PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2015

PACKING / PALLETISING 28 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 12/15 www.petpla.net Tour Sponsors: Think tank by Waldemar Schmitke February 20, 2015 We met: Michael Hodges, Director, Communications and Public Relations, David Feber, Vice President, Global Research, Development and Advanced Engineering, and Ann A. O’Hara, President, LiquiForm with Sidel, machine manufacturer, for licensing the LiquiForm technol- ogy globally. PET packaging currently accounts for 86% of the applications, and with the remaining 14% coming from plastic materials for use in extru- sion blow moulding processes. Rigid Plastics The head office of Rigid Plastics Beverages for North America have been located here in Manchester, MI since the mid-1990’s and houses the R&D Center with a Design Studio, pilot plant operation, full testing laboratory and even one of the pilot machines for LiquiForm, a one-step blow and fill technology. We are welcomed by Michael Hodges, Director of Communications and Public Relations, and a team made up of employees responsible for product and market development. What immediately strikes the visitor is that the design and engineering work- stations are arranged centrally over a large area on the second floor and provide direct access to a central con- ference room. This is in turn partitioned by large panes of glass, providing a view into the pilot plant, which is sited on the first floor and at the same time giving the impression of sitting in the engine room, so to speak. “This room,” as Michael Hodges explains to us, “is our so-called think tank, the central area in which employees from the lab and engineer- ing departments and our customers regularly meet to exchange ideas. This is a culture that we have built up here which allows us to respond very quickly to the demands of industry and our own plants and to implement the ensuing requirements. Teamwork takes priority when it comes to task manage- ment. Here in Manchester we handle over 200 development projects a year, from basic concept through to the filled container or bottle based on the required specifications. The range of applications covered by these develop- ment projects extends from customer beverages to CSD and water, food, spirits, home and personal care right through to pharmaceuticals.” David Feber, Vice President of Global Research, Development and Advanced Engineering, took us through a typical project sequence. “It all starts with the idea for a new package, e.g. replacing glass with PET. Our in-house design group meets with the customer first to understand the product that will be packaged. Once a design is conceived and drafted, our advanced engineering team then takes to the computer and compiles a bottle design proposal for new PET packaging. “Vir- tual Modelling” bottle dimensions and preform layout are optimised in conjunc- tion with top load calculations and a stress test simulation. In the case of ribbed bottles in particular, the arrange- ment of the ribs, geometric reinforce- ments, has a significant effect on top load and bottle weight. It is only at the next stage that a 3D scanner gener- ates, in layer format, a plastic model of the PET bottle modelled on the computer. Approval and acceptance of the bottle triggers the green light for the production of a single blow mould which is manufactured here within the facil- ity. The corresponding preforms come from Husky injection moulding systems, similarly from single-cavity moulds in accordance with the preform geometry previously specified. The whole thing can take as little as 10 days, if it has to,” Ann O’Hara, President, LiquiForm (right), with team members of LiquiForm. Holding a filled, 0.5 litre PET bottle with still water produced in accordance with the blow/ fill - process PACKAGING special Today our schedule is point- ing us in the direction of packaging specialists Amcor Rigid Plastics in Manches- ter, Michigan, USA. Rigid Plastics is part of Amcor Limited, an Australian pack- aging company. Listed on the Australian Securi- ties Exchange, the company’s head offices are located in Hawthorn near Melbourne, Australia. Amcor creates packaging solutions using rigid and flexible packaging prod- ucts for circulation within the food, bev- erage, healthcare, home and personal care and tobacco sectors. Amcor Limited employed more than 29,000 people in 43 countries in 2015 and registered a turnover of US$10bn, some US$3.3bn of which is generated by Rigid Plastics in 58 plants in 12 countries. Rigid Plastics also maintains Joint Ventures (50/50) with Bericap, specialists in closure caps, for sup- plying closures in the Americas, and