Another Way to Innovate.

* Why are these two men smiling proudly? The location is the International Plastics Fair in Tokyo in September. The man on the left is Hiroshi Imai, executive director of Hisashi Co. Ltd., a new Japanese company formed to produce what must be the largest stretch-blow molded object ever--the 90-liter recycling bin standing beside him. It is made of 100% recycled PET. The man on the right is Shigeto Aoki, president of Aoki Technical Laboratory, Inc. He helped develop the product by building a special machine capable of molding and blowing a preform 713 mm long x 140 mm wide.

Developing a new machine to produce a new product is hardly a unique story in the plastics industry. But the Aoki company does something else that I believe to be extremely rare in the machinery business. Aoki creates entirely new plastic product ideas on its own initiative--and then offers them to its customers. "If any of you decides to go out and make this, I hope you will become a millionaire," teased Aoki managing director Teruo Sakai, as he tempted a room full of customers with several examples of this unsolicited innovation.

What did he show them? A baby-food jar made of 100% PEN. Also, a very clear, light-as-a-feather, 50-cc vial with paper-thin walls of metallocene polyethylene. And a PET bottle with an injection molded PE handle that locks in place but can be removed for recycling. How about a frosted polycarbonate light diffuser with the gate mark hidden on the side among the threads?

Aoki has found an interesting way to stimulate new markets for stretch-blow machinery. And maybe to help make a few customers millionaires along the way.

MATT NAITOVE, EDITOR