Roto in India – Unfulfilled Potential? Martin Coles - Founder & Managing Director

Roto in India should be growing twice as fast and be much more profitable

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Rotomoulding Has An Image Problem

• Cheap and low tech

• Labour intensive with little automation

• Tolerance and consistency issues

• Brittleness and physical property limitations

• Just a process for making water tanks and road barriers?

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Reality Check

• Roto can be low investment and low tech

• Products can be variable and poor quality

• Barriers to entry are small

• Competitors can copy and set up with low investment and knowledge

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Rotomoulding Looks Easy (& is seductive)… but it isn’t!

• Simple concept and appears uncomplicated

• Reality - most complex of all plastics processes!

• Casting process with no pressure

• Multiple variables

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New Entrants Struggle

• New moulders under-estimate complexity and knowledge – this is a global issue

• Sub-standard copycats

• Low quality

• Price and cost driven market

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Is This The Image We Want Roto To Have?

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Roto Must Up Its Game

• Improve quality, reliability and consistency

• Introduce better designed and more interesting products

• Educate

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How Do We Improve Quality & Consistency?

• Good design

• Good moulds

• Good operators and management

• Good materials (including powder quality)

• Good processing and achieving optimum cure

• All of the above

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Latest Technologies Make It Easier Than Ever To Make Better, More Complex & Advanced Products

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Moulds – Aluminium CNC

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Design

• Finite Element Analysis

• Better understanding of performance of materials in Roto

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Processing

• PIAT – Peak Internal Air Temperature – optimum cure

• Lots of devices available

• Internal cooling and pressurisation

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Automated Manufacturing

• Persico SMART Leonardo

• AMS Robotics

• Devices for automated powder dispensing, opening and closing of moulds, coated moulds

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Material Advances • Better stabilised polymers

• Harder and higher density tough Polyethylene

• Low shrinkage materials

• Conductives, flame retardants, foams

• Wider use of colour compound

• Availability of hexene (C6), octene & mLLDPE

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So It’s Easier Than Ever…

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To Mould Consistently Tight Tolerences…

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Have Outstanding Surface Finishes..

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And To Be Pin-hole Free…

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Have Novel & Interesting Effects…

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Replacing Traditional Materials…

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And Have High Stiffness & Impact Strength

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And Unbelievable Toughness..

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Where Do We Find More Interesting & Diverse Products – Where Are The Opportunities?

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Infrastructure

• Sanitation

• Waste collection

• Underground tanks (storage, storm surge, septic)

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The Key To Successful Underground Tanks • Right design

• Right mould

• Right material (ideally hexene) & powder

• Right processing – optimum cure

• Right handling and installation

• Standards

• NEED ALL OF THE ABOVE 26

Transport Related

• Road “furniture” – signs, bollards, bins

• Automotive – trucks, tractors, earth movers and buses

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Replacement Of Traditional Materials

• Wood

• Steel

• Concrete

• Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP/FRP)

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Identifying Opportunities?

• Existing customers

• 1000’s of existing Roto products globally

• Relationships with foreign Rotomoulders

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Promote The Process!

• Not enough people know about Roto

• Common misconceptions

• Educate…

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Education

• Colleges and universities

• Designers

• Customers and OEMs

• Shop floor and management training

• StAR

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Do You Too Believe That Roto In India Should Be Growing Much Faster?

• Embrace new technologies

• Improve design, moulds, materials, processing

• Innovate & new products

• Educate

• Support StAR & enjoy the conference!!

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Thank you! martin.coles@matrixpolymers.com matrixpolymers.com