PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2014

BOTTLE MAKING 42 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 11/14 www.petpla.net He continued: “Our aim is to increase the existing four single stage machines to seven, space has already been assigned for installation with the appropriate footprint and sales negotiations for two further machines are underway. Our customer base is predominantly made up of converters, but we are also looking to talk to the brand owners with a view to offering them our design service and techno- logical advice and consultation facili- ties and/or our own market and trend analyses. This in turn will help the converters to better understand and implement the requirements of their customers. Our aim is to win over customers by virtue of the service we offer and at the same time, of course, to ultimately win orders to ensure full capacity utilisation for our mould manufacture / tooling division.” Alan Tolley explained the compa- ny’s objectives: “We have a committed team available here on site with expe- rienced employees, some of whom have already been actively engaged in this business for more than 20 years, plus a large number of young people who have found their own niche within the company based on an education and training programme sponsored by R&D.” Single stage tooling The range of single stage tool- ing extends from 1 to 24 cavities and, depending on the customer, is primarily designed to take into account exist- ing Nissei and Aoki injection mould- ing/stretch blow moulding machines. “Every machine is different,” says Engineering Manager Gary Samson, “a challenge that our engineering team is happy to take up. For adapt- ing a very wide range of interfaces we need, together with our customers, to define the interfaces and coordinate our mould manufacture / tooling technology with the required specifications, taking into account short delivery times. Our competitors are primarily the machin- ery suppliers who themselves have proprietary mould manufacture / tooling capacities at their disposal.” Gary Samson gave us details of the company strategy: “The local neighbourhood is helping us to reduce what are, as a rule, highly complex and expensive works and, together with our colleagues in mould manufacture / tooling, to meet delivery deadlines of eight weeks for a tooling set. Our sales strategy is also geared to this. Our Sales department consists of six employees who are site-based and thus have access to internal expertise and are in direct contact with Engineering. Application areas for our mould manufacture / tooling include Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals, Household, Body Care, Beverages- with cosmetics reflecting the trend towards higher growth rates.” Although it is primarily PET that is processed (90%) there are also applications in the injection mould- ing/stretch blow moulding area for PP (baby foods) and PC. The markets for R&D UK are predominantly (85%) located in Europe but deliveries are also made to the Middle East, Africa and Brazil. The largest markets are, in order, the UK, Germany and Spain. Mould manufacture / tooling technology Hotrunners The hotrunner designated Gen- esis is an own product developed by the company. A thermal gate, in association with a hotrunner manifold balanced by means of pins, makes it possible to achieve a short sprue with a sprue height of approx. 1.3mm instead of the usual 3-4mm. Preferential heat pots The use of a preferential heat pot is possible in the conditioning station for the manufacture of PET bottles. In the case of uneven wall thicknesses within the preform, preforms may be inclined to bend as a result of the different cooling speeds that ensue. The result is an uneven distribution of wall thicknesses in the blow moulded bottle. With the preferential heat pot there is the option of heating only the cooler half of the preform and thus of achieving a uniform preform wall temperature. Stretch blow moulding unit Featured here is a special devel- opment for broad neck containers, namely the expandable blow core seal. This incorporates a high savings potential for compressed air with neck finishes of up to 40mm in diameter. The low-level blow moulding sta- tion has a rapid installation system with fixing pins on a universal back plate. The blow moulds are not fitted individually but milled in a block. This means a reduction in the components required for construction and the time required for mould changeover. Mould and tooling manufacturing General Manager James Ramsey: “Mechanical component manufacture takes place here on the premises. We make almost everything ourselves, only the surface annealing and heat treatments are sent out to companies in the area. Our fleet of machine tools comprises the most modern machin- ery in this category. For example, 5-axis high speed milling machines Alan L. Tolley, Managing Director R&D/Leverage UK