PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2017

PREFORM PRODUCTION PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 06/17 www.petpla.net 21 The perfect bottle starts with the perfect preform The preform experience Whether one is running a high-speed bottle blowing line reaching speeds of 1,000bpm or a single cavity manual blowing machine, one of the most important factors that will define success is the quality of the PET preform and the capability of the supplier to adapt to ever- changing requirements. Large scale global manufacturers of PET preforms like Chemco have been able to provide customers with previously unavailable tools that are intended to make it easier and financially more economical to switch from other forms of packaging. Companies supplying blowing and filling lines to customers often ask for samples of preforms in order to ensure that the promised running speed can be achieved. Design- ing and delivering the perfect PET preform starts with understanding the customer’s requirements at a tech- nical level. This is where Chemco applies its knowledge of designing, prototyping, manufacturing and run- ning PET preforms in suggesting the best fit from its huge existing selection or design a completely new preform. Having several blowing line engineers and experts on its pay role in addition to the technical tie ups with various filling and blowing line companies, Chemco helps the customer in achiev- ing high efficiency rates from their cur- rent or new lines. The weight of the preform, though very important in terms of the com- mercial viability of any project, cannot be the only defining factor. Other considerations are important such as the customer’s installed equipment and manufacturing capability to the product’s shelf life requirement if any, the barrier qualities required to safe- guard the product, etc. The goal is to achieve the perfect balance between performance of the product without compromising on quality and without driving the price up by increasing the weight of the PET preform. Preforms for India – focusing on the country’s requirements Many large customers who have been using preforms as the primary source of packaging their products, have their own designs that have been tried and tested for decades. These designs evolve over time based on the geography of the prod- uct placement and with the availability of better manufacturing technology and equipment. A good example of this is Coca-Cola in India. Coca-Cola has a huge database of global knowl- edge and experience of which PET preform to source. Yet in India they have developed new preforms with Chemco that are unique to the coun- try’s requirements. After receiving all the neces- sary inputs, the company provides computer simulations of the blow- ing process that helps the customer understand what to expect with the preform they will source. This however is no longer enough. It is important for the customer to not only see what to expect on a com- puter screen but also experience the same practically in their facility. For this very reason, there is the option of prototyping that will allow the customer to get the preform in their hands and up and running on their machine before they go ahead with large scale commercial produc- tion. For prototyping Chemco can use one of its many smaller sized testing machines with a low cavitation pre- form mould to produce a test batch. In cases where the customer requires a high level of accuracy between the final product and the prototype pre- forms (more common on high output lines), Chemco can make change parts to replace a few cavities in an existing high cavitation tool to pro- duce a large batch. These preforms are automatically segregated with an online vision inspection system. The future sees the Mumbai-based company investigating and automat- ing the manufacturing of preforms with Industry 4.0, and is already embracing this vision. According to the company, it is not enough simply to invest in high speed lines for preform manufac- ture but to provide the customer with all the tools required under one roof. www.chemcogroup.com PREFORM special PET preform production capacity: 60,000 MT Locations: 10 Workforce: 1500+ PET preform range: over 100 different PET preforms