Thermoforming

With the retirement of their father, Barry Shepherd, brothers Todd and Mark Shepherd took over responsibility for daily operations at Shepherd Thermoforming (Brampton, ON). Todd, the company’s president, has worked for the company for 23 of its 25-year history, and shared with us some lessons learned during that time, plus some thoughts for the future.

MPW: Tell us how Shepherd Thermoforming started.

Thermoforming processors of large automotive or industrial parts who are keen to knock metal off its perch have a new tool to work with as the Penn Fibre division of Ensinger has expanded its product range, adding long-glass-fiber-reinforced polyolefin sheet to its quiver.

Thin-walled packaging processors attending the big plastics trade show this autumn, the K in Düsseldorf, Germany, will want to take a look at what thermoforming machine manufacturer Kiefel has done with its Speedformer KMD80.

Officials at the Brückner Group (Siegsdorf, Germany), made up of tenter frame and cast polypropylene (CPP) equipment producer Brückner Maschinenbau, service affiliate Brückner Servtec, and thermoforming machinery manufacturer Kiefel, say they have the money and the will to make acquisitions that will allow the company to offer a wider range of products in the future to help overcome some of the cyclical nature of its main business areas.

Associated Packaging Technologies Inc., which claims to be the world's leading processor of crystallized polyethylene terephthalate (CPET) trays, has been scooped up by Sonoco, one of the world's largest packaging processors. Sonoco paid about $120 million all-cash for APT, a price that includes the cost of paying off various obligations of APT.

Rigid plastics packaging processor Tech II will be the first in the U.S.—and only the second in the world—to use inmold labeling in decoration of a commercial thermoformed part. According to the supplier of the automation system, Hekuma, the demand for this technology is set to escalate. 

The march of plastics replacing more established materials has hit a speed bump at UK retailer Marks & Spencer. That company is the first to choose a thermoformable paper alternative to plastics for sliced ham. Billerud, the supplier of the thermoformable paper, says other major retailers also are specifying the material and that other applications soon will be commercialized.

A major merger in India brings together Rajoo, a leading manufacturer of blown- and cast-film extrusion machinery, with Wonderpack, which makes thermoforming machinery for both roll-fed and heavy-gauge sheet-fed applications.  

São Paulo—Blessed with tremendous growth potential in its own backyard, Brazil's plastics converting industry isn't content to simply grow through the increasing demand of its own burgeoning domestic market, as leading producers teamed last week with the Brazilian government to promote their output beyond Brazil's shores and into the export market.