Octal FAQs

There are several factors that make Octal unique. First, the quality produced provides users with greater yields as the specifications have been greatly narrowed. With one metric ton of our product, packagers can make more packages than with product from another supplier — ultimately the most important unit of measure. Second, it's the scale. Octal will be five times larger then its closest competitor and the only truly integrated manufacturer.

Octal has made a large investment in R&D and are focused on research and process optimization. The Company has also made a significant investment in process software to ensure high volumes of productivity and controls.

Octal's integrated PET resin and APET sheet complex covers more than 400,000 square-meters of land and structures. Octal's investment stands less than one kilometer from the Port of Salalah.

Octal's solutions are focused on supporting thermoformers' strategies for cost reduction especially when you consider that 80 percent of the product cost is resin. Octal's PET resin and APET sheet production facility enables them to deliver, on a repeat basis, tolerances for sheet thickness previously unheard of in the thermoforming sector. Sheet processors will experience greater productivity and product uniformity. This translates to increased overall through-put and more uniform product quality. This is true roll after roll and lot after lot.

Plus or minus five percent is the standard tolerance/variation on sheet thickness in the industry, meaning that there could be a -/+ 20 micron variation from suppliers on 400 micron sheet. Thanks to process control technology (caliper control) and integrated software programs, Octal are able to bring the tolerance down to plus or minus one percent. What this means is that customers can order thinner gauge sheet and know exactly how many packs they can get from the material they buy, enabling them to save money and increase their yields for specific end use applications.

State-of-the-art customized equipment used by Octal ensures rolls of sheet are usable from the outer layer all the way to the core.

The tension control and edge of the rolls is perfect because Octal has invested in the winding equipment and they can run at high speed with down-gauging opportunities. The combination of the above two factors enables thermoformers to operate at higher speeds and provide overall savings for end-users. Octal is focused on stabilizing the manufacturing process to save thermoformers money (between three to eight per cent).

Octal entered the market in December 2006 with 20,000 tons of capacity and added an additional 10,000 tons per year in September 2007.

The new integrated complex will provide a further 300,000 tons of PET resin and APET sheet.

Octal will then be five times larger than the next producer of merchant APET and will have the capacity to produce nearly 20 percent of the total industry output of the material.

Octal believes believe that APET is a superior product. It offers great mechanical and optical properties with both merchandisers and thermoformers. This investment makes available large quantities of products that enable brands to convert their packaging needs to APET. Consumers are increasingly demanding convenience packaging, and APET is the fastest growing material for the clear rigid plastic packaging of food and consumer products. Its clarity, gloss and mechanical toughness make it the ideal material for goods that require product protection and shelf impact. The majority is used for the packaging of fresh foods, especially dairy products, where its oxygen barrier properties make it an ideal and natural choice. For example, supermarkets are turning into restaurants now, as well as walk-in/walk-out retail outlets.

Other potential markets include blister packs for kids' toys, clear rigid plastics packaging for food and dairy products, cups and a raft of other consumer products. Everything is sold on a hook these days, and APET gives brands the rigidity they need. Major brands have converted their packaging strategies to APET instead of other clear plastics.

Octal's operating plant is adjacent to Salalah Port in Salalah, Oman with distribution, sales and customer service operations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Octal's principal office is in Dallas, where they have our customer support and international sales. They have also established an office in Shanghai to monitor that important market and support U.S. and European customers, which source products from that important market. Octal is currently supporting European customers from the U.S. and Oman, and they plan to announce a European office on the continent shortly.

Octal's plant is adjacent to Salalah Port in Salalah, Oman - ideally located on the east-west trade routes, resulting in fast and efficient global distribution. Deliveries of APET sheet can be made to virtually any port in the world within 12 to 18 days. Distribution, sales and customer service operations are located in the United States, Europe and Asia.