PETpla.net Insider 08 / 2017

CAPS & CLOSURES 14 PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 08/17 www.petpla.net Sacmi Imola, Alessandro Falzoni, Closures Technological Laboratory Manager In beverage markets worldwide, what trends are particularly driv- ing the caps and closures sector? We feel that the trend is still towards light weighting, with the double purpose of achieving:  cost reduction  the sustainability targets which several brand owners decided to adopt. While a few years ago light weighting was the sole or main driver, new light weight designs are now often pursued with consumer convenience and new needs in mind. Practical examples of such trends are:  extended-height caps for ergo- nomic gripping  knurl patterns for easy gripping  smart hinge cap. What cap types are you focusing on as far as R & D activities are concerned? Of course, we are following the trends described above. On top of that, considering that our technol- ogy, CCM Continuous Compression Moulding, allows to change the top wall thickness and thus the weight of the cap simply by pressing a button on HMI, we are proposing multi- purpose caps to our customers. For example, with the same mould you can produce a 2g cap for PCO1881 CSD and you can reduce the weight to 1.8g per cap if the cap is intended for use with still water only. The process of weight reduction does not apply only to the short caps that are very common in Europe and USA. In other markets, such as China and Africa, relatively tall neck fin- ishes are still used. We revised and improved old designs in order to achieve weight savings as high as 30% when compared to caps used in the years following 2010. For exam- ple, we are launching a 30/25mm cap as light as 1.58g on the market, when, until not so many years ago, the same cap would have weighed 2g. The beauty of the whole trend is that a well-designed and correctly manufactured lightweight cap will deliver the same performance of older designs, but with other advan- tages:  shorter cycle time  better size control  colourants have less effect on shrinkage  lower opening torque. The drawback is that caps are more delicate and should be handled more carefully. For which cap material (PP, HDPE, PET,…) are you seeing the biggest growth opportunities? We see HDPE as the dominant resin and it is going to stay, thanks also to the huge resin improvements achieved in the past years by many resin suppliers. The growth for PP might come from sport caps or hinge closures, where transparency is required. We did trials with PET several years ago, encountering several obstacles (removal torque, brittle- ness, long cycle time); we do not think PET will soon be a resin to be used for beverage caps. We also did trials using bio-polymers (bio- degradable or/and from renewable resources) achieving results which could allow industrial application of the resins; we are waiting to see where the market will move. RPC, Marvin Pyritz, Marketing: In beverage markets worldwide, what trends are particularly driving the caps and closures sector? The trends driving our course are as a main point sustainability. As it is a well known fact that we have limited resources on our earth, we really need to think about how to use and even more important how to re-use/ recycle these resources in more efficient ways. In addition the chang- ing climate is also a huge problem, concerning all of us. We, as a big producer and supplier of products that are used in several parts of our lifes, are committed to find solutions to build a better and more sustainable future - specific to save our resources and to decrease the carbon footprint we are producing. And following from this, a main point is lightweighting. We are seek- ing to find solutions to decrease the weight, which means the material needed to produce our closures, whilst at the same time delivering the same features and performance. Our third focus is the continuing growth of e-commerce. E-commerce means often, to have really rough shipments and for this, current clo- sures and packaging are sometimes not ready to arrive safe at the cus- tomer or consumer. We are working to improve our range to have our products ready for e-commerce. What cap types are you focus- ing on as far as R&D activities are concerned? Our R&D activities are always focusing on value- added closures and innovation. For example our latest sport caps range which is a single piece (snap hinge) closure with an internally tamper evident band. You don’t need to remove the tamper evi- dent band with your hand and then find a waste bin, it just cracks when the closure is opened for the first time and afterwards it stays within the closure. Additionally, as it is a snap hinge closure, you will never lose the lid as it could happen with a two piece sport closure. Moreover, you can use it with one hand which makes it even more comfortable.