PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2019

JUBILEE PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 06/19 www.petpla.net 11 Professor Michael Koch, formerly of TU Ilmenau, a feisty colleague, very rarely minced his words and was ultimately mostly proved right in what he said; Manfred Hackl, Erema, saw the importance of bottle-to-bottle recycling from very early on; and Gerd Fuhrmann, with his ideas on inspec- tions with Intravis, has driven the PET industry to new heights of quality and excellence and never tires of reiterat- ing the fact that everything we have today is down to the peace we have enjoyed in the West over the past 70 years; Gerd Fuhrmann, Managing Director and CEO of Intravis during K-Fair 2013 Martin Tolksdorf at Döhler was the man for any situation, at least when it came to PET, with a preference for oranges; and let us not forget Wolf- gang von Schröter, a former employee at Dermag, a veteran and dynamic reporter with a penchant for conduct- ing controversial PETplanet inter- views. Which of these names stand out? With one exception, all these people are either still working or have given their all before retiring: Sadly, Profes- sor Dr Koch is no longer with us having passed away following a serious illness. So, the question is – why is eve- ryone else still with us? In most other industries, people change jobs after two years at the most. The answer is simple: they are all lateral thinkers who know their own minds and have fought hard and are still tilting at windmills, be they internal, technological or political. This is what binds them together. If all these actors have been working in the sector for at least 20 years, does that mean that PET is an industry for old fogies? The answer, of course, is no. These lateral thinkers are always coming up with new ideas for driving the PET bottle forward in competition with other types of drinks’ packaging. John Galt joined Husky around 10 years ago as Robert Schad’s succes- sor and has quadrupled the company’s value during his tenure. John Galt, President and CEO of Husky during an interview in 2018 Vezio Bernadi also ensures that Sacmi is always encouraging innovation. Sacmi’s General Manager Beverage Vezio Bernardi in 2015 during a visit of Alex- ander Büchler at Sacmi’s headquarter in Imola, Italy Engineering Excellence www.netstal.com High-performance made to measure PET-LINE With PET-LINE systems, you produce perfect preforms at the lowest unit costs. Shortest cycle times, powerful injection and low energy consumption are the key to success. – 2400, 4000 and 5000 kN clamping force – 24 to 144 cavities – Flexible equipment options – Highest process stability – Best overall equipment effectiveness 20 YEARS of the most exciting news! Congratulations!