PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2014

CAPPING / CLOSURES 33 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 01+02/14 www.petpla.net plete systems. The Allrounder remains the flagship, but the “Packaging“ (P) variant has undergone consistent fur- ther development aimed at providing an energy-efficient solution“. Products The Arburg machine concept “Packaging“ (P) incorporates injection moulding machines with hybrid drives, with clamping forces from 1300kN to 4600kN, tie bar distances between 520 and 920mm and with the number of cavities ranging from 24 to 96. Typical packaging proposal The system featuring a 290ton machine for 72 cavities is a best- seller. All-rounder 460 (P), hybrid, e-injection:  4600kN clamping force, tie bar dis- tance 720mm,  72 cavities  Standard beverage closure 1811 for water, 2.3g, cycle time ~ 3.0s  Mould: Schöttli USP in their own words Long-term tried and tested robust technology. Special design ”Packag- ing“ (P) for caps & closures:  Optimisation of moving platens (rigidity)  servo-electric toggle-switch clamp- ing units with energy recovery on braking  servo-electric metering drives  dynamic injection optionally servo- electric or with hydraulic accumula- tor (Hidrive)  control functions such as start-up parameters and cycle time overlap dispensing. Looking ahead Andreas Reich: ”Our intention is that Arburg should come to be per- ceived more as a specialist in packag- ing rather than simply challenging the established manufacturers. We are working hard on this new strategy”. Engel We met: Dr. Christoph Steger, Chief Sales Officer and acting Vice President Business Unit Packaging Friedrich Mairhofer, Product Manager All-electric Machines Engel is one of Europe’s major players in injection moulding. Since machine making is secondary to machine application and the spe- cial requirements in every applica- tion field, Engel, anticipating current trends already in 2007 created Busi- ness Units focusing on the follow- ing sectors: Automotive (strongest segment with 40% of sales), Packag- ing, Medical, Teletronics, Technical Moulding. The main interest here is the packaging. Packaging includes the following applications: caps & clo- sures (35%), thin wall (25%), buckets (20%), as well as pallets and bulk containers (20%). For the production of caps Engel offers a special ver- sion of its 2005 introduced all-electric Engel e-motion series. The all-electric “e-cap” series, wich was launched in 2010, features a high-performance injection unit, increased ejector force and platen ejector as well as enforced clamp drive for high-speed move- ments. Dr. Christoph Steger quotes: “We have built up a significant body of application knowledge by learning from each customer’s individual needs throughout many systems we have brought into the field in recent years. Hence, today we together with our customers find an answer to almost every question and demand within short time. This con- tinuous dialogue with our customers helps not only to understand their indi- vidual needs but brings up new ideas and, out of these ideas, new products are born.” Right at the heart of things: the 72-cavity mould from Z-Moulds (1.8g UCL Design 28mm PCO 1881) clamped on an Engel E-cap 3440/380 Andreas Reich, Senior Sales Manager Packaging (left) and Reiner Schmid, Application Manager Packaging 360°