BP&R March 2019

British Plastics

and Rubber

bp&r MARCH 2019

INTERPLAS INTERPLAS2017 2017 The UK's biggest plastics The UK's biggest plasticsindustry industry event is here! event is here!

Delivering supply chain

secur!ty Let’s make it work.

Delivering supply chain security

SUSTAINABLE GOALS Let’s make it work.

Delivering supply Tangible recycling systems and celebrating the successes achieved sosecurity far chain

SEE PAGE 4

NAKED AMBITION How a new collaboration could take PET wine bottles into the mainstream

PLASTIC SURGERY Breakthroughs in the medical industry that result in longer and more comfortable lives

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editor’s letter

Talk isn’t cheap www.britishplastics.co.uk

In order to start promoting the message that recycling is a positive and worthwhile thing to do – and that products containing recycled plastics are premium and desirable – the next steps these brands must take is a communications campaign that states loud and clear that recycled content is the key to their production.”

head of content: Leanne Taylor

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ISSN 0307-6164 Incorporating Polymer Age and Rubber and Plastics Age.

I

n the current climate of environmental awareness, corporate social responsibility and of course, increasing competition, many brands are looking at ways in which to adopt recycled materials into their products, increase end-of-life recyclability and help their customers make sustainable choices. I increasingly receive news about products made with recycled content that are both recyclable by design and that showcase outstanding quality. Just a few weeks ago, Brightonbased design studio, Gomi, launched a speaker created using waste LDPE bags, the product images of which show design and aesthetics impressive enough to see it stand shoulder-toshoulder with market leaders. Indeed, last year, high-end retailer, John Lewis, launched a range of luxury bath towels produced using 35 per cent recycled polyester.

Big brand department store, Selfridges, launched a garment bag for clothing at the beginning of the year using 100 per cent recycled PET, and sports apparel producer, adidas, said in January it will produce 11 million pairs of shoes containing recycled plastic in 2019 alone. This is of course excellent news and shows the seriousness of their ambitions as responsible brands. And where I am quite sure their competitors are hyper-aware of the steps these brands are taking towards sustainability, just how aware is the consumer? Not half as much, and understandably, as the message, if there at all, is often a small reference on packaging or on a product description and easily missed. In order to start promoting the message that recycling is a positive and worthwhile thing to do – and that products containing recycled plastics are premium and desirable –

the next steps these brands must take is a communications campaign that states loud and clear that recycled content is the key to their production.

Steps like this would not only increase the positive aspects of recycling in the public consciousness but would also make recycled products increasingly desirable and help stimulate demand for recycled materials. These issues and many more relating to improving recycling across our country will be discussed at the Identiplast conference in London, on March 7 and 8. As a proud partner, BP&R will be reporting live from the event and the team looks forward to seeing many of you there.

Enjoy the issue.

Leanne Taylor, head of content

the big story Delivering supply chain

secur!ty:

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst

W WITH THE DEADLINE FOR LEAVING THE EUROPEAN UNION ON MARCH 29 IN TOUCHING DISTANCE, AND A DEAL FOR THE UK’S FUTURE TRADE RELATIONSHIP WITH ITS BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER YET TO BE ESTABLISHED, POLYMER RAW MATERIALS DISTRIBUTOR, PLASTRIBUTION, TELLS BP&R READERS WHY PREPARATIONS FOR A NO-DEAL SCENARIO ARE WELL UNDERWAY AT THE COMPANY IN A BID TO REASSURE PROCESSORS OF SECURITY OF SUPPLY.

L

ong before the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union forced businesses across the land to assess their contingency plans in the event of a hard’, ‘soft’, or indeed, ‘no-deal’ Brexit, Plastribution had supply chain management firmly at the core of its business model.

Historically, ‘distribution’ for the Ashby-de-laZouch-based firm has seen it serve the needs of small and medium size processors, with security of supply made possible by holding significant physical inventory available for delivery at short notice. Typically, this physical inventory creates an effective buffer between plastic converters and polymer producers, minimising the risk of supply chain disruption.

MITIGATING THE RISKS However, with the real possibility of a ‘no deal’ Brexit outcome, together with the knock-on effect of delays at the country’s ports creating a significant extension of lead times, Plastribution says it has been deep in preparation for a worstcase scenario.

“In mitigating the risks, we’ve been getting our own house in order to ensure we fully understand the implications to our business,” says Managing Director, Mike Boswell.

“The first step was to analyse our ‘country of origin’ data to ensure we fully understand where our polymer is made, rather than where we buy it from. This helps us to understand the implications regarding possible tariffs.

“We have also been liaising closely with government and trade bodies to understand as best we can the latest thinking on the possible impacts on our business. In addition, we have been training our staff to ensure they understand the key areas that could have an effect on our operation as a whole. And there’s been some housekeeping to do in terms of ensuring we have the necessary import regulations in place and that our duty deferment limit is sufficient should duties be payable on imports from Europe.”

PROMOTING THE OPTIONS Through their ‘Brexit breakfast’ briefing events and a recent webinar, Plastribution has been busy promoting the options that it has available to deliver supply chain security for processors. In preparing for a hard Brexit scenario, Plastribution say that they can offer the following solutions:

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⊲ Fixed price deals In this scenario, processors commit to a specific quantity of material, which is then purchased by Plastribution and stored in its warehouses for customers to call off in to their business as and when required. ⊲ Bag-to-bulk supply A solution for bulk users of polymer, Plastribution can offer a bag-to-bulk supply solution, whereby it provides stock in 25kg bags, which would be ‘ripped and tipped’ into tankers and then delivered directly into a processor’s silos. ⊲ Extended call off An extended call off is another option, whereby Plastribution will provide longer extended calloff options, beyond the normal three months, to provide processors with security of supply. ⊲ Consignment stock For processors with sufficient storage space, Plastribution can offer consignment stock. This solution provides inventory on a processor’s premises, which is then controlled directly by the recipient. Usage is itemised by the user monthly and invoiced by Plastribution accordingly. ⊲ Conveniently located stores for next-day delivery This is where Plastribution will position its warehousing within easy reach of a processor’s premises, allowing them to call off goods at short notice. This, it says, is particularly useful for those processors whose demand is variable and/or have just-in-time manufacturing. ⊲ Bespoke-to-customer solutions Plastribution is also keen to hear from processors with ideas about solutions that are particularly tailored to suit their businesses. The aim of this concept, it says, is to arrive at a customised solution that meets the needs of the processor. ⊲ Utmost support, regardless of outcome With a constant eye on Brexit negotiations, Plastribution says that regardless of the eventual outcome, it will keep the smooth supply of materials at the heart of what it does as a business.

“Whilst we would not want to make promises we cannot keep,” continued Boswell, “processors can be assured that we will be doing our utmost to support their businesses during this period of uncertainty and the level of disruption expected.” www.plastribution.co.uk

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MARCH 2019

on the cover

DELIVERING SUPPLY CHAIN SECURITY With the deadline for leaving the European Union on March 29 in touching distance, and a deal for the UK’s future trade relationship with its biggest trading partner yet to be established, polymer raw materials distributor, Plastribution, tells BP&R readers why preparations for a nodeal scenario are well underway at the company in a bid to reassure processors of security of supply.

SEE PAGE 4

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Editor’s Letter TALK ISN’T CHEAP

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Conference Review

“IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY THE SENSIBLE THING TO DO IS GET THE FUNDAMENTALS RIGHT” As Britain prepares to leave the EU on 29 March 2019, and with negotiations still ongoing, Brexit dominated the agenda at the Make UK annual conference, the new name for the manufacturers’ organisation, EEF. Leanne Taylor looks at the highlights from the day.

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CLEAN LIVING: TRANSFORMING THE ENERGY LANDSCAPE WITH DMG TECHNOLOGY PowerHouse’s DMG technology is one that could potentially revolutionise the way plastic waste and recycling is viewed through its ability to convert waste to safe and usable energy.

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FEATURE

WHY OUR LIVES DEPEND ON PLASTIC Plastics enable significant breakthroughs in the medical industry that result in longer and more comfortable lives. Ole Grøndahl Hansen, Project Manager of PVCMed, highlights the ways in which the sector has come to depend on the material and why avoiding it would have very dire consequences indeed.

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Feature

MOULDING WITH THE TIMES: EMBRACING CHANGE FOR GLOBAL GROWTH To get to its position as a global organisation injection-moulding rubber, plastic and TPE components, the Fibrax Group has implemented new strategies in response to advances in technology since its conception over a century ago. John O’Brien, Managing Director, explains why embracing change is crucial to its growth, both past and future.

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EXCLUSIVe

NAKED AMBITION: HOW A NEW COLLABORATION COULD TAKE PET WINE BOTTLES INTO THE MAINSTREAM In the age of online shopping, the Founders of Garçon Wines saw an opportunity to turn the traditional ‘buy, ship, sign for’ method of wine delivery on its head. The firm used recycled PET to reinvent one of the oldest artefacts in history – the bottle – to produce a flat version that is durable, sustainable – and crucially

IN THIS ISSUE 08 INDUSTRY NEWS 23 MEDICAL PLASTICS 28 Testing and Inspection 31 MATERIALS HANDLING 35 RUBBER 44 SYSTEMS AND PROCESS CONTROL 46 BUYER’S GUIDE 46 SOFTWARE 50 NEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE

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INDUSTRY | NEWS Permission granted for new UK recycling plant to recycle a billion plastic bottles a year Biffa Waste Services is to recycle more than a billion single use plastic bottles a year at a new £15million facility in County Durham.

The waste management company was granted planning permission to turn an industrial unit in Seaham, in east Durham, into a plastics recycling and processing facility.

Biffa will create a polymer processing plant capable of recycling more than one billion plastics drinks bottles a year. The facility will be in operation 24/7, processing three million bottles a day into new food and drink packaging and creating around 70 new full-time jobs.

The Seaham site is Biffa’s latest investment in the UK’s recycling infrastructure and will double the company’s recycling capacity for plastic bottles.

“The UK currently uses around a 13.5 billion plastic bottles a year but can only process half of this, with the rest diverted to landfill or overseas. This new site represents an exciting opportunity to boost our recycling capacity here at home and supports the country’s long-term plan to find new ways to reuse plastics, as detailed in DEFRA’s recent Resource and Waste Strategy,” said Mick Davis, Managing Director of resource, recovery and treatment at Biffa.

Work on the plant is expected to commence in summer 2019, with the first commissioning trials scheduled for December. www.biffa.co.uk

The site will double the company’s recycling capacity for plastic bottles.

Recycling Technologies appoints new Technical Director to further enhance R&D

Marvine Besong

Recycling Technologies has appointed Marvine Besong as its new Technical Director, to lead the global technical development of its innovative RT7000 feedstock recycling machine.

Besong brings nearly a decade of experience to the role of Technical Director, and since joining the company has been instrumental in helping define and deliver the Beta Plant which the company operates in Swindon.

His focus will now be on further enhancing Recycling Technologies’ specialist capabilities and ensuring the development of the RT7000 which will enter production this year, with the first machine being installed in Binn Farm, Scotland, in late 2019.

Besong said: “Increasing the sustainability of plastics is one of the most important topics in the waste, packaging and petrochemicals sectors and I’m proud to be part of an organisation leading the recycling revolution for currently ‘hard to recycle’ plastics and converting plastics back to oil.” www.recycling technologies.co.uk

Increasing the sustainability of plastics is one of the most important topics in the waste, packaging and petrochemicals sectors 8

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Honda to close Swindon car plant in 2021 Honda has announced it is to close its Swindon car plant in 2021, leading to the loss of around 3,500 jobs, and threatening many more throughout the plastics supply chain.

The plant produced over 160,000 vehicles in 2018, of which 90 per cent were exported to the EU. Despite many speculating that Brexit uncertainty is responsible for the move, Honda says the decision comes as it accelerates its commitment to electrified cars, in response to the unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry.

The significant challenges of electrification, it says, will see the company revise its global manufacturing operations, and focus activity in regions where it expects to have high production volumes.

Speaking to the BBC, Senior Vice-President for Honda in Europe, Ian Howells, said: “We’re seeing unprecedented change in the industry on a global scale.

We have to move very swiftly to electrification of our vehicles because of demand of our customers and legislation.”

He continued: “This is not a

Brexit-related issue for us, it’s being made on the global-related changes I’ve spoken about. We’ve always seen Brexit as something we’ll get through, but these changes globally are something we will have to respond to. We deeply regret the impact it will have on the Swindon community.”

The decision will threaten thousands of jobs across the supply chain, thanks to the ‘just-intime’ manufacturing process.

Honda estimated last year that every 15 minutes of customs delay would cost it up to £850,000 a year. www.honda.co.uk

Pentagon Plastics selected as finalists for Manufacturing Business of the Year Pentagon Plastics announced it has been selected as a finalist for the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards ‘Manufacturing Business of the Year 2019’.

This award nomination recognises the growth and innovation within the organisation.

Pentagon were shortlisted after a site visit, following the submission of a detailed entry covering various areas of the business and business practice.

This gave an opportunity to showcase its self-funded investment into the facility, including a focus on employee health and wellbeing, integration of social media platforms and its dedication to continuous improvement.

The company discussed the support the business provides

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to young people and those in education, recognising its responsibility to help bridge the current skills gap within the engineering industry. As well as touching on the current issues facing the polymer industry and how it looks to inject positivity in plastics to a wider audience.

