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Utilizing the prospect of plastic film – safer and greener industries
Regularly occupying huge exhibiting space, Kung Hsing Plastics Machinery is well presented in key trade shows, the sophisticated manufacturer in blown film lines is gaining its market share and profile fast in the ASEAN region. In 2017, the company has grown 15% in its overall revenue, how will KS amaze the buyers again at TAIPEI PLAS 2018, and what are the new features to look for on the blown film machines? The editorial team spoke with Kun-Lin Tsai, the Vice President of Kung Hsing Plastic Machinery, he shared his opinions regarding the sector and potential development of KS.
Editor: What would you display at Taipeiplas? How does this contribute to the recent infusions of demands coming from other industries, what is KS’s approach to this trend?
Mr. Tsai: We will be exhibiting five-layer co-extrusion blow film machine at TAIPEI PLAS 2018. It is our latest innovation of KS is to target the higher-end food and beverage packaging market, and special-purpose packaging. The film manufactured by KS’s machines targets to barrier to oxygen and moisture by a high food-safety standard for prolonging the freshness. The end products could be applied -40°C frozen beef, seafood, and biscuits packaging. It could be expected that there will be more trading in fresh meat and seafood across the globe nowadays. Particularly with the formation of beef export trade agreements among countries that indicates large demands in safer packaging. Therefore, our customers will invest more on the materials of packaging. The films manufactured by KS reaches the good film mechanical property, barrier ability, and especially a good balance between processing and performance.
Editor: What is the particular strength of your multi-layer co-extrusion blow film machines?
Mr. Tsai: In KS, multi-layer machines have high production rate with automation features. We dedicated in upgrading these extrusion machines for years, and the result is a solid jump (30% more) in production compared to our previous extruders. We were able to increase the production capacity while maintaining the energy consumption at the same level. Energy efficient on top of enhanced performance in speed is the strongest feature of our multi-layer co extrusion blow film machines.
Editor: Does Kung Hsing have any plans to alter or create new techniques regarding the future trends in the plastics machine manufacturing section?
Mr. Tsai: The next ranges of products we will promote in the coming year are biodegradable film lines, and extruders that could deal with more environment-friendly materials – such as cornstarch-based, or biodegradable polymers. In fact, these are not new equipment for KS, since the company had already developed biodegradable film lines 17 years ago, the main issue was, in the past, there was not enough demand in this type of materials because of a number of reasons.
Raw materials were cheap, and the consciousness of recycling or greener plastics products is not as prevalent as it is today among the manufacturers and the general public, so there was not much intention for manufactures to invest in biodegradable manufacturing equipment.
Nevertheless, we believe that the timing might soon be right for us to reintroduce this range of product to the market. It is important to highlight that there are still real challenges waiting to be solved – for example, in making the cost of this technology cheaper, while strengthening of biodegradable films. For this range for products, we are aware that European countries will be the main customers.
Editor: What are the reasons that Kung Hsing keeps its competition ahead in this age of aggressive races in the plastics extrusion sector?
Mr. Tsai: The essential principle we stick to is to ensure the quality of every details in our equipment. We insist in strict supervision on our collaborators, and take back the manufacturing power of parts when necessary. For example, we now manufacture our own die heads for achieving the highest requirements in quality, there are also a lists of parts and components we manufacture in-house. Based on this principle, we then are able to modify and refine the performance, whether it is in energy-saving, or automation. Thus, taking control of the manufacturing status and quality allows us to provide reliable extruders for customers. In recent years, we noticed that customers who in the past insisted to purchase European machineries have begun to use our equipment, this is an important breakthrough for us. It indicates that we have successfully broke the subjective judgment that geographically embedded in machinery industries, KS can now offer global customers with high quality extruders as a Taiwan-based manufacturer.
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