PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2014

ON site 46 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 03/14 www.petpla.net Nampak opts for Sipa’s XForm 500 preform system Nampak, headquar- tered in Sandton, South Africa, and Africa’s larg- est packaging company, has chosen Sipa XForm 500 preform production system to make juice and CSD bottle preforms for major beverages players on the South African market. The system was installed during 2013. Sipa supplied Nampak with a complete preform system that included the XForm 500 injection moulding machine equipped with a 72-cavity mould, together with another two 72-cavity cold halves, to produce preforms in various weights for production of bottles between 500ml and 2l in volume. Nampak’s history dates back to 1920, when it began making cartons. It now offers a comprehensive product range across multiple industries, manufactur- ing in metal, glass, paper and plastics. As well as South Africa, the company has presence in Zimbabwe, Bot- swana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Swazi- land, Tanzania and Zambia. It also operates in Europe, from nine sites in the UK. “Nampak was looking for a reliable partner who understands packaging development,” said Giovanni De Rosa, Southern African Area Manager at Sipa. “We have our own office in South Africa too, so we can stay on top of things here.” The two companies are work- ing together on a number of other projects, covering stretch-blow moulding as well as injection moulding. Nampak has declared itself very satisfied with both the XForm 500 and the relationship it has developed with Sipa. “The system has been running smoothly since the day we first switched it on, achieving excellent pre- form quality,” said Mthandeni Mkhize, Technical Direc- tor at Nampak Petpak. “Sipa has done a good job with know-how transfer to our people, and on-site service is available with all the right skills, which helped provide a smooth transition. We are happy to have found a part- ner that can support us in both technology and packag- ing development.” Sipa says that the XForm 500 has the capability to handle moulds with up to 144 cavities. It will accept moulds from any supplier and the moulds can also be changed over quickly: Sipa quotes a downtime of just 3.5h. Energy efficiency has also been a focus in the system’s design. Moulds can be cooled with water at 14°C rather than the traditional 8°C, for example. Post-mould cooling is carried out in six stages. Continuous low speed screw rotation minimizes the stress on the PET to ensure minimal genera- tion of acetaldehyde. Sipa further claims that XForm 500 performs very well with rPET flakes: through- put drop is less than 10% with 50% flakes. www.sipa.it Sacmi doubles output in Venezuela Empresas Solar, which has been involved in the beverage, food and packag- ing industries in Venezuela for over 70 years, recently commenced operations on an all-new made in Sacmi production line at its Bode- gas Pomar plant. It is designed to produce around 6,900 filled 1.75l PET bottles of Sangrìa Caroreña/h. The line includes a filler – and associated conveyor belts – manufactured by Sacmi Filling; a new labeller-sealer from Sacmi Verona; and a bundler and palletiser made by Sacmi Packaging. The new line, which was implemented under the auspices of Sacmi Beverage, has enabled Empresas Polar to double its output capacity. The plant’s high degree of automation will allow the company to boost its monthly production of Sangrìa Caroreña alone from 160,000 to 240,000 bottles. www.sacmi.it Coca-Cola Brazil launches award-winning Crystal Eco Spaipa, the third largest bottler of the Coca-Cola brand in the Brazilian territory, was recently acquired by Coca-Cola Femsa Mexico. Spaipa’s four factories, in Curi- taba, Mariingá, Marilia and Bauru, operate a total of 14 bottling lines producing Coca- Cola, Fanta, Sprite, fruit juices, Powerade, mineral water, and beer. The latest addition to the range, Crystal Eco mineral water, is packaged in a bottle that contains 20% less PET. PE Labellers has recently supplied an Adhesleeve N810/18T linerless labelling machine for the application of wrap-around labels on 500ml and 1,500ml cylindrical bot- tles. A pressurisation system for empty bottles, with a speed of 36,000bph, is installed below the blower. This installation can apply labels to empty bottles and the company says that requirement for adjustment of the height of the air conveyor belts for different size bottles is no longer necessary. PE Labellers says that this particular version of the Adhesleeve was designed with an ergonomic machine body, circular guards and a double labelling station on the peninsula, in order to improve safety and make replacement of the empty roll easier. It is also claimed to be 28% more efficient than a traditional hot melt labeller. In November 2013, Agua Crystal (Crystal Eco) was confirmed as the winner of the Grandes Cases de Embalagem 2013 award. www.pelabellers.com