The business has seen major growth and organisational changes over the last two and a half years as it acquired and integrated Phoenix Engineering and says winning the award would be a true testament to the commitment and dedication from the entire team at Pentagon Plastics.

The awards evening will take place on 21st March.

New team take the reins at White Horse Plastics following MBO White Horse Plastics (WHP) has successfully undergone a management buyout following the sale of the company by the founder and owner.

After 45 years in plastics manufacturing, Rod Houghton has handed the business over to White Horse Plastics’ existing management team led by General Manager, Paul Bobby, who becomes Managing Director.

“We are delighted to have made such a smooth MBO transition to the new ownership and the new management team,” said Bobby. “I want to thank all our customers for their support over the years and to reassure them that White Horse Plastics continues to be in very safe hands. We are all excited by what the future holds over the coming months as we actively pursue new markets and new sales.”

The firm, which supplies the med-tech, healthcare, automotive and general technical moulding sectors, specialises in development and production of tight tolerance technical injection mouldings and plastics-based sub-assemblies. www.whitehorseplastics.co.uk

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The new WHP team

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PMMDA latest results show moulding machinery sales holding steady The latest statistics meeting held by the Polymer Machinery Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMMDA) indicate sales of equipment into the UK moulding sector for 2018 held steady.

During the meeting, the association’s Chairman, Kevin Horne, said the overall picture showed 2018 and 2017 as very similar years in terms of value, with sales at £65million, and also numbers, at 600 machines. Sales of ancillary equipment and robots were also close to those reported in 2017.

“The noticeable point was the lower number of 1500 tonne + machines sold, which the members in attendance consented was due to uncertainty in the automotive sector,” Horne explained. “There was a study made between sales of electric and hydraulic machines, which showed no significant

increase of electric machine sales, except in Ireland, which is probably driven by the medical moulding sector being more active there.”

During the meeting, Horne announced his decision to step down as Chairman following an upturn in business at his own company.

Horne said “it was with regret” that he announced his resignation as Chair of the association, but that increased work commitments had made the decision to step down inevitable.

Richard Hird of ancillary equipment supplier, Labotek GB, will advance into the role of Chairman – a natural progression from his position as the PMMDA’s Vice-Chair.

Commenting, Horne said: “It is with regret that due a significant upturn in business of the recycling sector at Renmar that I have resigned as Chairman. However, Richard has been a loyal committee member for many years and I know that he will take over this important role and serve the association with distinction.”

The PMMDA will now appoint a new Deputy Chair, as well as a new committee member to replace Horne.

Nikki Williams, PMMDA Secretary, said: “I would like to express our gratitude to Kevin who has done a sterling job during his time as Chairman. It goes without saying that Richard will be great in the Chair - he always shows 100 per cent commitment and offers tremendous support.” www.pmmda.org.uk

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Medical device industry demand leads to expansion for Irish moulder

Increasing customer demand in the medical device and drug device industries has led to major expansion at an Irish plastics manufacturer.

GW Plastics, a healthcare injection moulding and contract manufacturing company, is expanding its advanced manufacturing operations in Sligo, Ireland. The expansion is taking place at the site of Avenue Mould Solutions, which GW recently acquired.

The recent acquisition gave GW Plastics expertise in building

ultra-high-cavitation tooling – up to 192 cavity moulds – for the medical device, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical markets.

GW Plastics now ranks as one of the plastic industry’s largest manufacturers of precision moulds.

GW Plastics plans to invest in excess of €6 million (approx.. £5.2m) to grow its product development, precision tooling, thermoplastic and silicone injection moulding and contract assembly capabilities in Europe.

The company also plans to expand its moulding operations into a

Omega Plastics goes back to the future with Team Valley relocation

specialist, Signal Plastics, in 2015.

In December 2016, the Group relocated Signal Plastics to a larger 42,000 square foot factory unit in Bentall Business Park, Washington, and invested over £1 million in new 180, 500, 800 and 1,300 tonne injection moulding presses and overhead robotic equipment.

Additional contracts with new and existing customers, including a recent £3 million contract with an OEM specialising in domestic and commercial heating, has led the company to make a strategic decision to merge its two Omega Plastics sites in Blyth and Hartlepool sites into one larger facility.

David Crone, Group Managing Director at Omega Plastics Group, said: “The move has an added element of sentimentality as we are moving back into the building the business was first founded in back in 1998.”

North East plastics manufacturer, Omega Plastics Group, is heading back to its roots to open a new facility in Gateshead, in the building the business was first founded in 21 years ago.

Specialising in custom, multipleuse plastic injection mouldings and rapid tooling for the automotive, healthcare and FMCG industries, Omega Plastics Group has enjoyed continued growth since its acquisition of highvolume plastic injection moulding

scalable 28,000 square foot site also located in Sligo.

After meeting with the GW Plastics management team at the new facility, Ireland’s Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar TD, said: “Under the Government’s national development plan, Project Ireland 2040, Sligo is recognised as a major regional centre and a driver of economic development.

“The creation of new jobs by GW Plastics is great news for the company, its customers, staff, and prospective employees and is further evidence that Sligo is a great place in which to invest, work and live.

Brenan Riehl, GW Plastics President and CEO, added: “Avenue has brought to GW Plastics a highly-skilled manufacturing workforce, an award-winning mould-building company, and a growing medical device contract manufacturing business that has been successfully serving Ireland and the broader European market for over 30 years.” www.AvenueMouldSolutions.ie www.GWPlastics.com

www.omega-plastics.co.uk

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ENGEL UK announces first-ever Irish Tech days ENGEL UK has announced it will be holding ‘Technical Days’ in Ireland for the first time on 12th, 13th and 14th March 2019.

To be hosted by Galway Tool and Mould, the event will highlight a new Engel e-mac 100t machine.

The machine has been specifically installed for this event so the company can demonstrate its latest machine technology and advanced control features, including the iQ range of products, which have been designed to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

The event will be complemented by Ilsemann Automation, which will present its latest developments together with agent, Plastech Solutions. www.engelglobal.com

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The ‘plastic road’ (Credit: MacRebur)

Plastic preventing potholes: Transport Secretary commits millions to road improvement trials Funding for new plastics-based technology that could help stop potholes from forming has been announced by the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling.

The money is part of £23 million provided by the Government for research and trials on new

surface materials or pothole repair techniques in order to improve the UK’s road network.

The real-world tests will see £1.6million in funding allocated to the expansion of testing ‘plastic roads’ in Cumbria, with the intention of producing a guidance document on the use of the special polymer-modified asphalt as a surface material solution.

Produced by Scotland-based MacRebur, the ‘plastic road’ technology uses waste plastics

in a special mix to produce a surface substance that is stronger and longer lasting than standard asphalt. The material has the potential to reduce the millions spent on new roads, maintenance, and pothole repair in the UK each year.

If successful in the trial in Cumbria, the technology could be rolled out and adopted by other local authorities across the country.

Commenting, Grayling said: “Potholes are the number one enemy for road users and this government is looking at numerous ways to keep our roads in the best condition.

“Today’s trials will see how new technologies work in the real world to ensure our roads are built for the 21st century.”

The Government funding will also see a share of £4.5million allocated to the manufacture of recycled plastic/composite columns to mount lighting sensors, 5G antenna and large format schemes in public areas. www.macrebur.com

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AS BRITAIN PREPARES TO LEAVE THE EU ON 29 MARCH 2019, AND WITH NEGOTIATIONS STILL ONGOING, BREXIT DOMINATED THE AGENDA AT THE MAKE UK ANNUAL CONFERENCE, THE NEW NAME FOR THE MANUFACTURERS’ ORGANISATION, EEF. LEANNE TAYLOR LOOKS AT THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DAY.

Stephen Phipson, Make UK CEO, arrives at the conference in a cab adorned with with the organisation’s new branding

Make UK Review The Manufacturers’ association, EEF, has unveiled a re-brand to ‘Make UK’ in a move it says reflects the change and evolution of the sector. Launched at the association’s annual conference in London on 19th February, CEO Stephen Phipson said the “time is right” for the change as it looks to position itself to adapt for the tasks ahead.

“Doing this today, at such an important time for the sector, is no coincidence,” he said. “The future will be challenging but what we have learnt over more than 100 years is that we rise to such tasks.

“Over the coming years, whilst our trading relationship with Europe and the rest of the world will change, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and automation will change it further still. As our sector grows, evolves and faces the future, we feel now is the right time to change and position ourselves for the exciting tasks ahead.”

“MAKING OUR VOICE HEARD” During his opening address at the conference, Phipson told delegates that whereas ordinarily addressing the skills gap tops the association’s list of priorities, he made it clear that Brexit has overtaken skills as its current focus.

“Our aim is to make Government understand the impact of their decisions on our sector. We are working hard to make the manufacturing industry’s voice heard. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we do not, so we have to keep repeating ourselves and communicating with politicians to ensure the message gets across.”

Phipson said that during talks the association continues to press that ‘no deal’ would be “catastrophic in many areas”, and that it is vital that there is no friction at the border, access to skilled labour is easily achievable and regulatory alignment issues must ensure ease of trade. “The pantomime in Westminster needs to end” he told delegates.

“DIFFICULTIES OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS” Phipson acknowledged the announcement of Honda’s intention to close its UK manufacturing facility in Swindon. He said that in the face of this and other difficulties and challenges the organisation would “provide support to the automotive industry and its supply chains as the landscape unfolds”.

UNCERTAINTY AND CHANGE Following on from Phipson, there was no mistaking how broadcaster and journalist, Andrew Neil, feels about Brexit, describing it as “the biggest challenge our country has seen in this time.” He told delegates that Brexit has created trends that will “affect the future manufacturing climate big time”, not least in the way that the electorate votes, the power and influence of social media on politics and changing economic landscapes.

In such uncertain times, and facing global slowdown, Neil implored the Government to prepare the country to face these challenges head on. This, he said, involved the creation of STEMstyle schools; being at the forefront of the war for talent; creating a world-class global infrastructure, including a “proper northern powerhouse”; and a simpler tax system for business. “In times of uncertainty the sensible thing to do is get the fundamentals right,” he said.

A SWIFT RESOLUTION Taking to the stage after Neil, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clarke, acknowledged that the lack of a deal and clarity for businesses as March 29 draws nearer is “unacceptable” and needs a swift resolution.

“I acknowledge that our manufacturers do not have the certainty they need as to what their landscapes will look like in less than 40 days’ time and we need a conclusion on this immediately,” he said.

Clarke thanked MakeUK for the intelligence provided about how potential Brexit outcomes would affect the manufacturing industry, its employees, supply chain and future success.

“In times of uncertainty the sensible thing to do is get the fundamentals right” 14

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WWW.ULTRAPOLYMERS.COM | YOUR PARTNER FROM DESIGN TO PRODUCTION Greg Clarke MP says a lack of a deal so close to March 29 is “unacceptable”

“In the days and weeks ahead your future prosperity must be at the forefront of the policy decisions we make,” he said. “We want to capitalise on the amazing opportunities for our manufacturing industries. It is not just about Brexit, but about helping you develop your products and prospects in the years ahead. I now hope we can conclude a deal that what is what you want.”

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS And such opportunities were identified during a panel session looking at exporting. Tommy Stubbington, Economics Correspondent for the Sunday Times, said despite being at a “critical juncture” there are “huge opportunities” for the UK’s export manufacturing industries.

Panellists representing a range of countries and sectors highlighted emerging markets, including south east Asia, Indonesia and Vietnam, as those

with incredible demand for UK products and services. Canada was framed as a market that has a lot to offer to businesses to give experience before exporting to north America and Poland was named as a market interesting to British companies, not least owing to the 1500 per cent growth in imports to the country over the last two years.

Keith Jackson, CEO of Brandon Medical, told delegates the ‘3Rs’ are crucial in developing export trade in emerging markets: Research, Relationships and Resource. As a successful UK exporter to countries including Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Uganda, Jackson says ‘Brand Britain’ is “more potent than you might think in some markets. We should all leverage this.”

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RECLAMATION AND RECYCLING | NEWS MPs call for bold national plan to lessen waste exports and increase domestic recycling infrastructure

Policy Connect has called for a national policy to reduce ocean plastic

The UK can no longer afford to sweep its plastic waste problem under other countries’ carpets if it wants to be a global environmental leader, says a new report.

The report, from UK think-tank Policy Connect, has called for a bold national policy framework to reduce ocean plastic overseas and boost domestic infrastructure investment, innovation and green jobs.

The ‘Plastics Packaging Plan: Achieving Net Zero ‘Waste’ Exports’ report is backed by 12 crossparty politicians and says the UK must urgently take back control of its share of the global plastics problem and needs an ambitious new roadmap to deliver a coherent circular and sustainable plastics policy that consumers feel proud of and protects marine life from UK plastic.

Jonathon Shaw, Chief Executive of Policy Connect, said: “British consumers want to recycle more but our lack of UK reprocessing plants and circular policies are letting them down. We need a bold national plastics plan that we can all be proud of to protect the marine environment, to kick-

start infrastructure investment and jobs, and to boost UK demand for recycled plastics.”

The report findings stop short of calling for a ban on exports but says the UK would benefit politically, economically, socially and environmentally from prioritising domestic processing over export.

