Extrusion International USA 5-2021

9 Extrusion International 5/2021 „ During the fi rst 6 months of the year Russian compounder R&P POLYPLASTIC increased shipments both inside the coun- try and abroad, introduced a number of important measures, successfully underwent audits of leading automanufacturers and received high scores for fi nancial stability and corporate social responsibility system. Sales performance of Trade House “Polyplastic” improved by 13 % compared to the same period of last year, while inter- national shipments increased respectively by 6.6 %. In 2021, the leading Russian compounder came into the Polish mar- ket. The fi rst shipment took place in April, later a cooperation agreement with MOBI Sp. z o.o., one of the leading polymer distributors from this European country, was signed. “We managed to overcome the crisis connected with rapid price appreciation for raw materials. Increase in the cost of polypropylene and PA6 was a real shock for consumers. We tried as best as we could to keep prices down. However, in the end we were forced to increase the prices due to the dy- namics of raw materials prices”, noted Pavel Kruglov, Direc- tor General of Trade House “Polyplastic”. During the fi rst half of the year R&P POLYPLASTIC imple- mented a number of measures aimed at supporting its em- ployees: a 20 to 30 % increase of meal remuneration, new system of proportional growth of extra payments for length of employment over one year. Average pay rise for blue-col- lar workers amounted to 20 %. “The most important part of any production are people rather than equipment and technologies. Today we are wit- nessing a lack of skilled production specialists on the Russian HR-market. Establishing appropriate working conditions al- lowing to attract best staff members is our top-priority. We are in the process of upgrading our corporate social system since the beginning of 2021”, says Aleksandr Pavlov, Director General of R&P POLYPLASTIC. In H1 the company received audit results from Renault-Nis- san-Mitsubishi Alliance, Magna International and Faurecia. The ASES audit resulted in the company’s rating improve- ment while audits of Magna International and Faurecia con- fi rmed the existing suf fi ciently high ranking. Furthermore, R&P POLYPLASTIC underwent an audit of the corporate so- cial responsibility systemby a reputable international compa- ny EcoVadis and doubled its results of the year 2017. Finan- cial stability of the company was con fi rmed by the highest triple-A rating by “Kontur.Expert”. “Beginning of the year 2021was markedwith a number of hardships for the polymer industry, however, professional tactical decisions allowed as to maintain fi nancial stability and a constructive relationship with our partners while good audit results proved us right. In the year of its 30th anniversary, R&P POLYPLASTIC is demon- strating strong performance and does not intend to remain complacent. This year we are planning an expansion of pro- duction volumes by launching two new lines with a total ca- pacity of 20 thousand tons”, summed up Andrey Menshov, Managing Partner of R&P POLYPLASTIC. The End of H1 with Increase of Shipments and Wages Marked R&P POLYPLASTIC www.polyplastic-compounds.ru/eng/ Sesotec GmbH www.sesotec.com „ From society to politics to industry – everyone acknowledges that a functioning circular economy is necessary tomeet climate goals. Everyone also agrees that the use of recyclates must be signi fi - cantly increased. But there are a number of obstacles and prob- lems along the way. For example, not enough recyclates are available in suf fi cient quantity and suitable quality. This is due to the fact that recycled plastics are very heterogeneous in com- position (type of material, color, foreign bodies). In addition, the prices for recyclate are rising very fast. Innovative process tech- nology is needed to improve pro fi tability and reduce the risk in- volved in the use of recycled plastic materials. InthenewSesotecWhitePaper “Usingrecycledmaterials inplas- tics processing” you can fi nd out why there is increasing pres- sure on plastics processors to usemore recyclate; the differences between post-consumer and post- industrial recyclate; the problems plastics processors may face when using recyclate; how to future-proof your processes to effectively handle increasing volumes of recyclate. The Sesotec white paper is available for free download: www.sesotec.com/emea/en/resourc- es/blog/white-paper-using-recycled- materials-in-plastics-processing White Paper: Use of Recyclates in Plastics Processing The newwhite paper from Sesotec (Image: Sesotec GmbH)