Preferential Heating Blow Molder uses linear technology.
Press Release Summary:
Built for flexible operation, SBO 4 Compact(TM) Preferential Heating machine can produce flat bottles and complex shapes in PET at production rates up to 5,600 bottles/hr and may also be configured to run standard production bottles. While optimized for preferential heating, SBO can also be run for standard production via reconfiguration that takes less than 30 min. Quick Change molds reduce format changeover times to 15 min.
Original Press Release:
Sidel to Unveil SBO Compact(TM) Preferential Heating at Pack Expo Chicago
The latest addition to the Sidel blow molder line provides flawless quality and production flexibility for complex packaging.
The need for flexible blow-molding machines that can efficiently produce a variety of simple and complex packages with minimal changeover downtime is met with the SBO Compact(TM) Preferential Heating from Sidel. Sidel will demonstrate the new linear blow molder at Pack Expo in Chicago (USA) November 9-13, 2008. This linear blow molder produces flat bottles and complex shapes in PET, at production rates up to 5,600 bottles per hour. However, it can also be quickly configured to run standard production bottles.
The first SBO 4 Compact Preferential Heating blow molder is already up and running at Novapak, an American bottler that for more than a decade has specialized in PET packaging for household goods, lawn & garden, automotive products, personal care and food & beverage.
Flexibility
Preferential heating is generally used to produce highly technical packages with complex designs at low annual production volumes. These bottles require a high degree of technical skill as well as flawless quality.
"Bottle design is very important, it's really the identity of the product. Brand owners want to have their own image, their own design. And quality goes without saying", states Alexander Magyar, Vice President of Operations at Novapak.
Thanks to its process expertise, Sidel provides optimal packaging/process adaptation and the best possible bottle quality. "We are very pleased with the processing of the machine and the resulting quality of the bottles," Alex Magyar explains. "We know that when we design a bottle, the machine can do it."
Machine flexibility is another important aspect, because owing to the diversity of models, production runs are short. "Our average run is two days," Alex Magyar states. "We have over 100 stock bottles available to anybody and close to 350 customer shapes that are specifically for one customer. With the number of molds we have, we want to get the flexibility to produce bottles with one machine, even if we're not running preferential heating."
Though fully optimized for preferential heating, this new SBO can also be run for standard production, with a simple reconfiguration of the machine that takes less than 30 minutes. In addition, Quick Change molds and "perso" parts reduce format changeover times to 15 minutes. This time gain helps to reduce the time required for new bottles to reach the market, which is a key parameter for Novapak's customers.
Simplicity
Because it is based on the same linear technology as the SBO 4 Compact blow molder, the greatest possible number of same functions and components have been incorporated into the SBO Compact(TM) Preferential Heating machine. The new blow molder enjoys the same industrial performance levels as the SBO 4 Compact and contains robust kinematics and simple mechanics to ensure reliability. It also demonstrates the same heating and stretching-blowing precision as high-speed Sidel machines, which makes it ideal for the production of the most demanding bottles.
The SBO Compact(TM) Preferential Heating machine has also benefited from the Sidel Group's R&D efforts to provide options that meet specific market needs. For instance, in early 2009, an air recovery system will be available to provide a significant decrease in high-pressure air consumption. A neck orientation option will also be made available for this machine.
Pack Expo International
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Nov 9-13, 2008
Booth S-2259
About Novapak
NOVAPAK is a leading US manufacturer of small-to-medium volumes of medium- to large-size plastic bottles (8 oz. & up) requiring rapid commercialization, customized designs and high package performance.
NOVAPAK leverages industry-leading capabilities in speed to market as well as unique packages in specific value-added niches through its custom bottle offerings, stock programs and preform business.
NOVAPAK was one of the first to enter the PET bottle market using a two-step PET manufacturing process, and has developed leading, diversified, and efficient PET manufacturing platforms that include integrated product design, project management, internal and external bottle preform manufacturing, custom and stock bottle production and decorating.
About Sidel
The Sidel Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of beverage packaging equipment. It employs 5,500 persons world-wide and is a division of Tetra Laval.
As a pioneer of the preferential heating process since 1994, Sidel today has nearly 100 installations in place and uses an exclusive, patented technology.
