PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2018

BOTTLE MAKING 16 PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 09/18 www.petpla.net Agr Process Pilot advances GEPP light weighting projects in Mexico 6g PET loss is big win bottle making This impressive weight decrease has been accomplished against a backdrop of shifting environmental conditions that add an extra layer of complexity to the blow moulding process. Despite temper- ature swings of 40°C or more throughout the day, Line 1 at GEPP’s Hermosillo plant, in the northwestern Mexico state of Sonora, turns out PET bottles that consistently hit the new light weighted target as it operates around the clock. Successful light weighting demands rigorous adherence to the material dis- tribution recipe developed for the bottle type. That is a lot harder to do when working with less material, observes GEPP Corporate Technical Manager Jesús López. Introducing a new level of control over bottle blowing, the Agr system provides the acute precision necessary to offset the impact of Hermosillo’s fluc- tuating temperatures. As López explains, “You don’t want to put the same amount of heat on a 90-degree preform as a 70-degree preform.” Pilot’s high-precision sensors, deployed in the blowmoulder takeout area, measure the thickness of each bottle at 12.5mm intervals along the sidewall. Agr’s proprietary algorithms instantaneously analyse the measure- ments and compare them to the recipe. If material distribution starts trending out of spec, Pilot adjusts the appropri- ate blowmoulder function control - for example, tweaking the preblow setting or lamp temperature - to maintain consist- ent production. Eliminating the need for manual intervention, which is frequently an exercise in guesswork even for skilled operators; this automated fine tuning makes sure the right amount of resin is distributed to the right area of the bottle, regardless of ambient conditions.The bottom-line impact of less material con- sumption, the Agr system has enabled GEPP, the exclusive bottler of PepsiCo trademark beverages in Mexico, to make other major productivity gains, especially when it comes to change- over. Hermosillo’s Line 1 produces a mix of no-, low-, and high-carbonation bottles for six different products: Pepsi, 7UP, Mirinda (an orange-flavoured soda), Manzanita Sol (apple flavour), Limonada (lime), and Epura (water) in multiple sizes: 600ml, 1l, 1.5l, 2l, 2.5l, and 3l. Changing from one container to another used to take an average of 2h - about 1.5h to replace the moulds in the 16-station blowmoulder, and then another half-hour for process verifica- tion and quality checks. Now, with the Process Pilot installed, the blowmoulder produces good bottles on start-up, with no need for sampling and tweaking, making each changeover 25% faster, while also saving 6,000 bottles from scrap. The benefits of robust bottle produc- tion also show up downstream in the integrated bottle-making and filling plant. López has noted far fewer disruptions in labelling, capping, and shrink wrapping due to non-conforming bottles. On the infrequent occasions when jams occur, “Pilot brings the process back to base- line two to three times faster,” he says. A seasoned bottle veteran who was heavily involved in GEPP’s transition to PET from glass in the mid-1990s, López is responsible for all PET operations across the company’s 25 plants. Her- mosillo, with its long-established history and operations team, represents the first site to mount a light weighting initiative in conjunction with the Process Pilot. The success of that effort, in tandem with faster blowmoulder start-ups, shorter changeovers, rapid jam recov- ery, and reduced scrap, has generated an attractive return on investment, not only on the 2l container but other sizes and types as well. It gives GEPP the confidence of improved bottle quality, which for López is the “paramount” con- sideration. Looking ahead, López would like to “standardise as much of the equipment and process as possible.” He nurtures the vision of installing the system on Hermosillo’s second blowing line and establishing the plant as the training site for all GEPP blowmoulder operations throughout the country. “Process Pilot manages how the blowmoulder makes the bottle so it always comes out the same,” López concludes. www.agrintl.com www.sidel.com With an Agr Process Pilot automated blow moulder control system mated to a Sidel SBO 16 universal blow moulder, Mexican beverage producer GEPP has trimmed the weight of its 2 l low carbonation PET bottle from 52 g to 46 g. Given blow moulder operating speeds of 24,000 bph, the 6 g reduction is saving the company approximately 7 t of resin over each 48 h production run.