Conference Programme

Plastics Caps and Closures is now in its ‘15th’ year and offers a unique networking opportunity for leading brand owners and fillers, closures producers, packaging manufacturers, designers and suppliers to the industry to debate the latest developments in the plastics closures industry with a particular focus on adding value and optimising results across the supply chain.

The 2018 conference will continue to examine key factors, the latest innovations and focus on adding value and optimising results for suppliers, manufacturers and brands.

Day One

8:30   Registration, refreshments and networking


9:15   Welcome
Karen Laird, Editor, Plastics News Europe


9:20   Chairman’s welcome and introduction
Michaël NieuwesteegManaging Director, NVC Netherlands Packaging Centre

 

CURRENT TRENDS IN CAPS AND CLOSURES

9:30  Packaging: the current changing landscape
Hans van Bochove, VP Public Affairs Europe, Coca-Cola

  • Packaging: putting it into societal and public policy context
  • How significant changes are looming for the industry
  • How Coca-Cola are dealing with the changing environment


10:00   Market Drivers and Trends for Caps and Closures
Dan Rogers,
Head of Publishing, Smithers Pira

  • Market overview
  • Geographic Trend
  • Drivers and Trends
  • Innovations
  • Forecasts to 2023
  • Opportunities for Suppliers, Converters and Brand Owners


10:30   Revitalizing the Sustainability Discussion: One Injection Molder’s View
Alex Hoffer, Vice President of Sales and Operations, Hoffer Plastics Corporation

  • How the sustainability discussion is picking up steam
  • Two opposing sides getting further entrenched: environmentalists who aim to eliminate plastic products altogether, while the plastics industry push back and blame “consumer behaviour” as the reason for plastics in oceans
  • How the conversation needs to change to make progress
  • Action to move forward: the plastics industry reframing their response, refocusing its team, and revitalizing the pitch so that sustainable solutions are more enticing to brand owners, and ultimately consumers.


11:00   Navigating the Future: Facing Sustainability Challenges & Opportunities in Polyolefin
Kaushik MitraDirector, PolyolefinsIHS Markit

  • How global Polyolefins growth is tapering as the market matures – some regions continue to beat the curve, while some demographics, urbanization, economic mobility continues to drive growth
  • Some factors like efficiency, slow pace of innovation and most importantly sustainability is driving down consumption growth
  • Recycling has emerged as one of the most challenging aspects facing the Polyolefins industry therefore it is apt to look at various scenarios and sensitivities facing the industry
  • While Europe is at the forefront of recycling drive, what is the outlook for other regions?
  • What are the implications for the caps and closure industry and how it must reimagine itself to ride this emerging challenge

11:30   Refreshment break and networking


INNOVATION

12:00   Last generation Bimodal HDPE resins for CSD Caps: Lighter but stiffer
David-Henry Makuanga, Technical Service and Product Development Engineer, INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe
Raffaele Aguiari, Business Manager, Polymers South, INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe

  • INEOS introduction and update
  • Circular economy by INEOS
  • Breaking News:
    Ultimate light-weighting with new High Rigidity ELTEX® SuperstressTM CAP504HR
    - Innovative antioxidant formulation satisfying the most stringent brand owners NIAS requirements


12:30   Servo Drive Technology in Mold Closing (IMC) for Better Productivity
Philippe Mafille, Sales Representative for Europe, Middle East and Africa, StackTeck

  • IMC closing mechanism remains the same
  • Simple interface to the molding machine
  • Flexibility for change over (or switching over) production from machine to machine
  • Faster cycles with dramatically reduced IMC delay

  

13:00   Latest hot runner technology to increase productivity and part quality

Thomas Bechtel, Sales Director Packaging & Medical, Mold-Masters Europa GmbH, Germany, Milacron Group

  • Hot runner technology and how it can minimize / eliminate part defects
  • A look at a number of case studies showing the elimination of flow lines on beverage caps and deodorant caps with metal pigments
  • Uneven shrinkage caused by “off center” gating as well as “parting line flash reduction”
  • The increase of output, while maintaining part quality and existing injection molding machines

 

13:20   Lunch and networking

  

14:20   An Introduction to Purging Compounds
Laurent Saleur, Global Technical Support Manager Thermoplastics, Chem-Trend (France) S.A.S.U.

  • What are the expectations about purge?
  • Why do purging compound outperform virgin material?
  • Why & when using purge makes sense?
  • Why are caps & closures different from other moulding types?
  • What are the benefits of using purge material?

 

14:50   New innovations in caps and closures 
Yusuke OkuboAssistant Manager in charge of Product Development, Nippon Closures

  • Evolution of packaging containers in Japan
  • Law for the promotion of sorted collection and recycling of containers and packages
  • Reduction of environmental impact
  • Usability improvement
  • Development case examples 

 

15:20   Optimizing beverage closure gate quality (as an example of how to find the right combination of mold technologies, closure designs, resins and processes)
Dr. Michael Krueger, Chief Executive Officer, corvaglia group

  • Why is there a need to optimize gate quality?
  • What factors will influence gate quality?
  • Variation of conventional vs. unconventional influencing factors
  • Result is a closure which meets a broader set of requirements than any other solution in the past

 

15:50   Refreshment break and networking

 

16:20   Less is more: New boundaries solution for beverage caps and closures
Kittipong Koomsup, Technical Service and Development Manager - Caps & Closures, Chemicals Business, SCG Performance Chemicals

  • Why Circular Economy?
  • Challenge of future trends in beverage closures
  • Critical resin performance
  • SCG breakthrough HDPE technology 

 

16:50   Dedicated Solutions for the Caps and Closures Industry
Philippe Rasquin, Market Development Engineer, Global Segment Caps and Closures Petrochemicals, Europe, SABIC

  • New dedicated organization for caps and closures
  • Sustainability initiatives 
  • An example of successful collaboration between a resin manufacturer and cap producer to provide new solutions for the industry


17:10   Addictive Functionality: Innovative closures that engage the senses and create packaging consumers can't resist. 
Rob Tipper, Head of Business Development, Amaray

  • What is Addictive Functionality?
  • How customers react to stimuli 
  • Combining these factors into an effective package 


17:30   Chairman’s closing remarks


17:45   Networking drinks reception


Programme may be subject to change. 

