ARMA Conference, Sydney, Australia - Day One
Jonathan Wurr - MD of Francis Ward - has travelled to the other side of the world to take part in the ARMA Conference in Sydney, Australia. During the conference he will be sharing his experiences and views on a daily basis. View of Sydney Harbour from the zoo."It is my first time in Australia and it was fabulous of Leisa Donlan of ARMA to arrange some activities for some of us to get a feel for Sydney on Saturday. Feeding a bilby (a small marsupial) at the Zoo was fabulous, and the ferry from the Zoo across the harbour as an introduction to the city was something that will stay with me forever. At the conference proper, Bloys Rijkmans of Vanglobe Matrix spoke about crosslink PE. I wonder if we can make UN-approved drums from it, as a back-up alternative to our current certified material? Bloys reminded me that it CAN be recycled as a filler in other processes, but not back into mouldable PE as it is a thermoset. He talked about some of the quality problems that can beset XLPE parts, something for us to be aware of now we are one of the few UK rotomoulders to work with crosslink. Italian Marco Serralunga talked about his eponymous company that designs and manufactures rotomoulded outdoor furniture and flowerpots. The emphasis is on design and he uses different processes to create those designs, most recently rotomoulding. I loved the 'mistake' mouldings that mimic Murano (an island in my favourite city of Venice) glass vases. Marco explained how ‘Italianness’ allows him to make uniquely 'seductive' products that justify rotomoulding prices. He creates some truly beautiful moulding that he exports to 58 countries - we even saw them in the street on a tour of Sydney yesterday. See some of his work at www.serralunga.com. Last night's food was in a local restaurant serving Brazilian meat feasts at your table. 'All you can eat' always suits me, although I am always put off by the sight of dozens of chicken hearts on a skewer. Despite the tiredness from my travelling, I managed to network in the bar until a decent time of night before I finally succumbed to jetlag."