When change brings unlimited possibilities?Mr. Richard S. Chua, Jr., Vice President - Finance, Plastic Container Packaging Corporation

"Our shift into plastic containers manufacturing required us to closely monitor the market for new technologies and machines, and improve the technical expertise of our staff. " 桵r. Richard S. Chua, Jr.

Tremendous developments in plastics processing are all geared to meet customers' changing and varying requirements. While some companies find it difficult to meet market demand, others have been able to make the shift, which often entailed huge investments and adjustments in their overall operations. International Plastics News for Asia talked to Mr. Richard S. Chua, Jr., Vice President - Finance of Plastic Container Packaging Corporation (PCPC), a leading manufacturer of plastic containers in the Philippines on how the company adjusted its production technology and processes in response to global market demand. IRNA: Your company has a long history as a manufacturer of packaging products and has been recognized as a pioneer. How did you achieve this enviable status? Chua: Our company was founded in 1957 and was originally registered as Consolidated Can Corporation (CCC). We were then engaged in manufacturing tin can and metal closures, and servicing the packaging needs of our customers - mainly multinational companies. That time, tin can was the popular packaging used. One of our customers, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), was the first one to put in the idea for us to possibly consider producing plastic containers in 1961. This was based on a decision by its mother company in the United States to shift to using plastic containers. We opted to take the challenge and invested in machines and technology to produce plastic containers as these have gained popularity worldwide. Our other multinational companies customers also began to order plastic containers. We are proud to say that we started producing plastic containers at a time when no other companies were into plastic container manufacturing. In 1985, PCPC was again the first in the Philippines to introduce the high-tech injection blow molding process to produce precision plastic bottles which require precision neck dimensions. These bottles were particularly required in the pharmaceutical industry. IRNA: What are the industries that the PCPC serves and how did these industries influence your move towards plastic container manufacturing? We currently serve the needs of multinational companies engaged in manufacturing cosmetics, baby and personal care, pharmaceutical, food, petroleum, chemicals and home care products. In doing so, we had to monitor developments in these industries and their specific needs. When we went into plastic container manufacturing, we were at first responding to the requirements of J&J. Then several years later, our other customers started to shift to plastic containers, and they too had their own specifications on what should their plastic containers look like and their features. The oil industry, which is one of our biggest customers, also made the shift and so we were the first to develop the one-liter plastic container for oil products. We started with one-liter because we noted that in the Philippines, consumers recycle the containers and a one-liter container has many uses - like container for other products, etc. Then came the cosmetics and personal care, food and other sectors. The pharmaceutical industry was the last to use plastic containers. IRNA: Was the shift to plastic containers difficult for your company? How did you prepare for such transition? Chua: The global market was already moving towards plastic containers. We saw that trend and even with the absence of other companies in the Philippines producing such type of containers, we opted to go into plastic container manufacturing. Plastic Container Packaging Corporation (PCPC) was born and became theNike