The Rt. Hon Lord Deben, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change,

said he welcomes the call, adding that “the right policy roadmap can turn our plastic waste problem into an economic opportunity for the UK to lead the world in waste processing, recycled plastic and waste-to-energy innovation and jobs.” www.policyconnect.org. uk

The sound of sustainability

Brighton-based sustainable design studio Gomi has created a portable speaker using flexible LDPE waste. Each speaker is made from three modular marbled components and takes the equivalent of 100 plastic bags worth of flexible plastics to make. www.goMI.DESIGN

Government opens packaging and waste consultations The Government has opened four significant government consultations on reducing packaging, introducing new initiatives for waste systems and cutting plastic pollution to implement the commitments made in its Resources and Waste Strategy published in 2018.

The 12-week consultations will aim to change the existing system of producer responsibility for packaging and introduce a tax on plastic packaging that does not contain at least 30 per cent recycled plastic. A Deposit Return

Scheme (DRS) for cans and bottles is also proposed in a bid to drive up recycling rates and encourage the public to recycle more. Finally, proposals are being discussed to drive greater consistency in recycling collections.

Colin Church, CEO of the IOM3, said the consultation are a very important step and a critical moment for the UK. “There is a clear need for changes to be made to the existing system of producer responsibility for packaging, overhaul the country’s waste system and address the issue of plastic waste,” he commented. www.gov.uk

HAVE YOUR SAY Ensure you have your say and contribute by visiting www.consult.defra.gov.uk and finding the relevant consultations online. They are as follows: • Reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System – 13th May 2019 deadline • Deposit Return Schemes – 13th May 2019 deadline • Consistency in Household and Business Recycling Collections in England – 13th May 2019 deadline • Plastic Packaging Tax – 12th May 2019 deadline

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EXCLUSIVE

Coming together to achieve a sustainable society

B BRUCE MARGETTS, PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH PLASTICS FEDERATION, WRITES EXCLUSIVELY FOR BP&R ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELLING THE ENERGY AROUND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS INTO TANGIBLE RECYCLING SYSTEMS AND CELEBRATING THE SUCCESSES ACHIEVED SO FAR.

We should all be very happy the public’s environmental conscientiousness has risen, but this new energy needs to be directed where it’s needed most. Whilst committed organisations begin to address the issue of marine litter, some critics have taken aim at the very idea of recycling, arguably presenting it almost as a hopeless enterprise. But ensuring we improve recycling across our country is one of the most important things we can do for protecting our environment.

We should be looking to tell the positive story of what is possible when we all work together to make it happen. We should also not be afraid of celebrating our successes to date.

MARGE MAKES ITS MARK There’s a lesson taught by the humble margarine tub. A relatively early step on our journey towards reducing waste involved turning these consumer favourites into paint cans, another household essential. For years, these paint containers had negligible recycled plastic in them, whilst today we have paint containers made entirely from recycled plastic. Between 2007 and 2017, the collection of pots, tubs and trays went from 9,000 tonnes to 175,000 tonnes. These leaps over time show what’s possible with concerted effort. For recycling rates to grow and for more products made of 100 per cent recycled plastic to hit the market, it requires continued appreciation of the absolute necessity of collection and recycling.

MEETING OF MINDS The British Plastics Federation (BPF), alongside its European counterpart PlasticsEurope, are two organisations working to promote this cause, but wider support is needed. In March this year, PlasticsEurope is running IdentiPlast with the support of the BPF. This is a conference where world-leading recycling and waste experts from across the supply chain, together with academics, will present and discuss their ideas. By bringing the best minds together, constructive synergy between government, industry, NGOs and entrepreneurs can emerge. I will be opening the event on 7 March and I very much hope to see you there.

BRAND MANAGEMENT The circular economy we are striving for requires more end markets for recycled plastic. Product specifiers need to critically examine their technical specifications to allow the use of recyclate in their products. In an ideal world, brands can help lead the way by accepting small changes in the appearance of their products, such as accepting a slight tint in a PET bottle, for example. Insisting

on designs optimised for recyclability is not only a sign of corporate social responsibility but also potentially an opportunity to educate the consumer and highlight the importance of recycling.

GRAND DESIGNS Designers are obviously another group that needs to be on board with this mission. All our packaging needs to be constructed so it’s easy to recycle. Working alongside RECOUP, the BPF has released a Recyclability by Design guide, which has been circulated to brands, retailers, designers and packaging manufacturers to help them make products as recyclable as possible at the design stage. Small steps such as avoiding complex combinations of materials, making items easy to separate, minimising the use of colour, and making labels compatible with the material and easy to remove can all make a huge difference. Packaging with these features should be the hallmark of environmentally-aware brands and retailers.

STANDARDISE TO CAPITALISE Innovative engineers have already made great headway in addressing the more difficult-torecycle plastic products. Chemical recycling, for example, means any type of plastic can be converted back into oil and then reprocessed to make entirely new plastic. In the UK, beverage bottle recycling rates are at 74 per cent, beating other materials. But the overall plastic bottle recycling rates are lower due to bottles for bathroom and cleaning products tending to fall out of the recycling stream. Maybe this is just because of confusion about what can and cannot be recycled – in the UK we badly need to standardise collection schemes to simplify communication. Perhaps good design can help here too.

COME TOGETHER, RIGHT NOW All of us know we need to be mindful of the materials we use and how they are disposed of. Waste is a valuable resource that needs to be responsibly recaptured. As we continue to make strides towards a truly circular economy, our industry will continue to meet the needs of society. We underpin many sectors and the current challenges we face are not insurmountable — but it is clear we need to work together, not only as a supply chain but also with wider society and with the government. www.identiplast.eu www.bpf.co.uk

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POWERHOUSE IS CURRENTLY RUNNING A SCALED-DOWN TEST UNIT AT ITS SITE NEAR CHESTER, AND BP&R WENT TO VISIT THE SITE AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE COMPANY’S AMBITIONS WITH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DAVID RYAN, AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS MANAGER, BRUCE NICHOLSON.

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Words | Tom Walker

POWERHOUSE’S DMG TECHNOLOGY IS ONE THAT COULD POTENTIALLY REVOLUTIONISE THE WAY PLASTIC WASTE AND RECYCLING IS VIEWED THROUGH ITS ABILITY TO CONVERT WASTE TO SAFE AND USABLE ENERGY.

TRANSFORMING THE ENERGY LANDSCAPE WITH TECHNOLOGY

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As an example, 100 tonnes of unrecyclable plastic have the capacity to give you 14 megawatts of energy, and that would give 15,000 homes electricity

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P

owerHouse’s DMG unit is able to convert waste to usable energy through its recovery of the chemical energy that is contained in unrecyclable plastics and end-of-life tyres, with a net waste-to-energy conversion significantly more than alternatives such as incinerators.

Crucially, the company believes it has the potential to change the way that the world looks at waste.

As has been extensively reported of late, the developing world, especially in parts of Asia, is struggling to manage its own waste as well as that sent for processing by developed nations. A lack of any municipal systems means a significant amount of it ends up in the oceans, where it is not only polluting, but also being wasted, as PowerHouse Commercial Operations Manager, Bruce Nicholson, explained.

“They’re desperate for energy, and they’ve got loads of waste that we can process, so we do see the developing world as a good place to set up and help other industries to feed off the power,” said Nicholson.

“We’ve got some passionate supporters who get frustrated with the UK exporting waste, because we’re basically sending energy overseas that we haven’t extracted, and some people really struggle with that thought.”

POWERING UP The scale of lost energy being exported overseas in the form of waste plastic is even more significant than was previously the case, thanks to the energy conversion efficiency of the DMG unit, believes Executive Director, David Ryan.

“As an example, 100 tonnes of unrecyclable plastic has the capacity to give you 14 megawatts of energy, and that would give 15,000 homes electricity,” he explained.

“If we took that energy and made hydrogen and electricity through our DMG technology, we’d be powering an awful lot of vehicles, you’d maybe be having 100 lorries doing 100 miles a day, plus all the cars, plus you’d still be providing many megawatts of electricity.

“And then on top of all of that, the waste isn’t going to landfill, where the energy isn’t being used and is adding to greenhouse gases.”

Nicholson added: “There’s lots of different predictions on what’s going to happen with landfill, but there’s enough new waste being produced that could keep us occupied for many years, so we probably don’t need to dig up landfill sites just yet.”

The benefit, according to Ryan is that the DMG unit can take the highly calorific plastic waste that incinerators can’t. “They want great volumes of low calorific energy, as a nice steady flow of energy,” he explained.

A HUGE RESHUFFLE? The DMG’s ability to extract hydrogen energy from the waste is one that provides PowerHouse with the potential for a huge reshuffle in the transport sector.

The hydrogen energy revolution, especially in the mainstream automotive market, is still very much in its infancy, but PowerHouse is hopeful that the haulage sector in particular could be major beneficiaries in the nearer term.

Ryan said: “The HGV market is one that’s definitely looking at a shift towards hydrogen.

Our first hydrogen site is most likely to be over in Ellesmere Port. There’s hundreds of lorries a day going in there, and we’re hoping that there might be 20 a day that are hydrogen, and that’s our market.”

Nicholson believes if it grows in a way where the commercial advantages are there, then the adoption will speed up.

“For example, we’ve been talking to a waste management company who look after Marks and Spencer, and their model is that they have a distribution centre of everything that goes out to the Marks and Spencer stores, and then the lorries go back and forth and backhaul the waste from the shops, which ends up back at the distribution centre,” he explained.

“We envisage that they could have one of our DMG units at their site, supplying hydrogen for the trucks going back and forth, supplying electricity to power the generation on site for the cooling and refrigeration, and then the picker trucks and forklifts can all be powered by hydrogen as well.”

“PLAIN SAILING” The only factor in the way of a run of full-scale machines is winning the order for the first machine, but Ryan believes once PowerHouse achieves this it should be plain sailing. And the company says it is on track to have heads of terms for the first contract signed in the second quarter of this year.

He said: “Once we get the first one operating we’ve got a pipeline of opportunities, we’ve got about 20 companies who’ve registered an interest with whom we’re engaging and embarking on engineering designs.”

“The project pipeline is there, and we and our development partners are currently working on finding the right finance partners to work with in building the first plant, which could then be up and running within 12 months of the money being committed.” www.powerhouseenergy.net

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

The project pipeline is there, and we and our development partners are currently working on finding the right finance partners to work with in building the first plant, which could then be up and running within 12 months of the money being committed

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MEDICAL | NEWS Kraiburg collaborates with Eastman to gain stronger focus on medical applications Kraiburg TPE has collaborated with Eastman to increase its focus on medical applications and pharmaceutical packaging, in line with its 2019 strategy.

In close cooperation with Eastman, Kraiburg has developed a range of Thermoplast M TPEs with the capability to adhere directly to specialised polymers used in medical applications, including Eastman’s Tritan copolyester, PP, ABS, ABS/PC and PET. The medical compounds made by Kraiburg allow for design flexibility, ease of processing, and meet all standards for surfaces requiring enhanced grip and slip resistance.

Ludovic Gardet, Application Development and Technical Service for Eastman, said: “We are pleased with the efficient collaboration with Kraiburg TPE in the field of materials development for medical applications.

“The optimal combining of hard and soft components through injection moulding is an excellent way to leverage the benefit of Tritan copolyesters’ outstanding attributes, such as clarity, toughness, heat and chemical resistance, and the added functionality brought by the Kraiburg TPE.” www.kraiburg-tpe.com www.eastman.com

Kraiburg TPE has collaborated with Eastman to increase its focus on medical applications and pharmaceutical packaging

Teknor Apex launches new nonDEHP compounds for medical PVC applications Teknor Apex has launched new medical-grade PVC compounds .

The new grades are formulated without DEHP or other orthophthalate plasticisers and are pre-compliant with global regulations and readily available to device manufacturers as standard products.

The new ‘Apex PVC’ and ‘Flexalloy PVC’ elastomer compounds are available in ten series, each with Shore A hardness from 50 to 90 for Apex grades and 40 to 80 for Flexalloy grades.

Teknor Apex offers the standard grades in a high-clarity medical blue tint, and can custom formulate options to meet a variety of colour, opacity, and self-frosting needs as specified by the device manufacturer. All of the compounds can be ETO-, gamma-, and E-beam-sterilised and exhibit good colour hold.

The company says extrusion grades of the new compounds are suitable for use in respiratory, blood transport and delivery, catheter, enteral feeding, and many other types of tubing applications, as well as for cable jacketing on powered medical devices. Uses for injection moulding grades include luers, canulae, caps, connectors, valves, ear protection, endotracheal airway cuffs, mouthpieces, oxygen masks, safety goggles, resuscitation bags, and bulbs.

“Teknor Apex has developed this comprehensive portfolio of ‘off-theshelf’ medical PVC compounds in order to help customers reduce their time-to-market while having multiple options for replacing conventional phthalate plasticisers,” said Derek Laffey, Medical Industry Manager for the Vinyl Division of Teknor Apex.

“We supply these new products with a full complement of physical property, biocompatibility, and regulatory test data, and we support rapid prototyping by offering quick turnaround times for samples. In addition, identical grades of each compound are available worldwide.”

The new-generation compounds comply with EU REACH-SVHC; EUMDR; EU ROHS 1, 2 and 3; ISO 109935; and California Proposition 65.

Q&A MEDICAL PACKAGING PARTNERS: “NOT ALL THERMOFORMERS ARE CREATED EQUAL” When choosing a provider for the production of thermoformed plastic packaging, there are a number of things medical device OEMs should take into consideration. Seán Egan, Director of Global Marketing and VoC Development at Nelipak Healthcare Packaging raises the important questions manufacturers should ask.

