Thermoforming / Rigid
Thermoforming / Rigid Packaging good natured acquires thermoforming company Good natured Products (Vancouver, BC, Canada) recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the shareholders of Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging (Brampton, ON, Canada), a leading thermoformer with over 35 years’ experience, to acquire 100 % of Shepherd and all its real estate assets. Shepherd designs custom packaging including engineering, mold production and final product manufacturing for both thin gauge and heavy gauge applications. Their customers include several Fortune 500 companies located throughout eastern Canada and the northeast United States. “After nearly doubling our revenues in 2019, this transaction marks another significant milestone in the company’s growth trajectory. The acquisition enables us to increase our production capacity and expand our plant-based packaging assortment to meet the needs of more customers,” said Paul Antoniadis, CEO of good natured ® . “Whether it be through existing molds available at the Shepherd facility, or the ability for us to expand on the development of custom packaging solutions, one of our largest growth sectors, our production capacity and assortment has now increased significantly.” Paul went on to add “the strategic location of Shepherd’s facility also provides good natured with a strong and easily accessible entry point into Ontario and eastern Canada, as well as the northeastern United States.” Paul concluded by saying, “We’re delighted to welcome Mark and Todd Shepherd and the entire Shepherd team to the good natured family. We share a common vision to be leaders in the development and adoption of sustainable, planet-friendly packaging solutions in North America, so the combination of our collective expertise, people and manufacturing capability further positions the Company to execute against this ambition. “We are very excited to partner with good natured and continue the legacy of our business that was started in 1984 by our father Barry Shepherd,” said Todd Shepherd, President of Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging Inc. “Our customers are increasingly requesting plant-based alternatives, so joining together with good natured, as we have on several projects over the past four to five years, will accelerate our ability to meet this growing demand.” The closing of the transaction is expected to be not later than April 30, 2020. MT www.goodnatured.ca International Conference on Bio-based Materials Online Conference • 12–13 May 2020 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WORLDWIDE BIOECONOMY • Success stories and upcoming technological breakthroughs in the bioeconomy • Policy and markets Sponsor Innovation Award: yncoris.com Gold Sponsor: neste.de Organiser: VOTE FOR the innovation award “Bio-based Material of the Year 2020”! Institute for Ecology and Innovation nova-institute.eu • Fine chemicals in body care, cosmetics, food ingredients and pharmaceuticals • Circular bioeconomy, biorefineries, pyrolysis and especially lignin utilisation • New opportunities for bio-based building blocks and polymers • Innovation award „Bio-based Material of the Year 2020“ Gold Sponsor: upm.com Contact Dominik Vogt Conference Manager +49 (0)2233 4814-49 dominik.vogt@nova-institut.de Find more information at: www.bio-based-conference.com 14 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/20] Vol. 15
Automotive Machinery Blown film lines for the production of bio based films Kuhne Anlagenbau (Sankt Augustin, Germany) as one of the pioneers in blown film extrusion, has been dealing with organic raw materials for a very long time. In addition to polyolefin and barrier raw materials, the importance of biobased raw materials has grown in the recent years. Starting in some Scandinavian countries, then in France, Italy, Spain and now worldwide, the demand for packaging materials made from organic materials is steadily increasing. In addition to replacing thin HDPE bags for fruit and vegetables in supermarkets, there are more and more new areas of application in the agricultural sector for cover films, greenhouse films, mulch film and much more. The raw materials are mainly based on starch (corn or potato starch) or PLA (lactic acid based). Most organic films produced on Kuhne Smart Bubble ® lines are quite thin, 10 to 30 μm and soft. The more PLA is in the raw material, the stiffer the film becomes. Pure PLA is difficult to produce in blown film, it is more likely to be used in the flat film process. In the beginning there were glycerins (oily) in the raw material that escaped during extrusion. Therefore an extraction was necessary. If a lot of monomer escapes, the suction is positioned between the die and cooling ring, otherwise on the calibration basket. However, due to improved raw materials, suction is no longer so important. A special geometry of the lip or plasma coating of the lip is used to prevent monomer from settling on the cooling ring lip. The raw materials are processed at low processing temperatures of max. 160 °C, and since as little as possible shear should be brought into the melt, specially developed Kuhne Anlagenbau low-temperature screws in barrier design are usually used. Because of the heat sensitive raw materials the extruder output is lower than when processing PE, therefore larger extruders are necessary. Blow up ratios are usually 1:3 to 1:3.5 for thinner films with10-20 μm thickness. Colors, additives etc. are also available in abiobased version. Originally, mono layer blown film lines were mostly used, but now also 3 layer lines with PET copolymer as a thin inner / outer layer are available. Edge trim and start-up waste material can be recycled and reused on Kuhne lines. Either mixed with virgin material or run in the middle layer of a three layer line. The films are industrially compostable. MT www.kuhne-ab.de/en/ Magnetic for Plastics www.plasticker.com • International Trade in Raw Materials, Machinery & Products Free of Charge. • Daily News from the Industrial Sector and the Plastics Markets. • Current Market Prices for Plastics. • Buyer’s Guide for Plastics & Additives, Machinery & Equipment, Subcontractors and Services. • Job Market for Specialists and Executive Staff in the Plastics Industry. Up-to-date • Fast • Professional bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/20] Vol. 15 15
