due to a bright automotive picture and some new and innovative applications, firm business in accumulatorhead machines. gary carr is national sales director at bekum america corp. carr said that packaging makers no longer purchase machines before they search for new business. the concepts like, &lsquoorders will come, if we buy machines&rsquo does not exists anymore. carr further mentioned that as far as the blow molding community is concern, people are not estimating a lot right now. if people are getting a firm contract, with good utilization on that asset and with committed volumes, people are buying equipments. he said that a varied customer base and diverse market sectors help williamston, mich.based bekum. carr reported that 2012 was good for bekum due to steady orders. he explained that despite the fact that the economy remains somewhat uncertain their plant has been busy throughout the year. as a machine builder, the nice thing for them is the business has come dispersed all over the business year. carr said that, as a machinery builder, this can be feast or faminetype of the business cycle. work flow has been mainly stable this year. plastics packaging has been a sufferer of own success, in some ways. in the u.s. market, most of the immense conversions of metal to plastic or glass to plastic have already happened. that leads blow molders trying to thieve market share from each other. this was one of the main topics of conversation at society of plastics engineers&rsquo blow molding conference that was held in pittsburgh, this year. in this conference, industry leaders encouraged new packaging improvement to keep plastics growing. jamie pace, who is the general manager and vice president at nissei asb co, mentioned that conversion opportunities for pet are still there for the hotfill products such as pickles, salsa, pasta sauce, and jelly. prw is a european sister newspaper to plastics news. prw selected a broad mouth, hotfill pet jar for food, for the best business initiative of the year award. this jar was molded by artenius pet packaging europe. nissei asb machine co. ltd., which is the japanese parent company, was the strategic partner with appe. new packaging is also driven by customer convenience. the changes in bag lunches that kids take to a school were noted by carolyn reed of r&b plastics machinery llc. reed said that, with just a look at grocery stores, we can notice the change. according to reed, now everyone has their own tiny separate thing, such as fruit, pudding, sauce, pringles. she emphasized that all these stuff never used to exist, and now these new foods have become extremely popular. charles o&rsquoconnell, who is the sales representative of the company in elk grove village, mentioned that at aoki laboratory america inc, hotfill also is driving demand. he said that customers are looking to raise efficiency and productivity. a pet bottle with an integrated handle was introduced by a spanish maker of linear stretch reheat blow molding machines side sa. a pet bottle named as the thandle. scott thompson, who is the general manager of stretch blow systems llc that is located in fort myers, fla, said that this is a single stage and done within the mold. systems engineering company r.t. kutz co. inc started sbs a year ago. as this is a new company in the u.s. market, thompson is working out to sign up manufacturers&rsquo representatives. he mentioned that the pet handleware machine is achieving attention. thompson said that he was not going to exaggerate the figures. since they have started, they have not sold any new machines. however, they are working on many new projects. with the help of direct sales calls and contacts, which thompson has developed over the period of time, helping to up the quoting activity. krones inc. of franklin, wis., also is motivating innovation. krones presented the newest version of its contiform pet stretch blow molding machine, at npe2012. the model number of this latest machine is c312. it was commercialized in the late 2011. since then, the german parent company has sold out 20 c3s in the u.s. market. david raabe, who is the director of blow molding technology, u.s. operation, provided this information. raabe further mentioned that a lot of added value features are offered by the platform, such as higher output, lower maintenance, lower total cost of running that equipment, and lower energy consumption. this year, the major chunk of krones blow molding system sales in the u.s. went to the new production capacity. he said, the tendency of selfmanufacturing continues, where the beverage or food producer brings blow molding inhouse. that significantly cuts the transportation cost. he further mentioned that there is something about controlling their logistics there, and going greener. he explained that, nowadays, it&rsquos all about environment friendly options. according to him, the technology has really gotten to a new stage of being more economical, costeffective, user friendly and just having a better calculation for the long as well as short term. source of information httpwww.plasticsnews.comheadlines2.htmlid27186
