PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

NEWS 9 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net Sidel opens training lab in Beijing Sidel inaugurated its new Beijing Technical Training Centre in June 2011. The 900m² facility, located within the Sidel Beijing Plant, is nominated as the company’s Asia Centre of Excellence and offers both classroom and hands- on training services. Sidel says that the Asian market’s rapid growth means that beverage manufacturers often have to fast-track training programs to raise the expertise of their ser- vice engineers and operators. The new facility includes blow- moulding machines, a laboratory with simulation benches for the configuration of standard and aseptic fillers, and a Combi automation desk that simulates machine synchronisation requirements. The new Beijing Technical Training Centre also features virtual reality equipment for enhanced interaction and offers a wide range of training courses for both blowers and fillers, for applications such as sensitive products, water and carbonated soft drinks. Over 200m² of the facility is dedi- cated to blowing equipment training. It has a fully-equipped laboratory including different kinds of filling valves, manifolds, programmable logic controllers (PLC), Syncro-Combi simu- lation, and aseptic filler instruments and actuators. Three classrooms provide theoretical education, and a virtual reality room allows trainees to interact with projected models. More than 150 training programs are scheduled in 2011, providing training to an estimated 1,200 trainees. www.sidel.com APPE, ColorMatrix & KTW together on barrier tech APPE, the packaging division of LSB, has announced a major collaboration with ColorMatrix and mould manufac- turer KTW (now a subsidiary of Husky) in the development and launch of a new barrier technology for PET and other plastic containers. The system will initially be targeted at the juice industry and subsequently introduced for wine and food applications. It will be unveiled at the World Juice Confer- ence, Madrid, 3 to 6 October. The concept was devised by ColorMatrix; APPE and ColorMatrix worked together to develop the system for commercial and industrial use. This project included the development of a special closure, cre- ated in association with KTW, that forms an integral part of the barrier. APPE says the new system will offer a number of advances over existing barrier technologies in terms of clarity of material and recycling potential. Product shelf life trials have shown that it delivers good results in areas such as prevention of vitamin C loss and oxygen ingress. APPE is the only company licensed to sell the technology. ColorMatrix said that it chose to work with APPE because of its record in the industrialisation of new technologies and its position in the PET packaging the companies sharing knowledge and exper- tise in bottle and closure design and manufacture. www.appepackaging.com www.colormatrix.com www.husky.ca SACMI, the world leader in equipment for closure manufacturing , presents its latest state-of-the- art Continuous Compression Molding model CCM48SB , developed for the production of lightweight single-piece HDPE closures. The primary advantages of the CCM48SB : t Reduced cycle time: only 2 seconds as opposed to 2.4 seconds for the previous model. t Reduced energy consumption: just 0.4 kWh/kg t Reduced maintenance times: in the design process all parts for the CCM48SB were scrutinized, and engineered in order to reduce overall maintenance and change over time. All CCM are characterized by their compactness, low power consumption, short cycle times, low maintenance costs, extremely fast color changeovers, and outstanding control flexibility. The CCM offers an exceptional production process repeatability as well. Sacmi Imola S.C. Via Selice Prov.le, 17/a 40026 Imola (BO) Italy Tel. +39 0542 607 111 - Fax +39 0542 642 354 E-mail: sacmi@sacmi.it www.sacmi.com Full compression.