PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2012

TRADE SHOW REVIEW 28 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 05/12 www.petpla.net Sipa meets the new preform system Prosecco Reception Prosecco reception with Gianfranco Zoppas (right), Enrico Gribaudo (left) and Alexander Büchler (centre) in front of the XForm It was at the NPE that the Chairman of Sipa, Gianfranco Zoppas, Sipa Corporate Gen- eral Manager Enrico Gribaudo, and Alexander Büchler met up to celebrate the launch of XForm, the new preform system. Sipa’s intention is to shake up the market with this and to achieve the Number 2 spot in the preform equipment market within a short space of time. Their intention is backed up by a system that is both robust and fast. We have previously reported on the technical details in issue 3. At the Fair the Italians were show- ing a lightweight preform with a thick- ness of less than 0.8mm in the neck finish area. What this actually means is less than 1.8mm in the body area. They were showing this preform – which is difficult to inject – at the Fair within a production environment rather than under laboratory conditions. “Our intent is to demonstrate that the machine itself is capable of mastering difficult preforms of this nature with- out any problems”, says Gianfranco Zoppas. The equipment at the NPE Show concealed its power in its deceptively quiet operation. The mould closing movements could hardly be heard on the exhibition floor space. Production speed was very fast, with a cycle time below 6s. The visual impression of its power comes from the increased tie bar clearances of 1,050mm. This makes tool changes considerably easier. The job needs to be completed within three hours, says Gribaudo. The post-mould cooling unit has double the number of aftercooling stations as is the case with other sup- pliers. Instead of the usual three, Sipa manages, by rotating the take-out plate, to leave the preform in the robot arm for aftercooling for the equivalent of six cycles. This helps enormously in the case of the thick-walled preforms. The new XForm has a very robust mould design and is the first system in the market with mould life warranty. One of the major advantages of the XForm is the flexibility: it accepts the mostly used moulds (old and new generation) present in the market. The equipment can also cope with the processing of PET flakes, a process which is increasingly in demand. For instance, it can process 50% flakes with a reduction of only 10% in plastifi- cation capacity. Sipa stated that the interest raised by the presentation of the new pre- form system went beyond all expecta- tions, while the feedback from all lead- ing players has been excellent. A new 10,000m² building has been added to actual Sipa facilities dedicated to the production of the new XForm. Sipa was also exhibiting their new SFL WM for stretch blow mould- ing of wide mouth containers. “The wide mouth sector is experiencing above-average growth” says Gribaudo and he continues: ”More and more applications are migrating from glass to PET”. So logically speaking, simply re-tooling a normal linear system to wide mouth was a far from simple matter. Sipa have, with SFL WM, now launched an independent machine on the market. 130mm containers with, for example, four cavities, will go through the system. The system is primarily designed for converters who need to produce a number of different designs. “The 2-stage process is very well suited to flexible production; for large quantities and single-size formats we recom- mend the single stage solution”, is Gribaudo’s mission statement. As a sole supplier, he is happy that he is able to offer the customer single-stage as well as dual-stage, depending on the needs. www.sipa.it