PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2018

7 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 12/18 www.petpla.net Acquisition of MHT - Krones strengthens its PET capabilities Krones, a leading manufacturer of filling and packag- ing solutions, has acquired MHT Holding AG (MHT). MHT, based in Hochheim, Germany, together with its subsidiaries provides injecting moulding tools and services to the PET industry. The company generates approximately €25 million revenues with 125 employees. The acquisition of MHT represents an extension of the Krones PET product portfolio into tooling for PET preform manufacturing and thus closes a gap in the Krones PET value chain. Krones can now offer a broader portfolio of PET capabilities for customers in the beverage industry, who increasingly demand integrated solutions. Acquiring MHT enables Krones to close the PET cycle, from PET preform manufacturing and stretch blow moulding all the way through to PET recycling – and then back to the manufacture of a new preform. MHT’s headquarters will remain at Hochheim with the current management to continue to run the business. In April 2018, Krones acquired 70% in Integrated Plastics Systems AG, Switzerland. Integrated Plastics Systems AG is focussing on providing turnkey PET injection moulding solu- tions for the beverage industry. The acquisitions of MHT and Integrated Plastics Systems AG are intended to enhance the Krones PET competence and portfolio. www.krones.com BrauBeviale 2018 After three days of exhibition, BrauBeviale closed its doors on a record high note. Over 40,000 trade visitors (2016: 37,923) – over 18,000 of them international – travelled to Nuremberg to attend this year’s capital goods exhibition for the beverage industry from 13 to 15 November 2018. While there, 1,094 exhibitors – 53% of them international – pre- sented their products and solutions related to the entire bev- erage production process chain, with offerings ranging from raw materials to technologies and components all the way to packaging, as well as accessories and marketing ideas. A varied supporting programme rounded out the three days. Statements confirm the results of a survey by an inde- pendent institute: some 90% of visitors are involved in their companies’ investment decisions. The trade visitors came from many different parts of the beverage industry: breweries; malthouses; the areas of mineral springs, soft drinks, juice, and wine; and mechanical engineering and plant construc- tion, as well as the trade and catering. Attendees travelled in from Germany and other countries, primarily Italy, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, the UK, Russia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Some 98% of the surveyed trade visitors were satisfied with what they found at the exhibition. And 95% said they would also like to return to BrauBeviale next year. www.braubeviale.de Petainer expands manufacturing footprint to Latin America and China Petainer, a global leader in one-way kegs, is partnering with Great Leap Brewing in China to start manufacturing petainerKeg in 2019. This is in response to rapidly grow- ing demand for draught beer in China and the suitability of one-way PET kegs in a country where logistics are complex. The announcement follows the commencement of Brazilian manufacturing in September with partner Blue PET, marking key steps in Petainer’s growth strategy and commitment to bringing the supply chain closer to the market. Petainer also manufactures in Europe, the US and Australia. The blow moulding plant in Tianjin, which has a PET Technologies APF-30 machine, will serve the domestic market as well as becoming the manufacturing hub for Petainer’s Asia region. Great Leap Brewing will also self-manufacture kegs at the facility to support their own business development strategy. The plant will produce Petainer’s 20l Hybrid keg, the one- way PET keg to use a circular economy design, focused on recycling and reuse. Designed for drinks producers such as breweries as a more cost-effective and sustainable alterna- tive to traditional stainless-steel kegs, the keg is claimed to provide a low-cost way of entering new domestic and inter- national markets. Petainer’s Classic and USD keg will also be manufactured at the site. www.petainer.com PTI and Big 3 enter into business alliance PTI has entered into a business alliance with Big 3 Preci- sion Products, Inc., Centralia, Illinois, to help brand owners achieve quality and speed-to-market goals for products sold in PET bottles. For the past three decades, PTI has been the confidential development engine behind many well-known PET bottle commercialisations. Big 3’s Mold Services Group has been a leader in producing moulds for single-stage PET blow moulding machines, as well as injection blow mould- ing equipment. “With this alliance in place, we will now be able to seam- lessly pair our PET bottle development services with the mould making capability necessary to run production quan- tities. Integrating the mould supplier into the early stages of the development process eliminates compatibility issues. It also removes another responsibility from the brand owner task list, truly reinforcing our ability to provide concept to commercialisation services,” explains Craig Robinson, vice president of business development and innovation, PTI. Big 3 brings three-plus decades of mould building exper- tise to the alliance. The company’s precision approach to creating tools enable it to meet the demanding production needs of leading brand owners. www.big3precision.com