PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2015

ON SITE 43 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 04/15 www.petpla.net Azerbaijan Coca-Cola Bottlers invest in Sipas XForm 500 Azerbaijan Coca-Cola Bottlers, located in Baku, the country’s capital, is using the XForm 500 to produce preforms for Coca-Cola bottles ranging in size from 500ml to 2.0l. Azerbaijan Coca-Cola Bottlers is an existing Sipa customer and until now has been producing several preforms on first-generation systems. The XForm 500 was unveiled three years ago at NPE 2012 in Orlando, Florida. It stands among the leaders in terms of speed, with a dry cycle time of 1.6 seconds or better on a 400mm stroke. Sipa has sold systems running 144-cavity moulds to preform makers in Latin America, North Africa and Central Asia. The new EVO version of the XForm 500 features a high-speed cooling robot, which provides an effective cooling yet of preform body and neck, helping processors to cut cycle times while improving dimensional consistency in the product. The cooling system is particularly effective on preforms with thicker walls. Sipas’s own end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) can be configured with three or four cooling stages, and functions without a typical source of maintenance down- time, the photocells normally installed in standard EOATs. This is because the design incorporates faster communications that make it possible to check the cooling tube while the EOAT is moving below it. The EVO robot also accepts legacy EOATs, increasing the flexibility of the machine and eliminating additional costs. Machine operators and maintenance staff will appreciate the ease of access to the mould area for inspection and component replacement.On the injection unit side, the XForm 500 uses the classical configuration of a continuously run- ning extruder feeding a shooting pot. The low screw rotation speed ensures that material stress is low and there is only minimal reduction in intrinsic viscosity. Up to 50% of recycled flakes can be incorporated into the feedstock without the need for any modifications to the standard plasticising group. The XForm 500 can be fitted with either a 120mm or 140mm extruder, with respective out- puts of 800 and 1200kg/h. www.sipa.it ON site info@hasplastik.com Tel: +90 212 695 50 00 Fax: +90 212 694 97 24 .com Caps & Closures