PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2017

CAPS & CLOSURES 38 PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 05/17 www.petpla.net New ideas for more performances The sportscaps market has been a tough competitive environment from the start. In recent years, participants have been focusing on the effectiveness of their productive systems to secure a competitive edge. The goal has been to produce more parts per minute from within the same installation area. One solution has been pursued by Contexo, the machine builder from Winterbach in Germany. Contexo’s engineers have integrated compre- hensive quality-control and TE-proof feeders into compact continuous- motion systems. Their machine can be directly chained with an injection- moulding machine, and moments later pack the finished and fully inspected cap. This means high output rates are now possible on a small installation area. “The challenge was to build an exceptionally reliable and fast assembly machine on a small foot- print”, recounts Jürgen Müller, CEO of Contexo. “In our opinion, continu- ous motion combined with feeders for warm-moulded parts, and with direct inline inspection of those parts is the most effective solution.” Contexo is currently using this technology to build a machine for one of the largest beverage-closure manu- facturers. It counts as the third Con- texo machine ordered by the client this year. This means that production at the company will be state of the art. Machine tests confirm expectations: 1.3 million parts per day with 100% reliability. One sportscap is assem- bled, folded and inspected against 13 quality-control criteria every 6-hun- dredths of a second. Higher capacity through innovative feeding, fast assembly and inline control Contexo reaches these high speeds using continuous-motion tech- nology. A central tower with 36 tools assembles the parts, feeder satellites guide the parts at a perfectly con- trolled speed. This means each part experiences minimal stress and wear during assembly. Contexo has been investing in continuous-motion tech- nology for over ten years, and in that time further developed it. “When we started with continuous- motions systems over ten years ago, we were one of the fastest at 300 parts per minute. Now we are three to four times faster,” explains Jürgen Müller. However, assembly speed is only one condition required for high, market-conform output rates. The market now expects zero defects. End products have to be 100% flaw- less. This is why many producers have launched additional inspection machines in recent years. But they The highest speeds: almost 1,000 parts per minute are fed to the main tower by a satellite.