In its July 2015 report titled “Beverage Containers,” The Freedonia Group, Cleveland, forecasted that plastic beverage container demands will account for 148.8 billion units by 2019 in comparison to the 124.9 billion units in 2014, which equates to a 3.6 percent annual growth rate from 2014 to 2019. With the demands for plastic beverage containers proliferating, plastic bottle manufacturers are challenged to meet the diverse needs of beverage manufacturers.
Arne Wiese, product manager of bottles and shapes for KHS Corpoplast GmbH, Hamburg, Germany, says that two opposite trends are impacting the plastic bottle manufacturing market right now: dedicated versus flexible lines.