ARE PRODUCERS OF MEDICAL PACKAGING ALL OF THE SAME STANDARD? All thermoformers are not created equal when it comes to providing products for the healthcare industry. Asking the right questions can allow medical device OEMs to identify the packaging partner that is best for their needs and will help get products to market on time and on budget.

HOW WELL SHOULD THEY UNDERSTAND THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY? Compromised packaging can result in the OEM’s entire offering failing to get to market. Therefore, a packaging provider that is truly attuned to the needs of healthcare customers and immersed in the regulatory challenges that they face on a daily basis can make a significant difference in the outcome of the entire project.

SHOULD THEY BE EXPERTS IN DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT? The efficacy of packaging for medical devices and pharmaceuticals is shaped long before the manufacturing process – it starts with the design. Choosing a packaging provider that has experienced teams of designers and engineers with the ability to leverage modern software and technology, coupled with first-rate drawing skills during development, can result in solutions that best meet the OEM’s needs for pack performance, functionality and product protection.

DO THEY UNDERSTAND SEAL INTEGRITY? Understanding and applying best practices during the heat-sealing process and using custom-built cleanroom sealing machines designed to the specifications of a medical device, pharmaceutical thermoformed blisters, or trays can result in better quality products that consistently have the necessary seal strengths and properties. www.nelipak.com Image source: Nelipak Healthcare Packaging

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MEDICAL | NEWS CJP to demonstrate medical materials at upcoming show

The OCS Heart.

Picture source: TransMedics, Inc.

CJP Sales will demonstrate its range of medical polymers and their suitability for a range of devices at one of the UK’s leading trade shows for the sector.

Exhibiting at MedTech Innovation Expo on 15-16 May in Birmingham, CJP will showcase materials including Franplast’s translucent Chemiton Med USP Cl thermoplastic elastomer, which the company says is ideally suited for soft-touch medical components.

Without PVC and latex, biocompatible and without phthalates, the compound is a transparent and soft thermoplastic rubber, which represents a suitable alternative to silicone.

It can be used for the production of various soft-touch components for medical use as injection ports, twist off closures, connectors, tubes for peristaltic pumps, joints, stoppers, gaskets, valves and membranes.

CJP will have examples of components produced using Chemiton Med USP Cl at the show, as well as PVC compounds for medical tubing. The company will also discuss how purging compounds used for the production of plastic medical parts can help reduce scrap and improve production performance. www.cjpsales.co.uk

CJP will demonstrate its range of medical polymers at MedTech

Covestro polycarbonates used for improved organ preservation system Medical device manufacturer, TransMedics, has used polycarbonates from Covestro to develop a system that improves the way organs are preserved during transportation.

The Organ Care System (OCS), is an advancement of the cold ischemic storage that has been the traditional method for organ preservation during transplantation.

It delivers warm, nutrient-rich blood to the organ, allowing it to function outside of the body and enabling organ optimisation and assessment.

TransMedics has developed a version of the OCS for the transportation of hearts, lungs and livers, each of which has three primary components: a portable console with a wireless monitor, a disposable perfusion set and nutrient-enriched solutions.

The perfusion set’s clear enclosure protects the organ using Makrolon 2458 and Makrolon

Rx1452 polycarbonates from Covestro, while the attached connectors utilise Makrolon Rx1805.

“Makrolon polycarbonates offer the combination of transparency and toughness needed for this medical device,” said John Sullivan, Vice President of Engineering, TransMedics, Inc. Covestro says its Makrolon polycarbonates offer several beneficial attributes for the OCS platform, including dimensional stability, impact and chemical resistance, suitabilty for sterilisation and biocompatibility according to many ISO 10993-1 test requirements.

“Safely transporting organs can literally mean the difference between life and death,” said Lauren Zetts from the Healthcare Polycarbonates division of Covestro LLC. “It’s very gratifying that our materials play a role in helping TransMedics fulfil its mission to deliver healthy transplants in a timely manner.” www.covestro.com

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

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COMMENT

Why our lives depend on plastic

P PLASTICS ENABLE SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY THAT RESULT IN LONGER AND MORE COMFORTABLE LIVES. IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE, OLE GRØNDAHL HANSEN, PROJECT MANAGER OF PVCMED, HIGHLIGHTS THE WAYS IN WHICH THE SECTOR HAS COME TO DEPEND ON THE MATERIAL AND WHY AVOIDING IT WOULD HAVE VERY DIRE CONSEQUENCES INDEED.

About the Author: Ole Grøndahl Hansen has been Project Manager of the PVCMed Alliance since 2012. He been working with PVC-related issues for almost a quarter of a century and his main areas of interest are the use of PVC in medical applications, recycling, social media, and PVC in art and design.

In the heated debate on plastic pollution, we often see that people are encouraged to avoid plastic products. Consumers ask why we don’t go back to using the materials we had before plastics were introduced, insisting that plastic products are “nothing more than imitations of products that we already had.” These claims, are, in principle, correct. For example, we had excellent windows before plastic windows were invented, excellent pipes before plastic pipes were introduced, and wax cylinders before vinyl records. So why not just go back and use the materials we did in the past?

BETTER BILLIARD BALLS Let’s start with a curious – but still excellent example – that illustrates it is not as simple as many people think. When ivory – used for the production of billiard balls – was in short supply, new balls were developed in plastic. Not only were these balls much more precise when played, but they were cheaper to produce. They were far from a simple imitation of the ivory balls.

THE BLOOD BAG The blood bag – obviously a more vital product than the billiard ball – is a similar story. The plastic blood bag was developed during the Korean War, as there was a need for a product to store blood that would not shatter when ejected from aircraft.

Glass containers used in the past were obviously not suitable and plastic provided a safe, durable and much more lightweight alternative. The same is true for many items in the health sector in general.

THE DISPOSABLE REVOLUTION Without a doubt, it was no less than a revolution when disposable plastic articles were introduced.

Before plastics, hospitals relied on reusable articles made of traditional materials such as glass or rubber. Glass was fragile and rubber expensive, which meant the equipment had to be used repeatedly. It caused major problems with hygiene, as many patients were infected due to repeated use. Affordable plastics made it possible to dispose of the medical equipment after it had been used only once. As a result, cross contamination between patients dropped significantly.

But not only was the risk of infection greatly minimised, the quality of the products was also raised considerably after plastics entered the hospitals.

For example, there is nothing that surpasses a PVC tube when it comes to softness. Non-PVC medical tubing tends to ‘kink’ so that the flow is stopped when the liquid is transported through the tubing. If you are in doubt about the importance of plastics in the healthcare sector, you should visit Medica, the world’s largest medical fair, held each year in Düsseldorf, Germany. If you visit the various stands, you quickly become aware that the modern health service would be impossible to maintain without plastics. Polymers are everywhere, from advanced scanners to the

previously-mentioned disposable items. In fact, no stands exhibit equipment where plastics do not play a role in some form.

You quickly become aware that the modern health service would be impossible to maintain without plastics

STRIVE TO RECYCLE But amidst all the increased attention on plastics waste, should we just sit back and rejoice at how innovative the plastic industry has been in patient care? No, of course not.

We must try to recycle the plastic equipment than can be recycled.

And, fortunately, there are serious breakthroughs in recycling of medical equipment made of PVC, which is the most widely used plastic material in the healthcare sector.

With inspiration from Australia, where about 200 hospitals are part of a scheme to recycle medical equipment, we are now also starting to look at this possibility in Europe. In the UK, about 20 hospitals are associated with a scheme for collection and recycling of oxygen masks and other medical devices. Other pilot projects are in the works in Germany and other parts of Europe.

We need to explore the possibilities for how the PVC industry can support these recycling efforts with know-how and funding, and we are of course interested to hear from hospitals out there that want to participate in the circular economy.

NOT THE WAY FORWARD Avoiding plastics is not the way forward. Plastics have paved the way for significantly longer lives due to treatments that no one could have imagined before polymers got their breakthrough.

In addition, there are the many major medical achievements based on plastic equipment, which is a prerequisite for modern research and development.

But healthcare is of course not the only sector that is highly dependent on plastics.

Space exploration, green energy, sustainable transportation and climate solutions would be unthinkable without polymers. www.pvcmed.org

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TESTING AND INSPECTION | NEWS New optical noncontact extensometer launched by Tinius Olsen Tinius Olsen has launched a new optical non-contact extensometer the company says is unique in its ease-of-use for materials testing.

The new ‘Epsilon One’ performs high-accuracy, high-resolution, non-contacting axial strain and displacement measurement, using video to measure strain.

It is suitable for testing highmodulus materials such as metals and composites and higherelongation materials, thin or delicate specimens, cyclic fatigue, straincontrolled testing, deflectometer applications and measuring crack opening displacements.

The company says a unification of several optical technologies and signal processing algorithms ensure the extensometer provides good accuracy and resolution. Due to its ultra-high camera resolution, realtime data rates of up to 3000Hz, minimisation of optical error sources and signal processing techniques provide high strain resolution and accuracy with the lowest noise.

Tinius Olsen says Epsilon One’s high resolution and ISO 0,5 / ASTM B-1 accuracy classes make it suitable for non-contact

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measurement of a wide range of strain values, from very small strains required to measure modulus of metals, composites, ceramics and CMCs through elastomers.

“It is so straight forward to use, perfect for busy labs. Simply place the specimen in the testing machine, swipe your hand to break the light path to zero and start, that’s it.” said Martin Wheeler, Director of Sales and Business Development at Tinius Olsen.

Wheeler added that Epsilon One doesn’t have to be started and stopped for each specimen like most video extensometers and DIC systems, with a Laser-Assist Alignment System providing an instant alignment and distance spot check. This projects pre-aligned laser lines on the specimen before the test to reveal any misalignment.

“During the test, high precision tele-centric lenses eliminate errors due to out-of-plane movements on low strain materials and components,” he continued. “All these factors result in Epsilon One being equipped with the accuracy and fine resolution required to measure modulus, offset yield, stress-strain curves and strain at failure for all high-modulus materials.”

Where some applications involve specimens that straighten, or grips that are free to align under tensile

This projects pre-aligned laser lines on the specimen before the test to reveal any misalignment. loading, Epsilon One uses telecentric lenses that are insensitive to potential inaccuracies caused by these out-of-plane motions. With a tele-centric lens, the image of the test specimen seen by the camera’s sensor is the same size, even if the specimen moves closer to the optics package, or further away.

This gives the benefit of maintaining full strain measurement accuracy, even if the specimen or grips move out-of-plane during the test.

“One of the biggest barriers to widespread use of non-contact extensometers to overcome are too many steps when using them.

Epsilon One is always running and measuring strain or searching for marks using its Automatic Mark Detection. As soon as marks are detected, it is measuring strain in real time,” added Wheeler. www.tiniusolsen.com

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

Hanatek and Fleming PTC announce new MFR testing collaboration Hanatek Instruments and Fleming Polymer Testing & Consultancy have announced a new collaboration to broaden the use and appeal of melt mass flow rate (MFR) measurement.

The UK-based partnership sees the latest generation of Hanatek’s Melt Flow Indexer (MFI) available at Fleming PTC’s Kidderminster laboratory, where interested parties can test their samples and compare results to their current methodology.

Dr. Don Fleming of Fleming PTC explained that where MFR is a widely used parameter, which provides a fast and robust indication of a polymers’ viscosity, it can also be used to measure melt density. This is both useful in its own right, he added, as well as of great importance when simulating complex flow paths using CFD. “I use MFR as both a stand-alone measurement for customers, but more so for the measurement of melt density which is a really important value for flow simulation,”

Hanatek’s Melt Flow Indexer (MFI)

said. Dr Fleming. “I was drawn to the Hanatek instrument because it has addressed one of the major weaknesses I see in other manufacturers machines; principally the use of only one heater band to control temperature, which is not enough when testing over a wide range.”

Hanatek use a three-zone temperature control system and provides a temperature calibration verification routine, by which a user can check if the instrument is reading correctly. This is something which is usually only conducted annually during external calibration - by which time it may be too late to identify critical issues. The collaboration has also seen the rewriting of the instrument menus to enable ISO1133 ready output at the touch of a button together with the easier output to PC. “We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Fleming PTC and draw from the wealth of industry experience offered by Don Fleming,” added Hanatek’s Dawn Mendez. www.flemingptc.co.uk www.hanatekinstruments.com

Testing has proved the integrity of Trelleborg’s pipe seals (stock image)

Elastocon’s tests reveal 800-year performance lifetime of pipe seals A leading independent stress relaxation test has shown Trelleborg’s key pipe sealing compounds have a performance lifetime of over 800 years.

Elastocon AB, a global leader in testing stress relaxation in elastomers, found that Trelleborg’s elastomeric compounds remain within the acceptable 50 per cent relaxation threshold significantly longer than rival solutions – in some cases up to 700 years.

Trelleborg’s compounds recorded an estimated performance lifetime of between 789 and 928 years, and with an average estimated service lifetime of 841 years. This far outranks the mean lifetime of the four other systems tested, which was just 97 years.

Using ASTM and ISO methodology, Elastocon set up a testing programme involving a selection of eight sealing systems currently on the market, including Trelleborg’s compounds used for the F-601 Power-Lock for plastic sewage and portable water pipes,

and the F-165 integrated seal for concrete pipes.

The Elastocon testers exposed the elastomer in the seals to a series of elevated temperatures, which enabled them to deduce the effects of temperature on the stress relaxation level of the seals. As per the ISO guidelines, a maximum relaxation level of 50 per cent was then set, and testers were able to calculate the service life of each system, based on the number of years the elastic in the seal will take to reach the 50 per cent threshold.

