PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2016

LABELLING 63 PET planet Insider Vol. 17 No. 10/16 www.petpla.net The evolution of shrink sleeve systems Dressed up bottles Since the birth of the PET bottle, there has been a search about how to decorate and label it. At first, it was difficult to label the bottle because the panels supposed to receive the roll fed or adhesive label were vertical, limiting the bottle design. With its shrink sleeve solutions, Italian company Finpac is freeing the bottles from form restrictions, offering new ways to “dress” them. Today, the evolution of the sleeve system is clearly evident; simply going to any supermarket we can find hundreds of coated and coloured products. The problems that occurred on the way of reaching this level were multiple and complex: in 1994, the maximum speed for sleeving a 500ml bottle was 200bpm. Since then there has been an important evolution in both the film used (now 85% shrink- age is achievable) and for the applica- tion of the sleeve on every conceiv- able shape. To manufacture shrink sleeving machines with a range of models that reach 36,000/4,000bph, Finpac coop- erated with major suppliers of com- plete production lines. This speed requires a high standard of design and construction to fulfill the quality demands for the final products. The sleeve application onto the PET bottle can be made on both empty and filled bottles. Today, pro- ducers in the beverage sector con- stantly request increases in line speed and this led Finpac to develop a line with two heads capable of 72,000bph (for 100/500ml bottles), with two par- allel conveyors applying the sleeve. The machine has been designed to allow easy access for maintenance and changing bottle size. The system can also accommodate dif- ferent bottle forms and volumes and cater for partial or total body sleeves on the same line. The DL HS model is said to have an attrac- tive throughput because the two heads are com- pletely independ- ent. If one head has a problem, the other can compen- sate by increasing the speed to maxi- mum with a mini- mal loss of produc- tion. Additionally, format change is claimed to be low cost and rapid. The system offers an integrated quality control for the application of the sleeve; this monitors the sleeve position and rejects any non-conformances. The system also includes two steam tunnels designed to make a perfect shrinkage even at temperatures as low as 70-80°C (to avoid deformations of the caps and possible adverse on the product). The DL HS machine is capa- ble of achieving up to 72,000bph, suitable for filling lines that reach 48,000/60,000bph, as it has an over- capacity of 15-20%. www.finpac.it