Polyethylene terephthalate is the name of a mater­ial which over four decades ago revolutionized the packaging industry like no other. Commonly referred to in its abbreviated form (PET), this material has positively triumphed throughout the globe since its introduction at the beginning of the 1970s. PET is of special significance to manufacturers of plastic bottles, with unbreakabil­ity and simple handling just two of the many arguments which speak for this particular type of plastic. Yet its popularity has also brought increasing demands with it, as today’s standards governing the perfect packaging solution not only call for convenience but also for recyclability and reductions in waste. In view of the almost 450 billion PET bottles which service the markets every year, this is a mammoth challenge to be met. KHS is already supporting the beverage and food industries with countless solutions to this problem, not only continuing to optimize PET packaging itself to make it more environmentally friendly but also finding sustainable ways of making current production processes as efficient as possible while saving the maximum resources.

And where does all this expertise come from? From a pioneering spirit which is almost 150 years old – and the constant striving to make what’s good even better. The holistic knowledge the experts at KHS have been amassing on glass containers for many decades has long been applied to PET, this primarily fueled by the specific expertise of KHS Corpoplast and KHS Plasmax, whose specialist personnel have over 40 years of experience with PET and thus a unique reputation in this field worldwide. This is manifested in customized stretch blow molding, coating and filling systems and an all-round PET consultation package: the KHS Bottles & Shapes program for preform and bottle designs which perfectly suit the respective product, always with the focus on giving customers more efficient and sustainable technology and therefore the edge over their competitors.

There is a growing demand in this respect for lighter yet stable bottles and for optimum protection for high-quality, sensitive or carbonated products. How can freshness and taste be retained – or even improved on? Or how can shelf lives for products in PET containers with a KHS Plasmax barrier coating be extended even further? There seems to be no bounds to the flexibility and creativity of PET technology!

In the following section we’d like to present you with a short summary of KHS’ PET portfolio – from bottle lightweighting to the unique partnership which exists between KHS and Petainer. We also include news of a small but far-reaching extra from KHS: the KHS everywhere app.