Julian West, Product Manager for

Trelleborg’s Pipe Seal Operations, said: “A minimum estimated pipe lifetime of 120 years remains the industry norm. However, amid changing climates and increased scrutiny of water usage, the current rate of replacement will require pipeline systems to last in excess of 800 years in some countries.

Choosing seals manufactured from high performance compounds designed to last 500 years or more may well become a necessity for network owners in years to come.” www.elastocon.se

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

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thplastics Complete ancillary solutions

WWW.MOTAN-COLORTRONIC.CO.UK

MATERIALS HANDLING | NEWS Wittmann Group invests further in plant and equipment The Wittmann Group has started 2019 with a focus on expanding its range of materials handling equipment in order to increase the scope and capabilities of the products it offers.

The company says its investment in its production plant in Wolkersdorf, Lower Austria, allows it to simulate real-world conditions and is enabling it to develop and grow its core ranges, as well as offer bespoke systems for various markets.

“Our key product lines – Gravimax, Feedmax, Drymax and Aton – are still improving and developing with every year,” explained Barry Hill, Managing Director of Wittmann Battenfeld UK. “Our bespoke climate chamber facility at Wolkersdorf ensures that our dry air dryers, for example, are exposed to extreme conditions and, therefore, guarantee the Wittmann name and reliability worldwide.”

Rutland Plastics selects UPM Conveyors for unattended production Rutland Plastics has chosen UPM Conveyors to install and commission the use of eight belt

The conveyor is used for QC control

The Aton Plus dryer The climate chamber offers a room completely insulated from the outside world and is equipped with a modern air conditioning system, which is able to simulate an extremely wide range of ambient climatic conditions. The dimensions of the chamber are laid out to accommodate not only mobile and battery dryers for test purposes, but also entire drying systems.

This makes it possible to specify at an early stage the necessary adaptations to specific requirements on various local markets.

The Wolkersdorf facility was used for the development of one of Wittmann’s latest dryers – the Aton Plus. Launched in October 2018, the segmented wheel dryer comes in a new design and is equipped with a new user interface. It is expected that the Wittmann Group will launch new products from its expanded range at K 2019. www.wittmann-group.com

conveyors to allow automatic product divert for a series of operations.

Used on a KraussMaffei KM150 injection moulding machine, the conveyors enables quality control inspection, ferrous and non-ferrous metal detection, product cooling, parts separation, and box filling with a capacity of eight full.

Product divert is achieved by a small reversing conveyor located onto a swan neck conveyor in the well, and at any time an operator can reverse and transfer a shot to a sample drawer for quality control inspection.

Metal detection is based on a search coil under the inclined section of the swan neck, and on detecting a foreign body will stop the conveyor along with an alarm, so an operator can check and remove the foreign body.

The product cooling is necessary to avoid any defamation to the

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

mouldings being produced, and UPM fitted a cooling tunnel with high flow air fans to reduce the temperature from 80 °C to 20°C. Parts separation occurs via a roller drum with central adjustment for the gap to allow ease of changing.

The sprues exit onto another swan neck for transfer to a granulator and mouldings discharge to a third swan neck for conveying to the box filling station.

The UPM box filling station is a two-tier construction and was designed to accommodate eight full boxes, eight empty boxes, and one filling, with the one filling box located on a scale to count by weight.

The central control is a PLC controlling all aspects of the system interfacing with the variable speed drives on each conveyor and connected to the weigh scale. www.upmconveyors.co.uk

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WWW.MOTAN-COLORTRONIC.CO.UK

Moretto launches new multi-platform website

The new Moretto website

Moretto has launched a new website it says is designed to help it connect with the world’s top players in the plastics industry.

The website has been relaunched with consideration of the global nature and specialisation of its customers and is designed to reflect company values.

The website also has a new graphic layout with an easy to navigate interface, allowing the user to easily explore the wide range of products and services, and to stay informed about the company’s activities.

From the homepage, the user can select the field of application and directly access Moretto products. The website can be visited on computers, tablets and smartphones, which are all aligned in style and content. www.moretto.com

Conveyor moves Desch Plantpak closer to ‘lights out’ operation

Desch Plantpak has collaborated with Virginio Nastri for the new conveyor system

Labotek installs new transport system for Danfoss plastic factory Labotek has collaborated with Danish manufacturer, Danfoss, to provide a turnkey contract for a new automated conveyor system.

Three new outdoor silos were erected in under 24 hours and will function as an external warehouse for the plastic factory’s raw materials.

Each silo is 12 metres high and contains around 40 tonnes of raw materials – two of which require drying before production and one that does not.

Zoran Hristovski, Key Account Manager for Labotek, said: “We have collaborated with Danfoss for a number of years, and we were therefore pleased to have the project of designing and installing the new conveying system, which is a 70-metre-long piped vacuumdriven conveying unit installed between the silos and the plastic production.”

In addition to the new silos giving the plastic factory more capacity, they have also replaced 28 smaller silos that took up unnecessary space inside the factory.

Tonny Andresen, Value Stream Manager for Danfoss, said: “Since we had to move our injection moulding machines and piping system, it was obvious to activate the production flow in the factory

An Essex-based thermoformer and moulder says it is able to achieve virtually a full shift in a ‘lights out’ environment thanks to the installation of a new conveyor system.

Desch Plantpak announced that its most recent collaboration with Italian producer of conveyor belts and sprue separators, Virginio Nastri, has resulted in the design of a new, multi-layer product handling storage conveyor for the plant pots and trays it manufactures at its factory in Maldon.

The critical part of the design is the lift/ stack conveyor being able to handle several different diameter and height plant pots, then successfully transferring them to the double deck holding

Labotek has collaborated with Danfoss to provide a turnkey contract for a new automated conveyor system

at the same time, together with the connection of the three new silos that will function as our external stock of raw materials.”

He continued: “We now avoid the need to dispose of large quantities of cardboard packaging that the packaging material previously was supplied with, meaning the new setup with the three outdoor silos also benefits the environment. Now 30 vacuum lines are connected to the supply manifold located in the raw material store, which automates the distribution of plastic to the 29 moulding machines we have at the factory.” www.labotek.com

conveyors. The products are placed on the lift conveyor by the robot, then indexed to cater for several cycles, before transferring the products (which are again indexed on holding conveyors for maximum storage.) The system is fully guarded and interlocked both to the robot and the machine.

Due to the success of the conveyor system, Desch Plantpak is now considering upgrading some of its older systems to the new version during 2019. The systems are supplied by Renmar, Virginio Nastri’s UK distributor. www.virginionastri.com www.renmar.co.uk

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33

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34

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

RUBBER | NEWS The new rubber is aimed at safety critical sealing applications including gaskets and mouldings

MacLellan Rubber targets food safety with new material MacLellan Rubber has released its latest product aimed at improving both safety and mechanical performance.

New MacNetic, a Blue Metal Detectable Nitrile Rubber, is a food safe, premium grade material containing particles that can be detected by electromagnetic sensors and magnetic detectors, reducing the risk of contamination into the production process.

The new rubber is aimed at safety critical sealing applications including gaskets and mouldings (tri-clamp seals, hatch seals, O-rings and bellows) used in the food, pharmaceutical and biomedical sectors.

Manufactured in Europe and available as cured sheet rubber for gasket cutters and uncured compound for moulders and extruders, the material is independently certified to EU1935:2004. It is Nitrosamine-free

Lanxess concludes sale of Arlanxeo to Saudi Aramco Lanxess has completed the sale of its remaining 50 percent interest in the rubber company Arlanxeo to Saudi Aramco.

All relevant antitrust authorities granted the necessary approvals for the transaction, originally announced in August 2018. Upon completion of the transaction, the remaining stake of the specialty chemicals company in Arlanxeo

and contains no Animal Derived Ingredients (ADI), meaning it meets quality standards for use within the food, drinks, pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics industries.

MacLellan says the material advances the elimination of contamination by the polymer into the process through the early detection of particle contamination and also through eradication of leachable Nitrosamine carcinogenic compounds found in many standard polymers.

Simon Winfield, Director at MacLellan Rubber, said: “Working closely with our European manufacturing partner, we’ve invested in R&D and testing to ensure that this product delivers against its technical specification.

We’re very excited by our new Blue Metal Detectable Nitrile which offers exceptional mechanical performance and competitive value compared to Silicone Metal Detectable compounds.” www.maclellanrubber. com

Scopic launches detectable solutions for silicone and rubber South Wales-based Scopic has launched a new range of detectable masterbatches for silicone and rubber which embed metal and x-ray detectable properties in products in the food processing industry.

The masterbatches have been proven to seamlessly combine with a wide range of existing base materials, including NBR, SBR, natural rubber, and silicone, and standard mixing techniques can be used to efficiently generate metal and x-ray detectable rubber or silicone ready for subsequent processing.

Scopic says the addition of these custom masterbatches allows the flexibility of continued use of existing materials and eliminates the need to externally source and stock specific detectable compound sheeting. Detectable masterbatches can also be offered with antimicrobial properties through the use of SteriTouch technology.

Products using this combined masterbatch in hygiene-sensitive environments will benefit from x-ray and metal detectability as well as permanent antibacterial protection, and Scopic says this solution is ideal in use with modular conveyor belting and equipment for the food processing industry. www.scopic.com

was transferred to the former joint venture partner Saudi Aramco.

Lanxess has received proceeds of approximately €1.4 billion (approximately £1.3 billion).

The company says the transfer of the business with synthetic rubber into the joint venture Arlanxeo was the foundation for Lanxess’ strategic realignment. Since then Lanxess has been focusing on growth in speciality chemicals markets and made various acquisitions in this area.

Scopic has launched a new range of detectable masterbatches for silicone and rubber

www.lanxess.com

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35

ANCILLARY SPECIALISTS GRANULATION AT ITS BEST

SIZE REDUCTION AT ITS BEST

Renmar Plastics Machinery are the UK distributor of Italian manufactured plastic granulators from Engin Plast.

Teaming up with Italian plastic material shredder manufacturer ISVE, Renmar Plastics Machinery provide single, twin and four shaft plastic shredders as well as the unique combi-series.

Engin Plast granulators are manufactured to a high standard in Italy and have impressive standard features such as compressed air self-clean cutting chamber and a quick-change knife system.

Renmar have an industrial shredder model available for virtually any application.

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Working with a small number of carefully selected international manufacturers with quality products, we have an impressive range of ancillary equipment and machinery suitable for many different industries such as plastics, print, packaging, medical, automotive and food.

Discover how our market leading solutions can improve your process +44 (0) 844 6933225

info@renmar.co.uk

www.renmar.co.uk

COMMENT

Moulding with the times:

Embracing change for global growth

TO GET TO ITS POSITION AS A GLOBAL ORGANISATION INJECTIONMOULDING RUBBER, PLASTIC AND TPE COMPONENTS, THE FIBRAX GROUP HAS IMPLEMENTED NEW STRATEGIES IN RESPONSE TO ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY SINCE ITS CONCEPTION OVER A CENTURY AGO. IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE, JOHN O’BRIEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EXPLAINS WHY EMBRACING CHANGE IS CRUCIAL TO ITS GROWTH, BOTH PAST AND FUTURE.

About the Author: John O’Brien joined his family’s business in 1992 as a plastics and rubber specialist.

In 2004, he was appointed managing director of the Fibrax Group.

Way back in 1907, when our founder, William Petrie, wrote to the King requesting a patent for his cycle brake blocks, moulding was at the heart of his design. He moulded various materials, including cloth and cork, into natural rubber to achieve greater braking resistance.

Whilst material selection remains central to the performance of our components, moulding technologies have advanced considerably. By embracing these new techniques, Fibrax has been able to expand its product range and enter new markets, predominantly the automotive industry. You might be wondering how we made this leap. Essentially, it was the emergence of new moulding methods that drove our vision for growth in this sector.

set about building a global infrastructure, which includes our new facility in Morocco, and this will allow us to serve the buoyant automotive supply chain in Africa and Asia.

We now offer a wide variety of products, ranging from 1g to 250g parts and single cavity to 128 cavity moulds. This demonstrates the variation required in both material selection and processing technology. We work closely with our suppliers to develop highly customised compounds that meet both the requirements of the product and our customer’s processing needs. A large bulkhead grommet, for example, will have completely different physical characteristics and processing methods than a complex door grommet or, indeed, a simple blanking grommet.

INTRODUCING NEW MATERIALS Until the late 1980s, Fibrax continued manufacturing brake pads using similar methods employed by Petrie. The company we operate today emerged when we started injection moulding them with newly developed grades of materials suitable for aluminium wheels. In doing so, we were able to transfer our operating practices to accommodate the manufacture of components required by other sectors. We were soon manufacturing automotive parts with volumes ranging from 1000 to 10 million components per annum.

Since the 1990s, and to the present day, we have continued to invest in our manufacturing facility in Wrexham, North Wales. We now operate 28 injection moulding machines, ranging from 50T to 600T clamp force. The variety of machines available enables us to mould both thermosetting rubber materials and thermoplastics; we have structured our production facility to accommodate the different processing principles in parallel to ensure we operate as efficiently as possible within a fast-paced sector.

CONSTANT EVOLUTION The constant evolution of technology requires us to continually innovate. New electric and hybrid vehicles and ever-increasing performance standards, such as the reduction of body weight, are just some of the recent advancements within the automotive industry. We have responded to such demands by developing materials that perform at higher temperatures and unique bonding grades.

