Preforms | packaging
The focus is shifting from production output to overall effi ciency in the latest energy-optimised preform
moulding systems. Chris Smith takes a look at the latest developments from Husky, Netstal and Sipa
Making gains in preform production
In the fi ercely competitive world of PET preform production performance counts. Fractional weight and cycle time savings mount up over millions of cycles, giving those with the most effi cient production tech- nologies a real advantage over their competitors. Of course, in a market as mature as the preform industry, technology development tends to be incremental rather than revolutionary but performance gains are, never- theless, measurable. Canada’s Husky Injection Molding Systems is the major player in the preform industry and the company does not intend to let that position slide. It has installed more than 300 of its HyPET HPP high performance preform machines since the fi rst system was launched in 2008 and has committed its development programme to delivering a minimum 5% improvement in its customers’ total operating costs – along with improved part quality – every 18 months. The launch at the end of last year of its HyPET HPP5 preform system is the latest evidence of that.
“HyPET HPP5 is the result of meaningful technology
refi nements to many areas that, combined, offer the most complete and integrated injection moulding system for preform manufacturing on the market today,” claims Husky’s vice president of engineering and business development Robert Domodossola. The
www.injectionworld.com
company claims an up to 12% productivity improvement over the previous HyPET HPP generation, with particu- larly big gains realised on preforms with neck sizes of 30mm diameter and above. “The feedback that we received from customers was that specifi cally for the 30mm and larger applications we weren’t as signifi cantly advantaged as we were with our CSD or water applications,” says Domodossola. “For CSD and water applications we offer up to 25% improvements in cycle time over our competitors and wanted to bring our larger neck sizes to the same level of performance.” HPP5 generational productivity improvements are
smaller for the sub-30mm neck diameters – around 3% - although Domodossola believes there is still consider- able scope to optimise preform design to improve this further. Citing the example of standard 28mm neck 500ml water bottles, he says the big variation in bottle weights and designs on the market today indicates that scope for further lightweighting is certainly not yet exhausted. “There is still signifi cant lightweighting opportunity for most applications,” he says. A key element in the performance gains of the HPP5
system is attributed to the mould, which includes integrated sensors that allow mould alignment and installation to be monitored continually in operation.
January/February 2014 | INJECTION WORLD 15
Main image: Sipa claims its newly
introduced mould
conversion service
supports faster introduction of new designs at lower cost
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