PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2019

33 TRADE SHOW REVIEW PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 07+08/19 www.petpla.net TRADE SHOW review Chinaplas 2019 closed with attendence record Chinaplas 2019 closed its four-day run in Guangzhou on May 24. The annual show – held this year at the China Import & Export Fair Complex, Pazhou, in Southern China – attracted 3,622 exhibitors and 163,314 professional visitors from all over the world. More than a quarter of attendees (42,005) were overseas visitors from over 150 countries and regions. The top 15 countries, in terms of visitors, were Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United States. The unstoppable trend of the circular economy was apparent at the show, as an abundance of high-performance, environ- mentally friendly and recyclable solutions were on display. The theme zones that focused on the circular economy –– namely, the “Recycled Plastics Zone”, the “Recycling Technology Zone” and the “Bioplastics Zone” –– proved hugely popular with visitors. The next edition of the show will return to Shanghai next spring, with the show set to take place again in the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), in Hongqiao, Shang- hai, PR China, from April 21-24, 2020. www.chinaplasonline.com Relocating cooling achieves shorter cycle times in ISBM In launching its “Zero Cooling” technology, at the end of 2018, Nissei ASB laid down a genuine challenge in the single- stage industry and took the conventional technology to a new level in terms of productivity (see PETplanet 1+2/2019, p.10 et seq.). At Chinaplas 2019, we spoke with Managing Director Karel Keersmaekers-Michiels and Haruo Sakato, Section Manager International Section Sales and Marketing, about what they refer to as a “game changer” in the single stage segment, its areas of use, and what the technology can mean for the user. To briefly recap: instead of placing the cooling phase in the usual position, in the first step immediately following the injec- tion phase, ASB uses Zero Cooling to shift preform cooling to the second step; the conditioning stage. According to them, relocating the process away from the first phase means that a 30-40% improvement in cycle time can be achieved, as both stations can now work at the same time. A second advantage is that the conventional achievement of shorter cycle times through the adaptation of wall thickness and/or preform size has been omitted, while the positive attributes of the shorter, thick-walled preforms with respect to the stretch ratios and the material distribution have been retained. “We thought about ways of shortening the cycle but main- taining or improving the container quality until we hit upon the idea that this can only be achieved with a shift of the cooling phase,” Karel Keersmaekers-Michiels explained. “We started in the cosmetics packaging sector and then received succes- sive enquiries from other sectors, including numerous enquiries from the pharmaceuticals, health and beauty care sectors, for bottles for example, but also for jars from the food segment.” Zero Cooling was demonstrated at ASB’s stand at Chinaplas 2019 in the form of the ASB-70DPH. It achieved a closing speed of 4.5 seconds during the bottle production demonstration. “With PET jars, for example, we achieve a cycle time of 10 seconds whereas conventional arrangements took 16 seconds. In principle, the application is ideal for thick-walled containers of all kinds,” Haruo Sakato added, showing us some sample jars and bottles with a glass-like appearance. In terms of energy consumption, Nissei ASB explained that, with higher output rates, the overall rates of consumption are likely to decrease significantly. www.nisseiasb.co.jp Nissei ASB’s Chairman and CEO Daiichi Aoki (right) and Manag- ing Director Karel Keersmaekers-Michiels (left) with Kay Barton