news


German converters post record results for 2016


Plastics processors in Germany posted a record turnover of nearly €61bn last year, following a 3% rise in sales. The results were an-


nounced by the GKV trade association, which represents German plastics converters. Growth in the packaging


sector – which is most relevant to film and sheet extrusion – rose more than 4% to exceed €14bn. This equated to a slight volume growth, from 4.2m to 4.3m tonnes. For comparison, construc-


tion rose by a similar amount to exceed €19bn, while technical parts – largely injection moulded parts for the automotive industry – rose 1.7% to nearly €18bn. While the number of


industry employees remained stable – up a fraction to 317,000 – the volume of parts increased by 3.6% to more than 14m tonnes. Dirk Westerheide, GKV president, indicated that


2-2.5% in 2018.” A GKV survey also sug-


Westerheide: “We expect to follow the successes of last year in 2017, and achieve sales growth in 2018”


progress was likely to continue this year and next year. “At the start of this year, the mood in the plastics process- ing industry is moving between uncertainty and confidence,” he said. “However, confidence is high – and we are optimistic that we will follow the successes of last year in 2017, and achieve sales growth of


gested a positive outlook: 32% of respondents intend to increase investment this year, while 58% will maintain it and 10% will reduce it. At the same time, one-third expect to increase staff numbers, with only 7% expecting a reduction. A separate GKV survey, dealing with issues such as trade between the US and EU, and the UK ‘Brexit’ vote, revealed relatively high confidence: 4% thought that Brexit would be very damaging to business, while 44% thought it would make no difference. At the same time – on the


potential scrapping of the US-EU TTIP trade pact – 2% thought this would be very damaging, while more than half expected it to make no difference. More than half thought


scrapping the US-EU TTIP trade pact would have little effect. ❙ www.gkv.de


WM heads to Guangzhou


WM Thermoforming will take part in Chinaplas, as part of the Swiss pavilion. The company aims to showcase a broad range of its products, including its FC series, FT series (pictured) and complete in-line plants including those with direct recycling of scraps. WM will also present: its Next range of extruders, which have screw diameters of 45, 70 and 90mm, L/D ratios of 36 and output capacities up to 900kg/hour for polypropylene;


6


the B1400 rim rolling machine, which helps improve the quality of conical cups and containers; and its Twist series of pressure forming machines, including the small Twist 300 with a maximum negative depth of 300mm and the Twist 700, which has a lower tilting platen without mechanical cams. A more extensive preview of Chinaplas 2017 can be found on page 35. ❙ www.wm-thermoforming.com


FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | April 2017 www.filmandsheet.com


Treofan inks separator film deal


Treofan has won its first major supply contract for its TreoPore microporous separator film. The customer is an


emerging Chinese manu- facturer of lithium-ion batteries for electrically powered buses. According to estimates, the global market for electric buses is set to grow by an average of around 20% every year to 2025, with China accounting for half of this growth. The contract is initially


fixed until the end of 2017, but includes a declaration of intent for the quantity of film supplied to continu- ously increase, with the goal of it reaching 28 million sq m annually in 2020. This is roughly equivalent to the area of separator film needed for 50,000 standard battery packs, each containing 56 kilowatt hours of energy. ❙ www.treofan.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62