This was the 8th annual Plastindia show and visitors were invited to roam 18 halls with more than 1 500 exhibitors from numerous market sectors including plastics resins and compounds, semi-finished and finished products, processing equipment, post-production machines, instruments and controls, speciality chemicals, additives and fillers, printing and decorating equipment, moulds and dies, to name but a few.
According to PlastIndia Foundation’s statistics, India’s plastics processing sector alone will grow from 69 000 machines to 150 000 machines by the year 2020.
The industry is a source of great potential for global businesses and there’s tremendous scope for innovative technological upgrades and innovations.
Brückner hails incredible India
As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India is pushing efforts to improve the supply of food and other consumer goods, which in turn are main drivers within the packaging industry.
‘Infinite opportunities’, this year’s PlastIndia slogan, was also the leading motto for the Brückner Group, presenting its innovative solutions for the plastic processing industry. The exhibition has established itself as an important fair for many subcontinent suppliers and Brückner was present with all four of its member companies – Brückner Maschinenbau, Brückner Servtec, Kiefel and PackSys Global.
Brückner Maschinenbau showcased its advanced BOPP and BOPET packaging film lines with superior features for the efficient and flexible production of a wide range of high-quality multilayer films. This included innovative technologies for ‘green films’ such as BOPLA and CPP – lines that provide high film quality at low production costs; setting new benchmarks in the industry.
Brückner Maschinenbau also supplies equipment for production of added-value films such as shrink films, and specialised consulting services to support potential investors with viable business plans and feasibility studies.
Also present at PlastIndia were representatives from Brückner Servtec, which provides comprehensive services for film stretching lines of any brand, eg a new generation of remote service tools, MMS (Manufacturing Management System), innovative solutions to overcome short power dips, improving line up-time, and filter solutions presented by JV partner, Seebach.
From a packaging perspective, PackSys Global provides specialised equipment for the manufacture of extruded plastic tubes for the cosmetic industry, laminate tubes, as well as plastic beverage caps; all of which are in high demand for FMCG packaging applications.
Processors’ delight at Rajoo
For PlastIndia 2012 visitors, the Rajoo stand was a destination to find answers to ‘What’s nEXt’, a campaign that gripped the attention of the polymer extrusion industry.
‘The result was sheer delight,’ confirms Sunil Jain, president of Rajoo Engineers. ‘Our innovative product launches were targeted to satisfy processors’ needs, practical to use and affordable to own and maintain.’
Rajoo’s latest innovations were showcased in a sprawling contemporary 730m2 stand. With its excellent graphics and live demonstrations, it became a star attraction, drawing huge crowds of international visitors.
Towering high above all, and touching the roof of the hall, was Rajoo’s 14,5m five-layer blown film line. It was the only blown film line on the show running barrier films, among others, with a trimless winding feature for exponential material saving. Output on the five-layer line ranges from 400kg/hour (for a 80µm barrier film with gauge variation of +/- 3%) to 600kg/hour (for a 70µm collation shrink film with gauge variation of less than +/- 3%).
According to Sunil, it was a complete showcase of abilities. On one side of the stand was the biggest multilayer plant on show and on the other side, the smallest multilayer plant in the world! ‘It redefined applications and created new niches, in one go,’ he confirms.
Business reflected customer confidence in Rajoo with orders for a 19th blown film plant in 20 years from Synthetic Packers, Bangalore; a fully-loaded seven-layer IBC blown film plant for Dev Akash, Madurai; a repeat order for a five-layer blown film plant with IBC and multi-component gravimetric dosing for Classic Welding in Hosur; a sheet line and thermoforming for Falcon, UAE; and many more.
‘This exhibition is not a destination but a journey to further our commitment to the extrusion industry and continue to serve this industry, while being recognised as a quality, reliable and trusted supplier on world markets,’ states Sunil.
‘It was also a show of solidarity for Rajoo, as all our principals and collaborators were present in full strength holding hands to take this “solution selling approach” to a global scale,’ he concluded.
Windsor makes its mark
Windsor Machines reported a great response from domestic and overseas visitors at PlastIndia. ‘It’s fair to say ours was one of the busiest stands at the fairground!’ declares Manoj Prakash, senior manager marketing and international sales for Windsor Machines, India.
Demonstrated was Windsor’s new REX-1500 Hybrid three-layer blown film coextrusion line, with some critical components sourced from German principal, Kuhne. The REX-1500 Hybrid performed with 90% metallocene LLDPE film of 1 500mm x 40µm, with die lip 250mm, delivering up to 450kg/hour (LDPE). It has a plasticising capacity of 600kg/hour.
This latest technology helps processors to reduce consumption of expensive polymers with improved film characteristics. The same line was also equipped with Octagon auto thickness profiling and Doteco gravimetric hoppers for throughput control.
Other demonstrations at the Windsor stand included new developments in CPVC/HDPE/PPR pipe extrusion and injection moulding machines. A newly-launched and operating PET preform injection moulding machine was also a major attraction. ‘Overall, we bagged some prestigious orders during the PlastIndia show and generated several well-qualified enquiries,’ confirms Manoj.
Excellent results for Comexi
There was plenty of activity at the Comexi stand. Some 50 suppliers and more than 200 customers visited its site, resulting in 12 prospective projects in flexographic and laminating equipment along with another five for slitting.
The most popular machines for the Indian market are the Indiflex press and the Flexo F4 Press, although there was also considerable interest in slitting and lamination machines.
Indian manufacturer, Pelican, also displayed a solventless laminator on its stand, manufactured under Comexi’s license. With 15 machines sold at the show, Pelican fulfilled its order book for the coming months.
Sacmi CCM series takes centre stage
PlastIndia 2012 provided the perfect showcase venue for Sacmi, specialist in the production and design of presses for both plastics compression and injection moulding.
From its 200m2 stand, Sacmi demonstrated the very best from its range starting with its technological gem, the CCM. Productivity, flexibility and energy saving are the distinctive features of continuous compression moulding on the very latest CCM 48SB. The advantages of this cap-making machine lie in productivity and consumption-optimising devices that use lean technology. Deemed the world’s most competitive cap manufacturing solution, the CCM 48SB can operate with cycle times of less than two seconds.
A working version of the smallest CCM in the series, the CCM 24-cavity, was also demonstrated at the show. This machine has already achieved considerable success, especially in the diversified and fragmented one-piece cap market for bottled water, juices and tea.
In the world of PET preforms, Sacmi offers two alternative technologies – injection and compression.
Plant flexibility with fast format changeover, ergonomic engineering solutions, energy savings and compact footprint, worldwide sales and after-sales network – all these goals are achieved with Sacmi’s new IPS (Injection Preform Systems).
