing volumes and specialist solutions but it also intends to secure a stronger presence in the high-cavitation market in the future. February 15, 2017 We met: Brendon Holmes, Managing Direc- tor Michael Van Dord, Technical & Design Engineer Bruce Langlands, Head of Sales We were greeted at Number 1 Quality Drive, the headquarters of Caps & Closures, by Bruce Lang- lands, Head of Sales. He escorted us past the manufacturing facility on the ground floor and upstairs to the com- pany foyer, which features a large, eye-catching logo on the wall and hosts recessed cabinets, displaying a variety of the company’s closures. To the left in the offices section towards the rear is the meeting room, which is adjacent to co-founder, owner and managing director Brendon Holmes’ office. Large-size paintings hang on the walls, which we later find out were painted by Mr Holmes himself. We discussed the company’s key corner- stones with Mr Holmes, Bruce Lang- lands and Technical & Design Engi- neer Michael Van Dord, who has been with the company for three years. “We view our young and innova- tive team as a strength; we want to offer our customers flexibility,” Mr Holmes says. The company was originally founded in the early 1990s, as Tec Caps, and adopted its current name a few years later. Mr Holmes – along with his family – acquired it in 2004; he has been sole owner since 2017. Surprisingly, his professional background is from a completely dif- ferent sector. He’s an enthusiastic golfer, a musician and a painter. He brings his passion for artistic creativity into his business, which is reflected in the corporate style. “We started off with eight injection moulding machines from Battenfeld and manufactured for all of the areas in which closures were required,” he explains. “That included drinks, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medi- cal products, lubricants, agricultural products and much more.” Today the company has 22 machines with clamping forces ranging from 35t to 240t, including Nissei and Netstal equipment in addition to Battenfeld. Creative paintings of Brendon Holmes (F.l.t.r.) Brendon Holmes and Michael Van Dord