Multi-component assemblies and stringent delivery timescales have encouraged us to adopt lean Six Sigma principles. This has enabled us to maintain quality standards whilst improving efficiencies and decreasing waste. As well as supporting a number of employees to gain their Black Belts, we regularly train and upskill our workforce across all disciplines and divisions to ensure we all work towards the same goals and continuously improve our service offering in a consistent and cohesive manner.

Our ability to respond to new trends, invest in new technologies and support the development and advancement of our people has enabled us to operate at the forefront of our industry and expand our global reach. Across our three manufacturing sites in the UK, Poland and Morocco, we employ over 400 employees and our exports are growing year-on-year. Despite the uncertainty of Brexit, we are committed to achieving an ambitious growth strategy whilst fully supporting the needs of our global client base.

DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGNS The majority of our precision mouldings, whether we are processing rubber, plastic or TPE, involve the conceptualisation and development of designs, where attention to both the chemical and physical processes are key to optimising form and functionality. We continually invest in our people and have attracted a team of multilingual, heavyweight product designers who can quickly understand, support and overcome any challenges our customers may be facing.

Being able to respond quickly to requests in a variety of languages is certainly a benefit for processors operating globally nowadays. This investment has not only enabled us to form good relationships with many of the UK’s automotive manufacturers but has also extended our reach into other locations worldwide. We have now

www.fibrax.com

CHANGE WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

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WWW.ULTRAPOLYMERS.COM | YOUR PARTNER FROM DESIGN TO PRODUCTION

MATERIALS | NEWS Biesterfeld has acquired distribution rights for Solvay’s sulfone polymers in the UK and Ireland.

Biesterfeld to distribute Solvay’s sulfone polymers in UK and Ireland Biesterfeld has acquired distribution rights for Solvay’s sulfone polymers in the UK and Ireland.

The new partnership, commencing April 2019, will see the distributor handle sales of Udel PSU, Radel PPSU and Veradel PESU to the market.

Benefits to processors of the tough high-strength, transparent plastic Udel PSU (polysulfone) include higher heat resistance and better hydrolytic stability than polycarbonate (PC). For this reason, it is often used in medical devices that require durability, impact strength and transparency.

PSU can also be used in fittings, valves and other components in pressurised hot water systems, as it retains its strong mechanical properties when exposed to steam and other sterilisation techniques.

Radel PPSU is also well-suited for components in pressurised hot water systems and medical devices that undergo repeated steam sterilisation. In addition to exceptional impact strength, it offers higher chemical resistance than PSU and polyetherimide (PEI), and it can be steam sterilised over 1000 cycles without significant loss of properties.

Veradel PESU (polyethersulfone) is especially suitable for food service applications and electronic components, such as vehicle lighting and testing devices, due to its flame-retardant properties.

This product has good chemical resistance, high rigidity and excellent heat resistance.

“Biesterfeld has been selling our sulfone polymers in many areas of Europe since 1998. We’re delighted to have this opportunity to accelerate the success of our brand with Biesterfeld in the UK and Ireland,” states Andreas Savvides, Channel Partners Manager at Solvay Speciality Polymers.

“Biesterfeld is an experienced and established partner with the expertise to place our products ideally on the market.”

In addition to sulfone polymers, Biesterfeld also offers the polyphenylene sulfide Ryton PPS from Solvay in the UK and Ireland.

“This product offers exceptional dimensional stability for precisionmoulded parts that need long-term resistance to temperatures up to 200°C and short-term resistance to temperatures up to 260°C,” explained Richard Kirby, Regional Product Manager, Biesterfeld

Petroplas Ltd. “As a further benefit, Ryton PPS compounds meet the requirements of UL94 V-0 without flame-retardant additives and are resistant to a wide variety of solvents.” www.biesterfeld-plastic.com

Brenntag UK and Ireland to distribute 3M Glass Bubbles and Boron Nitride fillers Chemicals distributor, Brenntag, is now the exclusive distributor Glass Bubbles and Boron Nitride fillers from 3M throughout the UK and Ireland.

The relationship, which became exclusive from the 1st February, covers the supply of packed product.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our polymer and rubber customer-base a range of marketleading specialty products that confer important performance benefits,” said Maura Jolliffe, Commercial Director Material Science and Specialty Chemicals, Brenntag UK and Ireland. “Brenntag will deploy its technical specialists to support the product improvement and development activities of compounders, injection moulders and extruders servicing diverse end

industries such as the automotive and electronic sectors.”

Sean Appleton, General Manager Sales and Marketing, 3M, commented: “We are delighted to have formed a partnership with Brenntag UK Ltd to represent 3M’s Advanced Materials portfolio within the UK Plastics and Rubber sector.

Our range of innovative materials, combined with Brenntag’s depth of experience and industry knowledge, will provide end-users with a compelling proposition which will help them to overcome a number of industry challenges such as light weighting, thermal dispersion and production efficiency.” www.brenntag.com www.3m.co.uk

Brenntag is now the distributor of Glass Bubbles and Boron Nitride f illers from 3M in the UK and Ireland WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

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WWW.ULTRAPOLYMERS.COM | YOUR PARTNER FROM DESIGN TO PRODUCTION

IN THE AGE OF ONLINE SHOPPING, THE FOUNDERS OF GARÇON WINES SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO TURN THE TRADITIONAL ‘BUY, SHIP, SIGN FOR’ METHOD OF WINE DELIVERY ON ITS HEAD. THE FIRM USED RECYCLED PET TO REINVENT ONE OF THE OLDEST ARTEFACTS IN HISTORY – THE BOTTLE – TO PRODUCE A FLAT VERSION THAT IS DURABLE, SUSTAINABLE – AND CRUCIALLY – FITS THROUGH THE LETTERBOX.

WORDS | TOM WALKER

Naked Ambition: How a new collaboration could take PET wine bottles into the mainstream

G

arçon Wines was an idea borne after one of the company’s founders felt frustrated after missing home deliveries when he joined an online wine club. Inspired by the potential offered by ‘letterbox’ deliveries, the notion of a flat, post-able bottle was born; all made possible by plastic.

Fast forward to 2019 and the fledgling start-up is now a multi-award-winning UK manufacturer on the cusp of getting its plastic bottles into the mainstream, not least thanks to its latest partnership major online retailer, Naked Wines.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE So, what should we know about the plastic bottle making this unique way of delivering wine possible? The bottle, made from 100 per cent food safe post-consumer recycled PET, is designed as a cross section of a standard round wine bottle, meaning it is able to be posted through a letterbox.

The bottle is attempting to drag packaging in the wine industry into the 21st century, whilst still keeping the heritage of the classic Bordeaux and Burgundy wine bottle shapes.

TACKLING TRADITION The wine industry is fiercely traditional and conservative, with the only major packaging change in 200 years being the introduction of “bag in box” wine, but Garçon Wines co-founder and CEO, Santiago Navarro, says this solution has two major flaws.

Santiago Navarro with a box of Garçon wine “Whilst it’s highly functional, it’s without the emotional and the experiential, and that’s the point - our bottles are innovation that respects tradition and looks beautiful,” he explained. “If you don’t respect the heritage and tradition of wine you won’t get adopted by the wine industry, and if you don’t look beautiful on the dining table you won’t get adopted by consumers, so whilst bag-in-box has been a successful packaging format, it hasn’t replaced the glass, round bottle because it doesn’t have the emotional value.”

t ET f la The P s it in bottle x ble bo a t s o p

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The bottle design is intended to respect the wine and tradition WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

WWW.ULTRAPOLYMERS.COM | YOUR PARTNER FROM DESIGN TO PRODUCTION

“Naked Wines has been the most successful wine club in the UK for a decade and is arguably a benchmark for success in wine clubs across the world, so partnering with them so early in our life, and trusting the bottle to trial it for customer acquisition, opens up a door to have a communication to bigger scale projects,” he explained.

A SUSTAINABLE SWAP The recycled PET flat bottles are significantly more spatially efficient than their traditional, round counterparts, and the fact that they are 87 per cent lighter means that they can have a positive knock-on effect right through the supply chain.

The Garçon design doubles cube pallet efficiency, meaning it massively reduces carbon emissions while also saving companies money on logistics. These environmental benefits can come full circle to help the winemakers themselves, as Navarro explained.

“Sometimes the wine industry is perceived as slow and reluctant to change, but when environmental changes mean vineyards cannot remain where they are, and the land is no longer suitable for producing grapes, then they are forced to change,” he continued.

“If you take somewhere like California, that’s rapidly becoming a desert, if Californian winemakers want to hand their vineyards down to the next-generation, which is commonplace in wine, they have to listen to the IPCC, and make deep, immediate changes to what they’re doing.

“More and more wineries are becoming carbonneutral and carbon-zero, so from a sustainability perspective a bottle that can benefit the entire supply-chain, as well as the winemakers themselves, can save companies a lot of money.”

MOVING INTO THE MAINSTREAM The partnership with Naked Wines is one that has the potential to quite literally deliver the Garçon Wines bottles into the view of a wider audience.

To date Garçon has focused on single-bottle sending, mainly in the UK gifting sector, but the collaboration gives Garçon the chance to introduce the bottle to over 200,000 regular wine drinkers, which Navarro sees as an exciting opportunity.

“We’re in conversations with wineries across the globe that are producing over 500 million bottles a year, so collaborating with one of those very large players could really move the needle.”

More and more wineries are becoming carbon-neutral and carbonzero, so from a sustainability perspective a bottle that can benefit the entire supplychain, as well as the winemakers themselves, can save companies a lot of money.”

The reach isn’t just restricted to the powerhouses of the winemaking community, as smaller producers have been earmarked as a beneficiary should the Garçon bottle become the norm.

“The wine industry produces 33 to 35 billion bottles a year, and is very fragmented which is interesting for us, as we are able to help some of the smaller players go global, as they can more effectively ship wine at long distance in a smaller pack,” Navarro added.

DESTINED TO DISPLACE TRADITION? With regards to the market as a whole, Navarro is optimistic that the bottle has what it takes to displace the round, glass equivalent.

“I believe it’s possible to not fully replace it but replace it to the extent that screw-cap has replaced natural corks. My vision of wine in a decade will be that you will only have a very small percentage of high-value fine wine that will be bottled in glass bottles with a natural cork closure, and I believe the rest will be bottled in a flat or improved shape that in some way retains the heritage and tradition, made from a variety of different sustainable materials.”

He added: “It’s taken screw-cap 50 years to become the dominant closure, I believe we will be considerably quicker than that. It will take us ten, maybe twenty years to become the majority bottle, but I’m confident that we can do it.

“We’ve gone to extreme lengths to respect tradition, we’ve gone to extreme lengths to look beautiful on the dining table, it works phenomenally well, and doesn’t create any waste, so there’s no good reason, there’s no logical argument to why our bottles cannot replace the majority of round, glass bottles.” www.garconwines.com

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41

MAGNETIC rubber mould clamping 0 24 o t

°C

d nte e t Pa Hilma M-TECS 240 high temperature system Process rubber at up to 240°C Push-button clamping in one second Plate thickness just 5.5 cm EN 201 / EN 289 / Industry 4.0 Find out more at www.roemheld.co.uk or call 01462 459052 Roemheld workholding. Driving Innovation through Manufacturing

Two great names under one roof

Small footprint 1 and 2-zone Hot Runner Controllers The All New HRCM512 2-zone controller • Small footprint fully featured 2-zone controller • 2 independent control zones • Includes all the features you need • Includes 2 connector plugs

Just £295

HRCM15 1-zone • Full feature 15A hot runner controller • Industry standard features without the cost • Includes connector plug

Just £195 Large stocks of Ancillaries available for next day delivery Call our sales team on 01536 403886 / 206653 to discuss your requirements

IN HIS COLUMN THIS MONTH, OUR RESIDENT MATERIALS EXPERT, MIKE BOSWELL, EXPLAINS THE BACKGROUND TO THE TERM ‘GENERIC PRIME’ AND OUTLINES WHY THE LATEST CONSIGNMENT OF THE GRADES COULD BE GOOD NEWS FOR UK CONVERTERS.

What is ‘generic prime’ and how might it affect the UK polyolefins market?

‘Generic Prime (Polymer)’ is an expression used widely in the North American market and, as the terminology suggests, these are polymer grades which, due to their characteristics have become typical for certain applications. Some representative examples of what is typically referred to as ‘Generic Prime’ include: Film Extrusion

LDPE MFR 2 with additives

Film Extrusion

LDPE MFR 0.7 or 1.0 with or without additives

Film Extrusion

LDPE MFR 0.3 without additives

Film Extrusion

LLDPE C4 MFR 1 with or without additives

Film Extrusion

LLDPE C6 MFR 1 with or without additives

Blow Moulding

HDPE ‘5502’

Injection Moulding HDPE MFR 4 Density 0.960 with UV Stabiliser Injection Moulding HDPE MFR 7Desity 0.964 with or without UV Stabiliser

The prevalence of Generic Prime in the US is – to a significant extent – a result of the differences in logistics between the USA and parts of South America and the rest of the world, including Europe and the UK.

Who is ‘Polymerman’?

Mike Boswell is Managing Director of UK materials distributor, Plastribution, as well as the Chairman of the British Plastic Federation’s Polymer Compounders and Distributors Group and its ‘BREXIT Committee’.

