PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2021

Editour PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 09/21 www.petpla.net 11 DISCOVER MORE www.novapet.com Respeto Respect E A R T H PET is a respectful material with nature due to the minimum amount of fossil resources necessary to be produced. This amount can be even reduced by including the r-PET in the production cycle. Brad Molnar, European Sales Manager at Pressco Technology Inc. 1) Like many suppliers, we saw some delays in our customers’ projects as the pandemic began, yet over the past 12-18 months it appears that the food & beverage packaging business has grown tremen- dously. We are now experi- encing record-level demand for our Intellispec inspection systems, and we see this trend continuing for some time. A fascinating side-effect of the travel restrictions and lock- downs was that it provided opportunities for Pressco to work extra-hard in support of our customers during their most challenging times, which resulted in much more purposeful interac- tions and a deepening of trust. This further opening of the communication channel is proving to be critical as production and demand increases. 2) Directives from the EU are largely driven by consumers who want change to help improve the world. The conversion to 100% rPET in combination with the tethered clo- sures is resulting in the increased need for quality control/monitoring as the next wave of light-weight- ing initiatives hit the market. The increased use of recy- cled material continues to be a significant challenge for many high-speed pro- duction lines, as bottles tend to be more prone to manu- facturing process-related defects. This puts additional burden on the inspection system to identify these process issues quickly, so Pressco’s real value to our customers is shifting from an emphasis on defect detection to placing a higher priority on process visibility and control. Our commitment to Industry 4.0 allows our entire family of high-speed inspection systems to be integrated into the plant network so that valuable data is available immediately. Additionally, there is less reli- ance on the operator to react to problems when the inspection system can detect issues and take action reliably before time and/or product is wasted. 3) It will be interesting to watch how the use of rPET continues its dynamic impact on the market – there are many who are asking if 100% rPET is sustainable over the long haul. The broader challenges of supply chain shortages and longer lead times continue to make project timing difficult to manage. Although increased automation is widely regarded as critical to operational efficiency, the upfront capital burden can pose finan - cial obstacles for many smaller operators. www.pressco.com