Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018 - 10

10 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 10, 2018

Plastics News photo by Michael A. Marcotte

Meet the new ST Blow Moulding
By Catherine Kavanaugh
Plastics News Staff
ST Soffiaggio Tecnica srl, which
refers to technical blow molding in
Italian, is rebranding to better reflect the company's manufacturing
footprint and growing global sales.
It's not the first name change for
the Monza, Italy-based company,
which originally was named after
its founder Giuseppe Moi in 1950.
The switch to ST Soffiaggio occurred after a management buyout
by three members of the technical
board in 1980.
At NPE2018, Martin Graziadei,
a current managing partner, announced the business is now ST
Blow Moulding srl. He said ST
Soffiagio Tecnica was "a little too
difficult" for some in the industry,
and he pointed to the business's
increasing international presence
and expansion plan for its other
production facility in Stabio, Switzerland.
"Today, we are a Swiss-Italian
company to be precise and now we
have only 5 percent of our sales in
those two countries, so we are exporting 95 percent to international
markets," Graziadei said.
All of Europe now makes up 50
percent of sales for ST's conventional and suction blow molding
machines, while North America
and Asia are 25 percent each.
"Until recently Asia was growing
faster, but in 2018, for the first time,

Anna Bardetti, research council officer of the National Research
Council Canada, at the ST Blow Moulding srl booth.

BOOTH S35080
ST BLOW MOULDING SRL
North America will be our strongest market," Graziadei said. "We
had a couple really big machines
sold here for automotive market.
It's an exceptional year with exceptional events."
North American sales were also
spurred by specialty applications
like toys, patio furniture, sheds,
stadium seats and child car seats.

The auto market makes up 60-70
percent of overall ST sales-followed
by about 25 percent for specialty
products and about 5 percent for
packaging and fuel applications.
"Most suppliers to the auto industry use our machines," Graziadei said. "We estimate that in
modern cars with turbo engines,
every fourth car worldwide uses
a duct produced with our machines."
The company's growth strategy calls for an even distribution
of sales in the three end markets,

starting with the industrial packaging segment, which includes storage drums, chemical containers,
and fuel and water management,
Graziadei said.
"We hired a team of three experts
with long-standing experience and
connections in the industry to
bring more balance," he added.
ST has been on a hiring spree.
The company tripled sales in the
last four years by doubling the
number of employees, Graziadei
said. Machine production increased from roughly 10-12 blow
molders a year to more than 30 a
year.
ST also plans to double production capacity in Switzerland by
moving to a new facility by early
2020.
"The growth is forcing us out,"
Graziadei said. "Right now, we have
1,000 square meters. We will have
2,500 square meters of production
plant and 1,200-square meters of
office space."
ST still might set up shop in the
United States beyond its local presence through a partnership with
ACIS Plastic Technologies, which
handles after-sale services and
spare parts.
"We're evaluating it," Graziadei
said of the possibility of a U.S. site.
"If business grows, it could make
sense to have a production site in
the U.S."
The machine ST is showing at
NPE2018 is the ASPI 400.3, which

is a 3D suction blow molding machine with a clamping force of 40
metric tons that can produce the
turbo ducts.
"The main advantage is the ability to do really difficult, 3D shapes
without any scrap material.
"You can have curves without
any scraps," Graziadei said. "On
a conventional machine, there'd
be scrap on the sides, and for this
application, that can be really expensive. Some materials are going
from 5 euros to 9 euros per kilogram. A really precise machine like
this can save 5-10 percent of raw
material, and you have a payback
in material savings."
The options include Industry 4.0
compatibility, parison marking for
quality checks and parts traceability, and predictive maintenance.
Other features include new safety
devices and an app for remote data
monitoring.
"This is the most flexible suction
blow molding machine on the market," Graziadei said. "It allows you
to run different applications, and
you have a higher potential utilization rate. The more flexible you
are, the more products you can
run."
At NPE2018, ST is producing tennis racquets with a circular face
and twisted handles made with the
resin Zytel from its partner DowDuPont Inc. The giveaway is similar to
the one from K2016, but Graziadei
said the resin is new.

http://www.intravis.com

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