PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2010

PREFORM PRODUCTION 36 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 10/10 www.petpla.net An alternative preform production philosophy In 2009 Mold-Masters and Abba formed iPET and developed the iPET system first launched in 2009 (see Petplanet 10/2009, page 21) This system has taken the approach that a “better” mould is not necessarily a larger mould with more cavitation, more water and more resulting complexity. The people behind iPET consider a mould as better if it reduces the lifecycle cost of moulding. So the strategy of iPET is to offer a technology for preform manufacturing that aims to reduce infrastructure costs, energy consumption and cycle times while improving preform quality in the critical areas of AA levels, witness lines and oval- ity. In this article iPET explain their different approach. High cavitation and its drawbacks While there are certain countries and regions where it makes sense to employ high cavity moulds in order to achieve the highest possible output, there are also many places where lower output and higher flexibility is required. Historically, equipment suppli- ers to the PET industry have mainly focused on system output to reduce costs. Most of the efforts in improv- ing preform moulding economics were focused on increased output per capital via post mould cooling and larger cavitation moulds. However, there are practical limits as to how many cavities can be put in a press and how many stages of post mould cooling can be added. And with the ever increasing price of energy today it is important that a moulder con- siders the energy and infrastructure costs of moulding preforms in balance with output per capital. Energy costs are now the second most costly ele- ment of preform conversion. Undeni- able is the fact that if a 192 or 216 cavity mould has a quality issue, then the cost of lost production quickly mounts. In addition part weights have decreased significantly. Getting 144 Get more using less Mold-Masters/iPET Hall 1 Booth A39