King size

Numbering among the really big players in the international plastic consumer goods business is the Israeli Keter Group. Even its name expresses a certain aspiration, for Keter means “crown”. Founded in 1948 and still in private ownership, the group has 29 branches in Israel, Europe and the United States. Its products are sold in 90 countries all over the world, and the annual sales figure comes to around one billion US dollars. President Sender Tal, one of the four members of the board and a company employee for the past 30 years, explains that Europe is the most important market, while the US also takes a significant share of total sales. And emerging markets like Russia, Brazil, India and China are becoming increasingly important as well. “Innovation, differentiation, value” are the three things you want to be able to offer to retailers, according to Sender Tal. He stresses, though, that it is not a question of low-price goods here but of the creation of value – for customers all around the world. “Being a global player is a challenge,” says Sender Tal: you have to become involved in different cultures in order to achieve success in local business. Three years ago Keter set up an internship programme called d-Vision. This was designed to allow the company to take advantage of new ideas and the years of experience with plastic as a material in matters of product development and industrial design. Every year 15 university graduates are selected for the two-year programme, which is already notching up its first successes. These include a compost mixer that was presented at last year’s Spoga, where it was awarded the red dot design award for 2010. In the meantime, the producer of plastics also makes its presence felt on the subject of ecology and sustainability under the slogan of “Naturally Keter”. A brochure presented in the style of a picture book, for example, pinpoints the advantages of composting, sheds light on polypropylene (PP) as a 100 per cent recyclable material, and demonstrates products for waste separation and recycling. Keter Plastics, a member of the Keter group which produces in Israel, staged a great show at Spoga+Gafa on a stand 700 m² in size. Here the manufacturer presented new products from the categories of outdoor furniture, gardening and outdoor storage; the other five categories are tool storage, kids, indoor storage, home organisation and bath. The “Horizon” and “Infinity 86” garden sheds provide examples of the company’s…