‘Polymerman’ is the title used for announcements made via his Twitter account. This column is compiled using data from PIE (Plastics Information Europe) www.plastribution. co.uk | www.pieweb.com

In the US, PVC, PET and polyolefin producers typically load their output directly into (Bulk) rail cars rather than either directly bagging in 25kg bags or delivering in bulk via road tankers. These rail cars typically hold about 90 tonnes of polymer and are delivered directly to the railroad sidings at the plants of US plastic converters and then hooked-up to the material handling systems until the rail car is empty, at which point it is returned to the producer and a replacement hooked-up.

Whilst the rail cars may typically bear a serial number from which the producer’s identity can be discovered, the relative anonymity and mobility of product leads to the situation where producers can move cargoes through merchants and traders as generic prime, which typically means that the material is sold on the basis that it is – for example - a ‘Film Extrusion – LDPE MFR 2 With Additives’ and as a converter you don’t know exactly which producer’s material will turn up.

As the additional ‘shale gas’ capacities come on stream in the US there are increasing volumes of Generic Prime on the market and increasingly this is finding its way into export markets, including the UK. Albeit, the exporter faces the challenge of converting the 90-tonne hopper car into 25kg bags on

The prevalence of Generic Prime in the US is – to a significant extent – a result of the differences in logistics between the USA and parts of South America and the rest of the world, including Europe and the UK.

pallets loaded into 40’ containers for export shipment. Typically, the products are packed under a private label such as the CIPLAS brand shown in this picture, which was part of a consignment of generic prime which has recently arrived in the UK. With more capacity coming on stream in the US during the course of 2019 it likely that we are going to see more generic prime arriving here in the UK, which will give converters greater choice and more competitive alternatives.

WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

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www.kraussmaffei.com

|

celebrating 180 years

SYSTEMS & SOFTWARE | NEWS Moulder integrates Siemens PLM software for quicker and more accurate quotes Plastics injection moulder, Essentra Components, has installed PLM software from Siemens in order to reduce quote preparation time.

By using Siemens’ Teamcentre system for product cost management, Essentra has seen time to prepare quotes reduced by 80 per cent and up to 10 per cent cost savings.

The Teamcentre system enables the use of customer-supplied 3D computer-aided design (CAD) data to calculate component and tool costs, as well as a connection to the existing business planning and control system (BPCS). An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system facilitates the automatic import and update of master data and the bill-of-materials (BOM) can be loaded from the BPCS. The calculations in Teamcentre are based on a various benchmark data, such as global labour costs, materials, machinery and manufacturing processes, as well as an integrated cycle time calculator that leads to improved cost transparency in the early stages.

Plastics injection moulder, Essentra Components, has installed PLM software from Siemens in order to reduce quote preparation time.

Using Teamcentre, all stakeholders make calculations based on the same method, standards and data that are defined across the organisation.

The use of a bottom-up cost approach allows for an accurate cost comparison between Essentra’s global sites.

“Quote generation is done today within one hour, as opposed to five hours before we had Teamcentre product cost management, so we save 80 percent of our time,” said Derek Bean, Manager of Divisional Engineering Solutions dor Essentra Components.

“Today we have the ability to provide a detailed view of component costs within 24 hours and tools within 72 hours.”

The company trialled the software initially at its UK site, but says to further increase the benefit for the entire company, a global rollout of Teamcenter product cost management is planned for locations in Australia, the United States, Brazil, China, Malaysia and Turkey. www.siemens.com/plm

KraussMaffei advances teaching in injection moulding with latest process control software

Representatives from KraussMaffei and the University of Duisburg-Essen with the PX 120-380 machine

44

KraussMaffei has provided the Institute of Product Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen with its new PX 120-380 injection moulding machine to help develop new systems and applications.

The all-electric machine has placed a focus of development on autonomous process control, condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance.

The PX 120-380 is part of a fully automated production cell along with linear robot and conveyor, making it possible to run processes in a way that resembles those in the real-life industry closer than ever.

Prof. Dr. Reingard Schiffers.

Chair of the Department of

Engineering Design and Plastics Machinery at the University of Duisburg-Essen, said: “The production cell measures up to the state-of-the-art technology in every respect and enables us to merge research and practical applications in digitalisation, not least thanks to the cell’s complete digital equipment.”

The overall digital package for the PX 120 includes DataXplorer from KraussMaffei, an analysis tool that gives a close to microscopic view of the process, making it possible to react to unclear fault patterns. www.kraussmaffei.com

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www.kraussmaffei.com

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celebrating 180 years

CASE STUDY New collaboration on Industry 4.0 digital control systems

for retrofitting to plastic injection moulding machines

W WHEN YPSOMED GROUP, AN INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, WANTED A PARTNER FOR A DEVELOPMENT PROJECT TO RETROFIT LEGACY PROTOCOL PLASTIC INJECTION MOULDING MACHINES WITH AN INTEGRATED INDUSTRY 4.0 DIGITAL CONTROL SYSTEM THAT IS ALSO LINKED WITH A FACTORY-WIDE MES/ERP SYSTEM, IT SELECTED TECHNOLOGY GROUP, HARTING. BP&R LOOKS AT THE PROJECT DETAILS.

Ypsomed’s Solothurn production facilities

Y

psomed, which specialises in the development and manufacture of injection and infusion systems for the selfinjection of liquid medicines, was looking for simple and minimal physical integration with an existing production line for a reasonably low level of investment, with longterm benefits including improved productivity, cost savings and extended machine lifetimes.

GETTING SMART FOR A SMALL INVESTMENT Where an important element of Industry 4.0 is the ability to apply digitisation to the production environment by adding more intelligence into existing processes, initially manufacturers have been wary of Industry 4.0, on the assumption that effective implementation would require major (and expensive) changes to production lines.

However, through a digital retrofit approach, Harting says it is possible to ‘smarten up’ existing processes for minimal cost over a short period of time, resulting in a fast return on investment and immediate productivity gains.

Digital retrofitting provides four different ways to improve production processes, increase cost savings and extend the lifetime of different types of machinery.

These are legacy machine protocol conversion; condition monitoring (including energy measurement); asset management and predictive maintenance.

LEGACY MACHINE PROTOCOL CONVERSION Central machine monitoring and process optimisation offer the best way to ensure that production lines and their associated constituent parts operate more effectively and economically. Many machines in wellestablished production lines, which may be between 15 and 30 years old, can still perform their main functional tasks successfully. However, they do so much less efficiently than their modern-day counterparts. For example, they do not have the same level of computing power, enough memory capacity to record and

store relevant data, or the ability to communicate with their modern equivalents. In many cases, these machines also use data formats and communications protocols from the 1980s and 1990s, which are no longer used by today’s PLCs and industrial PCs. A prime example of a production environment that accommodates mixed protocol legacy machines is a plastics injection moulding machine (PIMM) line. Such machines, when well maintained, can attain as much as a 30-year operational life.

However, some of the older software protocol operating languages (e.g.

EUROMAP 15) cannot be directly connected to a modern factory MES (Manufacturing Execution System) without expensive annual custom software licensing charges.

In many factories these machines still require individual programming by an operator, which can be very time-consuming in larger installations - potentially requiring input from multiple personnel.

Harting says a solution to these challenges is MICA (Modular Industrial Computing Architecture): an edge computing device in the form of a digitally retrofittable IP67 package with Linux-based opensource software. This modular software and hardware architectural design platform permits the user to choose the programming language and development environment they are most familiar with. MICA is rugged, compact and maintenancefree, and so is suitable for use in the

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harshest industrial environments.

For the plastic moulding manufacturing environment, Harting has developed the MICA EUROMAP 15 and MICA EUROMAP 63 Gateway variants, which convert the legacy EUROMAP 15/63 TCP/IP machine operating communications protocol into OPC UA, for example, via an intermediate JSON software format.

As an established Harting customer, Ypsomed says it saw the immediate potential benefits of applying this Industry 4.0 Digital retrofit approach in its manufacturing operation at its headquarters in Burgdorf, Switzerland. Ypsomed produces several hundred million products a year and meets the highest medical technology quality standards. Due to the high proportion of individual plastic components in its products, the company possesses a large number of plastic injection moulding machines in its production plants.

MAKING THE CHANGE In order to improve existing levels of plant productivity, Ypsomed chose to implement Industry 4.0 process improvements through digitisation at an early stage. In 2017, one of the first tasks was to make data from a legacy injection moulding machine available for analysis. The machine in question only offered the old EUROMAP 15 protocol, and consequently HARTING’s Edge Computer MICA was installed and programmed within two days as the protocol translator. Selected production data could then be collected and written to a database for offline analysis.

The next goal, says Harting, is to connect several different types of machines to the IT system at Ypsomed’s internal testing and validation centre and present critical operational data remotely at a centralised factory control station.

A new production plant in Schwerin is planned to start up operations in summer 2019, with automated control of production orders implemented by 2020. www.harting.com 45

Tel: +44 (0)1793 827666 Email: sales@transxl.co.uk Web: www.transxl.co.uk Granulation

Sheet Equipment

PLASTIC WELDING SOLUTIONS

500mm x 400mm Cumberland model 4050 B granulator

Thermoforming

INGENIOUSLY SIMPLE EXTRUSION WELDING

O

UR

T SA

C TI O N I S O ISFA UR

GO A L

PIPE/PROFILE

890mm wide Welex polishing stack with 3 x 300mm dia rolls

Y

FUSION 1

SHEET LINES

Compact and slimline:

THERMOFORMING

Thanks to integrated air guide

800mm x 580mm Inpak model TS800/3 thermoformer PELLETISING

Extruders

2000mm x 1200mm cutting bed Samco model 120 press Pelletising

Suspension device:

Effortlessly weld longer by suspending the device

Controlled:

Automatically controlled air temperature GRANULATORS

130mm Friul Filiere Twin screw parallel extruder for PVC

EXTRUDERS

l

ia Be Soc

18mm Betol pelletising line with 18mm single screw extruder

Pistol Grip Handle:

Can be mounted for onehanded welding

Rod shape

Reduced design for increased maneuverability in small spaces

0 Over 3o0view t s o e Vid

Double-sided wire intake LED Light

To illuminate the welding area

For more flexibility when welding

Tel: +44 (0)1707 331111 info@welwyntoolgroup.co.uk www.welwyntoolgroup.com

MORE MACHINERY, MORE PHOTOS ON THE WEB WWW.TRANSXL.CO.UK

BP&R SOFTWARE GUIDE To advertise your business in the software directory call Mandy O’Brien on 01244 952519 or email mandy.obrien@rapidnews.com REAL TIME PRODUCTION MONITORING, SCHEDULING AND PROCESS MONITORING PlantMaster BMS Vision Ltd T: 01254 662244, E: sales.bla@visionbms.com Website: www.visionbms.com/ plastics.

Affordable and flexible MES system for the plastics/rubber industry. Real-time production monitoring features wireless data units and OPC Ethernet machine connections. “Drag & drop” job scheduling supports frame/insert level family tooling plus KAN BAN. ERP system integration, SPC/ SQC, Touch Screen Data Units, Machine Maintenance, Operator Tracking, Traceability, DNC, Energy Monitoring, Bar Coding, Pager Alerts. Easy to use systems from a €600m company with over 30 years experience.

46

PROCESS OPTIMISATION SOFTWARE

intouch T: 01604 537100 E: enquiries@ intouchmonitoring.com Website: www.intouchmonitoring.com

RJG Technologies Ltd Moulding Technology T: +44 (0)1733 232211 E info@rjginc.co.uk

Real-time production monitoring systems. Designed to be easy to use and providing affordable solutions to all sizes of businesses.

Production monitoring, scheduling, reporting, data import/export, databases for parts, tools and operators, integration with other software packages.

Zero Defect Moulding – What’s your target?

• Cycle time reduction • Reduced scrap rates • Improved process capability • Higher yield and OEE PRO-OP™ software provides a step-by-step procedure for optimising the injection moulding process to deliver optimum quality products at the most favourable cycle time.

PRO-OP™ is a server based application which, by setting an optimum moulding process, highlights weaknesses and problems in relation to part design, mould design, mould construction,

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moulding equipment efficiency, moulding equipment specification and material selection.

The moulding process is documented with explanations for each key process parameter setting demonstrating the processing conditions and equipment contributions to the final result.

PRO-OP™ is aimed at companies whose focus is quality and consistent part manufacture.

PRO-OP™ supports companies by providing a documented and structured validation protocol which is recognised in the in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors.

BP&R BUYER’S GUIDE MATERIALS MASTERBATCH

ASSEMBLY

Eclipse Buyers Guide_Layout 1 07

colour masterbatch

hot plate welding

black masterbatch

Units 3E + 3F, Hillam Road Industrial Estate, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 1QN T: 01274 731552 F: 01274 738118 E: sales@eclipsecolours.com W: www.eclipsecolours.com

InControl Ultrasonics Ltd (FFR Ultrasonics Ltd)

PO Box 10380, Sileby, LE12 7ZX T: 01509 621992 E: enquiries@ffr-ultrasonics. co.uk W: www.ffr-ultrasonics.co.uk W: www.incontrolultrasonics.co.uk

Polymer Specific and Universal Colour and Additive Masterbatches. Fastmatch colour matching service.

1 mm Easysperse MicroPellets to 4 mm MaxiPellets.