Day Two

8:30   Welcome refreshments and networking

9:20   Welcome and introduction to the day
Michaël Nieuwesteeg
, Managing Director, NVC Netherlands Packaging Centre

 

EASE OF OPENING

9:30  Worldwide standardisation as driver for improved ease-of-opening and ease-of-handling in packaging
Dr. Ken Sagawa, Em. Professor, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology AIST and Chairman of ISO WG9 Accessible Design for Packaging

  • The open-ability of packages in an ageing world
  • The principles of accessible design and their implementation in packaging
  • An overview of ISO standards published and work-in-progress

 

10:00  Ease of Opening and Child Resistant Packaging
Stephen Wilkins, CEO, Child Safe Packaging Group

  • Ease of opening for elderly people – the standard ISO 17480: 2015, Design Criteria-Ease of Opening
  • An update on child resistant packaging and child resistant zips for dose packs for detergent soluble packaging 
  • Other standards within the suite
  • CD 22015 Design Criteria-Handling and Manipulation
  • FDIS 19809 Design Criteria-Information and Marking

 

SUSTAINABILITY

10:20   Packaging and the environment – a retailers view
Paul Earnshaw, Packaging Development Manager, Tesco

  • The drivers behind sustainability
  • Customer attitudes
  • Our vision of where we are going
  • Thoughts on preferred materials and design

 

10:50   Refreshment break and networking


11:20   Assessing the future of plastics: what policymakers are currently looking at, and the impact on the caps and closures industry
Silvia Freni Sterrantino, EuPC Regulatory Affairs Manager, EuPC European Plastics Converters

  • How littering activities and global awareness on plastics is increasing and has increased policy makers’ attention to the topic.
  • Studies, reports and LCAs; how they are numerous. The need to have more guidance on this.
  • The European Commission and its work on a regulatory strategy on plastics encompassing different moments of a life cycle, from feedstock to accidental dispersion in the environment
  • The study claims that polypropylene microplastics is present in bottled water and that alleged source of this presence is due to bottle caps
  • How the review into those risks will impact coming regulation and composition of plastics caps and closures.

 

11:50   Advancing sustainability and circular economy solutions
Mathieu Lecomte, Marketing Manager PE Healthcare, Caps & Closures, LyondellBasell

  • LyondellBasell and Circular Economy: committed to develop a sustainable business model to promote the circular economy
  • Industry and EU commitments
  • Collaboration LyondellBasell & Suez: Mechanical recycling with QCP, (Quality Circular Polymers)
  • QCP Products superior product quality from post-consumer wastes, able to replace virgin polymers for diverse applications including caps & closures
  • Chemical recycling: cooperation with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to advance the chemical recycling of plastic materials and assist the global efforts towards the circular economy and plastic waste recycling needs


12:20   Lunch and networking


13:20   A Plastic Free Society - Fact or Fiction?
Dave Rose, Director, David Rose Packaging Solutions (Former Project Manager, Packaging Development, Britvic)

  • There is no silver bullet
  • Recycling must improve
  • Design for re-use recovery and recycling must be considered at the start
  • Biopolymers can be part of the answer
  • What about energy recovery?
  • It must be much easier and simpler to recycle
  • Messaging and information must be consistent
  • Consumers need to be motivated
  • Consumers will have to change their behaviours
  • Littering and proper disposal is down to people


13:50   Panel discussion: Caps in the environment 

Chaired by: Michaël Nieuwesteeg, Managing DirectorNVC Netherlands Packaging Centre

Dr. Michael Krueger, Chief Executive Officer, Corvaglia Holding

Dave Rose, Director, David Rose Packaging Solutions (Former Project Manager, Packaging Development, Britvic)


14:30   Uncapping the potential of caps and closures in fighting food waste
Michaël Nieuwesteeg, Managing Director, NVC Netherlands Packaging Centre, Board Member of the World Packaging Organisation WPO

  • Inconvenient truths and the fight against food waste via better packaging
  • Sharing the results of the 1st international conference on food waste and packaging
  • The potential role of caps and closures in limiting unnecessary food losses


15:00   Refreshment break and networking

 

15:20  Innovating our way out of the plastic pollution problem
Jason Lessard, Partner, HGF

  • Plastic closures are in the top five most common items of litter on beaches worldwide
  • Public interest in plastic waste is formidable and governments are responding with targeted tax incentives
  • Leading brands and retailers are also responding with public commitments to reduce waste, which can only be achieved with innovative solutions
  • Innovative suppliers that develop these solutions can only exploit them fully with a sound intellectual property strategy


15:40  A road map to bring industrial packaging into the circular economy
Filip Vangeel, Manager Circular Economy, Valipac

  • History of recycling and positioning of Valipac + our values
  • Brief overview of legislation
  • Packaging in a circular economy
    - multi-facets of packaging
    - take control over the numbers
    - case study: circular stretch
    - evaluation tool for circular packaging
    - platform for product and value chain

16:00  Chair’s closing remarks and end of conference


Programme may be subject to change.

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