PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2010

BOTTLE MAKING 26 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 01+02/10 www.petpla.net Austrian Technology Stretch blow moulding plants up to 6,000b/h What does a stretch blow moulder need? This question (a no-brainer actually) has been re-interpreted by the two directors of the Austrian company PET Technologies Europe - Technical Director Roland Steurer and Walter Höbling, Managing Director. As far as Roland Steurer is concerned, there was no doubt about the requirement from an engi- neering angle: a machine that would operate reliably to produce reasonable bottles without any technical gadgetry. One operator should be able to master the machine inside a week, even if he has never seen a PET installation before. And, as regards the commercial aspect, Walter Höbling’s vision was similarly unclouded – it was to be cost-effective, at a price level that was pitched higher than Chinese and Taiwanese products, but substantially lower than the price of linear machines offered by the established machine manu- facturers. Both know what they are talking about; Roland Steurer was with Alpla for almost 20 years and then spent several years as the engineer respon- sible for stretch blow moulding sys- tems at Kosme, whilst Walter Höbling also has a Kosme background – he spent just over 12 years selling not only linear stretch blow moulding machines but also complete turnkey systems. They found a partner in the shape of a stretch blow moulding machine manufacturer with more than 10 years’ PET experience. Roland Steurer set about bringing the installations up to scratch technically. The heat- ing oven and the blowing air compo- nents in particular have been newly developed. The production is being outsourced. So far the following types of machine have been supplied: the APF 3002 with 2 cavities and a capac- ity of 3,000b/h, the APF 6004 with 4 cavities and a capacity of 6,000 b/h for 0.2 – 2.0l bottles and the APF 5 with 2 cavities, which will also handle 5.0l and 10l bottles in addition to the 0.2l – 2l range. The plant is suitable for the beverage industry, the cleaning agents and cosmetics industries as well as food-quality oil bottles. As far as the beverages sector is concerned, the machines tend to be more suited to projects in the emerging coun- tries of the world, because of the low output. PET Technologies Europe not only supply machines; bottle develop- ment and stretch blow moulds for all stretch blow moulding systems also feature in their portfolio. The machine control system has been kept simple – the operator will quickly find his way around. Com- plex functions such as, for exam- ple, adjustment of the pre-blowing pressure, are carried out directly on the machine by PET Technologies Europe, which means that there is no operator involvement. After little more than a year under development, 6 machines have already been sold. From left to right: Roland Steurer, Technical Director, Walter Höbling, Managing Director PET Technologies Europe and Alexander Büchler during the interview at the company’s head office in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.