Extrusion International 2-2024

12 Extrusion International 2/2024 INDUSTRY NEWS Celebration of 25 Years at Vetaphone When Verner Eisby invented corona treatment back in 1951, he could scarcely have imagined that his two sons, Frank and Jan would still be running what has become a leading global supplier all these years later. And for Jan, 2024 marks his 25th year in the company, although as he remarked: “It’s always been a family busi- ness, so I’ve known it from a young age – in fact, there was no way of getting away from it at home!” Beginning in 1999 as Sales Manager of a teamof two – the other was older brother Frank who was also running the business, Jan spent much of his early years building sales in Europe. Over the years, Vetaphone has developed its business in other international markets, especially the USA and Asia, with Jan as Chief Sales Officer (CSO) taking on the task of establishing a sales and support network and training the personnel. Today, the company is represented in more than 100 countries around the world, and since 1999 sales turnover has increased more than tenfold. “The packaging market has seen dramatic changes over the past 25 years with the growth of filmic sub - strates and the development of newprinting techniques like digital that have replaced the more conventional offset, gravure, and flexo methods in certain sectors. At Vetaphone, we have always invested heavily in R&D and that allows us to reflect these market changes by continually developing our technology – this applies to everything from narrow web corona to sophisticated plasma treatment systems for special applications, and many others in between,” he explained. Commenting on how ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, he highlighted the effect of the global crash of 2007/8 that forced Vetaphone to rethink the business and restructure its operation to the issues involved with the global Covid pandemic inmore recent times and problems with supply chains, raw materials, and changing working practices. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and we’re a resilient bunch here at Vetaphone,” he quipped. Looking ahead, Jan sees an exciting and challenging future for packaging with developments in new pro- duction techniques, new substrates, new ‘intelligent’ packaging products to match changing consumer hab- its, and a marked improvement in environmental prac- tices around the world. “Plastic now has a bad image in many people’s eyes, so it’s incumbent on those who work in the industry to change this perspective. That’s why Vetaphone has always believed in education be- cause it is the only way that people, whoever they are, can make the right decisions.” In his current role as Chief Business Officer (CBO), Jan is looking forward to developing a stronger educational link within the industry both through the company’s agency network and via the Vetaphone Academy. Vetaphone A/S www.vetaphone.com Jan Eisby is celebrating 25 years at Vetaphone, the company his father founded in 1951 Global Company Name Rebrand Announced Mylar Specialty Films, a leader in the production of dif- ferentiated polyester films, unveiled its global rebrand - ing initiative highlighted by a change in name from Du- Pont Teijin Films to Mylar Specialty Films. This change applies to all global operations and offices located in the US, Europe and Asia. The choice of the new compa- ny name reflects the heritage of the Mylar ® brand which was introduced as the world's first biaxially orientated PET film in the 1950’s. ”Proudly building on our 70-years of producing My- lar ® polyester films, this rebranding is a salute to our history as well as signals our continued commitment to innovation and leadership in the market,” said Steve Gendreau, CEO of Mylar Specialty Films. “Mylar Spe- cialty Films is poised to not only meet the evolving needs of our industry, but to also anticipate them and set industry standards with our commitment to excel- lence and to our customers worldwide.” The company ownership remains unchanged being a joint venture between Celanese and Teijin, and the company will continue to market the Melinex ® PET, Hongji ® PET, and Kaladex ® PEN range of products in ad- dition to Mylar ® PET branded films. The JV operations with FSPG Hi-Tech Co., Ltd in Chi- na will also be re-branded in the near future but will continue to operate as DuPont Hongji Films until fur- ther notice. Mylar Specialty Films www.mylar.com