PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2019

37 TRADE SHOW REVIEW PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 01+02/19 www.petpla.net TRADE SHOW review PART2 Strong growth in PET We caught up with the Managing Director, KHS Greater China Christian Schwarzmann, at the CBB trade event in Shanghai and spoke to him about KHS’s China Strategy. PETplanet: Mr Schwarzmann: What have your customers been talking to you about here in Shanghai? Schwarzmann: The main topics have been water in PET bottles and beer in cans. The Chinese market has seen very strong growth in PET for water (around +7%) and for beer in cans (around +5%). PETplanet: Can you as a western technology provider compete with Chi- nese production suppliers in terms of prices? Schwarzmann: We have noticed that upward of a certain capacity level, inquiries tend to only be sent to Europe’s three main integrated plant constructors. PETplanet: Even if time is tight and the facility has to be up and running quickly? Schwarzmann: Delivery times are always an issue, particularly here in Asia. Once the machines have been built, we have to ship them from Europe to China which has a knock-on effect on delivery times. Using our local produc- tion allows us to respond quickly to the market demands. PETplanet: Was that the reason for your intention to build a production facility here? Schwarzmann: We are producing already machines here in China since year 2013. Now we look for a new facility with bigger space to be able to bring our premium technology faster and in a more economical way to the market. PETplanet: One of your competitors also has large production plants in China but cannot operate them at full capacity. What makes you sure that yours can? Schwarzmann: I cannot speak for our competitors but our market analysis indicates that there is demand here in China and in South-East Asia. We prefer to have the space and flexibility to operate in today rather than waiting until tomorrow. www.khs.com Demand for self-adhesive labels PETplanet: Mr Hammerschmid: Is China a popular market for you? Hammerschmid: We have been manufacturing and supplying labelling machines worldwide since 1986. In 1992 we succeeded in entering the Chinese market. Since then, a huge number of Gernep labelling machines was installed over the years. China will remain a very important business for us also for the future. PETplanet: In your opinion, how much has the Chinese market changed in recent years? Hammerschmid: From a technological point of view, the compe- tition in wet glue machinery increased the last years. We focus now more and more on equipment for individual self-adhesive labels and do provide a customised solution for our customer. Demands for packaging design, particularly for cosmetics, are also increasing all the time. We enjoy dealing with challenging problems and coming up with tailor-made solutions. www.gernep.de Full bottle inspection Since 1966, Pressco Technology has grown into a worldwide supplier of machine vision systems for the food and beverage packaging industry, with rapid expansion in China over the past few years. “China is a very important market especially for inspection systems for filled bottles”, said Michael Coy, Direc- tor of Marketing at Pressco. That is why the com- pany decided to showcase their FHCP-3X full bottle inspection module, designed to be integrated onto existing conveyors at the exit of the filler to monitor >72,000 bph. “The most critical inspection criterion is the placement of the closure on the bottle,” stated Coy, explaining the advantages of the system. “Our system uses multiple cameras to guarantee a 360° inspection of the cap, including the tamperband. Fill level accuracy, closure damage or colour changes are captured as well”. www.pressco.com Christian Schwarzmann, Managing Director, KHS Greater China Martin Hammerschmid (left), Managing Director Gernep, talking to Alexander Büchler Michael Coy, Director of Marketing (third from left) and the Pressco team