Standards second to none.

cleaning materials

158 Edinburgh Avenue, Slough, Berkshire SL1 4UE T: 01753 756675 F: 01753 551270 E: bucuk.sales@emerson.com W: www.bransoneurope.eu

ultrasonic welding

50mm high and 35mm

www.abbeymb.com Tel: +44 (0)161 308 2550 Email: aml@abbeymb.com

Branson Ultrasonics

Telsonic UK Ltd

Unit 3 Vitrage Technical Park 27 Witney Road , Nuffield Industrial Estate, Poole, Dorset BH17 0GL T: 01202 697340 F: 01202 693674 W: www.telsonic.com Blog: telsoniccuk.wordpress.com

MOULD RELEASE

vibration welding

Branson Ultrasonics

158 Edinburgh Avenue, Slough, Berkshire SL1 4UE T: 01753 756675 F: 01753 551270 E: bucuk.sales@emerson.com W: www.bransoneurope.eu

COMPOUNDS

Purging Compounds Release Agents Mould Maintenance

QUALITY PVC PELLETS FOR EXTRUSION

www.ChemTrend.com www.UltraPurge.com

vekacompounds.com +44(0)1322 387 219

CHILLERS/ TEMPERATURE CONTROLLERS

Motan Colortronic Ltd

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT ASSEMBLY

infrared welding

pulse staking

Make the WRIGHT choice UK Manufacturers est. over 60 years

Shredders Plastic separation Conveyors | Bailers Full recycling systems

01943 875104 sales@wrightsltd.co.uk

www.wrightsltd.co.uk

   

Infrared Welding Ultrasonic Welding Hot Plate Welding Heat Staking

JOINING

HIGH TECH AND HIGH PASSION.

Find your perfect joining method.

TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN: 01244 952519

www.frimo.com

CONTROL SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT quality monitoring control Kistler Instruments Ltd

T: 01256 741550 F: 01256 741551 E: sales.uk@kistler.com W: www.kistler.com Pressure transducers and associated monitoring/control equipment for new and existing injection moulding applications.

DRYERS

Motan Colortronic Ltd

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN:

DEHUMIDIFIERS Motan Colortronic Ltd

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

01244 952519

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN 01244 952519 TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN: 01244 952519 WWW.BRITISHPLASTICS.CO.UK

47

BP&R BUYER’S GUIDE HEATING EQUIPMENT

MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT DRYERS

HEATING EQUIPMENT

induction heating for platens and tools

HOT RUNNER SYSTEMS

MF Induction Heating

hot runner controllers

Unit 5, Martindale, Hawks Green, Cannock, Staffs, WS11 7XN Replacement Coils New platens T: 01543 570642 E: sales@mfinduction.com W: www.mfinduction.com

MATERIALS HANDLING AND STORAGE gravimetric/ volumetric blending

Motan Colortronic Ltd

MATERIALS HANDLING

INJECTION MOULDING

hopper loaders

METAL DETECTION

and dosing

imm projects

• • • •

Injection Moulding Rubber Compression Ancillary Equipment Machine Servicing Your Complete Solution Provider Tel: +44 (0)1978 421761 www.panstone.eu

MIXING, FEEDING AND DOSING Magnetics Separators Metal Detectors Eddy Current Separators

Servicing & Maintenance Commission/Decommission Robotics Projects Planning Servo Kit Installations Component Supply Training - Any Level Beston Sales

Bunting Magnetics Europe Ltd European Design & Manufacturing Facility

Northbridge Road Berkhamsted Hertfordshire HP4 1EH, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1442 875081 Email: sales@buntingeurope.com www.buntingeurope.com www.magneticseparation.co

14 Years’ Engel Experience

/magnetic_separation_and_metal_detection/

Contact: Carlton Hicks

info@immprojectsuk.com 07432 275730 www.immprojectsuk.com

• Screw design • New manufactured Screws, Barrels, Feed Sections & Liners • Proven wear resistant specifications for screws • Nitrided and Bimetallic barrels • Refurbishment and repairs • Condition monitoring and wear checks Contact us to find out how we can help you Magog Industries Ltd, 10 Crane Mead, Ware, Hertfordshire, SG12 9PY T: +44(0)1920 465201 E: enquiries@magog.co.uk

Screw & Barrel Manufacture Screw & Barrel Refurbishment Tie Bar Repair & Manufacture Screw Tip Assemblies Feed Liners, Plain & Grooved 100 Tonne Screw & Barrel Press Bimetallic Barrel Blanks up to 50 mm In Stock Please e-mail or phone Karl for more info.

E. info@tws-mail.co.uk T. 01706 655402 W. www.tws-ltd.com Technical Welding Services (Rochdale) Ltd

POLYMERS ALUMINIUM MATERIAL STORAGE BINS Off the shelf or made to order with very competitive pricing!

Standard sizes available: 80l, 200l, 420l, 830l.

Contact us today on 01827 265800 or visit www.summitsystems.co.uk Prices start from £428 10% reduction with offer code:

TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN: 01244 952519

BPR18 TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN: 01244 952519 48

METAL DETECTION AND SEPARATION EQUIPMENT

HOPPER LOADERS Engineers to the Plastics & Rubber industries, specialising in the following:

www.magog.co.uk

www.quick-mould-change.com

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

SCREWS & BARRELS

Design, Manufacture, and Refurbishment of Screws & Barrels for the Plastics and Rubber Industries.

Tel: 01952 671918 Fax: 01952 608579 Email: connectors.uk@staubli.com

Motan Colortronic Ltd

Motan Colortronic Ltd

TO ADVERTISE HERE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN ON 01244 952519 MOULD CHANGE

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

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Motan Colortronic Ltd

Matilda House, Carrwood Road, Chesterfield Trading Estate, Chesterfield S41 9QB T: 01246 260222 F: 01246 455420 E: sales@motan-colortronic.co.uk W: www.motan-colortronic.co.uk

SECONDHAND AND RECONDITIONED Cooper Plastics Machinery

8 Lyall Court, Flitwick, Bedfordshire MK45 1UX T: 01525 719850 E: Cooperplastics@gmail.com W: www.cooperplastics.co.uk Extruders, water baths, haul-offs, fly knife cutters, conveyors/tip tables, in-line punches, coilers etc.

New and used. Repairs, servicing or rebuilds.

UK agent for Lyons Electronics.

DTL Machinery UK

- We buy / sell all makes / age / sizes of Plastic Injection Moulding Machinery & Ancillaries equipment.

- We also buy redundant, nonrunners & faulty machinery.

- Machinery repair and maintenance services available.

T: 01925 596170 M: 07838138342 E: info@dtlmachinery.co.uk E: douglastrading@gmail.com

BP&R BUYER’S GUIDE SECONDHAND AND RECONDITIONED

MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT BUSINESS FOR SALE

Selling the Business?

Kingswood Business Sales are your industry experts with a proven track record of successfully selling companies like yours. Avoid the pitfalls - contact Paul Holohan in complete confidence on 07798 530684

Refurbished machines with fault and leak free guarantee.

We buy & sell all manner of plasscs equipment.

Visit our workshop in Wellingborough, Northants.

01933 272747

kingswoodbusinesssales.com

TransXL International Ltd

SECOND HAND & RE-CONDITIONED

sales@stvmachinery.co.uk www.stvmachinery.co.uk

Plastics Processing Machinery Bought & Sold, Thornhill, South Marston, Wiltshire SN3 4TA T: 01793 827666 F: 01793 823826 E: sales@transxl.co.uk W: www.transxl.co.uk

‘USED INJECTION MOULDING MACHINERY DEALERS’

FOR SALE

Manchester Plastics

info@plasticinvestments.co.uk

PVC / CABLE REGRIND / WASHED, SCREENED & DRIED / SUPPLIED IN ONE TONNE BULK BAGS @ £80.00 per tonne + VAT ex.works Available now from sales@macnchesterplastics.com Or call us on 01260 224010

www.plasticinvestments.co.uk

TESTING EQUIPMENT

Single Machines to whole plants purchased Tel: David 07540 633552

Gammadot Rheology Testing & Consultancy Services

THERMOCOUPLES

FOR SALE

TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN: 01244 952519

Ultrasonic Plastic Welders New & Used

For Sale &

Wanted

Unit 5C, Leaton Industrial Estate, Bomere Heath, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 3AP T: 01939 291677 E: enquiries@gammadot.com W: www.gammadot.com Providing independant testing solutions to all your quality control, failure analysis & flow simulation data needs

Branson - Mecasonic - Telsonic Sonotrodes (Horns) all Frequencies Fixtures, Repairs, Service, Parts Sub-Contract Welding, Hire & Consultancy

hardness - IRHD and shore

MAPRA Technik Co — BAREISS For Bareiss of Germany IRHD & SHORE hardness testers, Abrasion & Rebound testers.

T: 020 8508 4207 F: 020 8502 5107 E: info@mapra.co.uk W: www.mapra.co.uk

Tel; 01258 459257 Tel; 07730 413197

als.ultrasonics@gmail.com www.als-ultrasonics.co.uk

inspection & measurement

SERVICES

MAPRA Technik Co – DOSS MARCEL AUBERT – KAFER

TRAINING

TESTING/CONSULTANCY

3D Printing

TO ADVERTISE IN THis SPACE CONTACT MANDY O’BRIEN:

in Plastic & Rubber

01244 952519

Tel: 01420 88645 www.cdg.uk.com

CONSULTANCY

MOULDFLOW ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

For DOSS visual solution of Italy – Inspection & sorting machines for O’rings, Seals, Gaskets.

T: 020 8508 4207 F: 020 8502 5107 E: info@mapra.co.uk W: www.mapra.co.uk

PRINTERS

printers of plastic mouldings Total Print Ltd

Specialist Pad Printers Station Road, Gedney Hill, Lincolnshire PE12 0NP T: 01406 330122 F: 01406 330123 E: info@totalprintltd.com W: www.totalprintltd.com Sub-Contract Pad Printers to the Plastics Industry

COMPONENT PRINTERS

TAMPO.SCREEN.FOIL

CONSULTANCY TROUBLESHOOTING

Mould Tool Design CAD CAM software

MOLDFLOW ANALYSIS PRECISION PROTOTYPE PLASTIC PARTS TRAINING INJECTION MOULDING 3D LASER SCANNING

01743 213 007 sales@plastic-it.co.uk

plastic-it.co.uk

Tel: 01420 88645 www.cdg.uk.com

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NEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE

IN IN HIS EXCLUSIVE COLUMN THIS MONTH, PHILIP LAW, DIRECTORGENERAL OF THE BPF, REFLECTS ON THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED GOVERNMENT WASTE MANAGEMENT CONSULTATIONS AND OUTLINES THE SUGGESTIONS THE ASSOCIATION WILL BE MAKING IN ITS RESPONSES

T

he long-awaited Government consultations on different aspects of waste management – and which are largely focused on plastics – have now been published. They cover the mooted plastics tax, possible deposit return systems for containers, changes to the producer responsibility system and consistent household recycling. They amount to about 400 pages of text which will have to be mastered, carefully considered and responded to.

There was a serious attempt by the food and agricultural interests to have the publication delayed until after Brexit on the grounds that business is preoccupied by preparing for the possibility of a no deal departure from the EU. However, this Government, not renowned for listening sympathetically, ignored this, but did allow twelve weeks for responses to be formulated.

I’m a great believer in having a positive cast of mind and in searching for the opportunities while others are wring their hands. The BPF has been calling on Government to improve the UK’s recycling system for many years.

There have been countless meetings with Defra civil servants, appearances before Select Committees in both Houses of Parliament and visits to Ministers. Broadly these consultations represent a positive step in putting the key issues on the table. We are certainly a strong supporter of the Government’s aim to leave the environment in a better state for future generations.

Our responses will reflect several key points we have been hammering away at for years.

We really want to see greater standardisation in collections of used plastics across the myriad of Local Authorities to ensure that more plastics of a higher quality are collected for recycling.

It’s also got to be made easier for consumers to recycle and a key route through to this is ensuring that packaging used is designed to minimise waste and encourage recycling in the first place. BPF’s recent publication of ‘Recyclability by Design ‘with RECOUP reinforces this.

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We also want to see Local Authorities working more in partnership with each other to harmonise approaches, disseminate best practice and secure economies of scale. It is crucial that we build a domestic recycling infrastructure and culture in this country, which means that the export of used packaging materials should be controlled further.

We will also be pressing the unique sustainability properties and benefits of plastic packaging, not just its recyclability but also its role in mitigating the effects of climate change and in minimising food waste.

It’s well worth having a look at the eminently authoritative BP Energy Outlook for 2019.

Published just a couple of weeks ago, it sent out the warning shot that by eliminating single use plastics, the increased use of alternatives will push up both energy demand and carbon emissions. This was something I pointed out to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Education, both of whose Departments have been rolling out policies limiting the use of single use plastics in their office buildings.

Ironically, in the case of the Ministry for Justice, the policy went beyond proposed legislation and included a ban on the use of plastic water bottles and, indeed, in other respects too, it pre-judged the consultations.

With the very high risks at stake in Brexit, we will also be communicating the need for government to ensure that the costs to consumers and companies are restricted as much as possible. All we seek is a level playing field, not much to ask of a democratically elected government, in an advanced economy, operating a widely admired legal system in a country renowned for its sense of justice. The plastics industry must not be disadvantaged at this critical time, either in relation to other materials or competing industries overseas. It is a valuable national asset which the government must treat with the greatest respect. Let us sincerely hope that this Sèvres vase has not been placed into the hands of a chimpanzee. www.bpf.co.uk

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