PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2018

CAPS & CLOSURES 26 PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 10/18 www.petpla.net “The issues we faced were: cost; the global shortage; high prices, including the cost of transportation; and long lead times,” said Grant. These issues were also affecting the ability to supply markets such as Russia and Africa. PSD had all the resources it needed when it came to production of preforms and flat cap closures but the manufacture of sports caps was a different scenario. Utilis- ing internal technical knowledge and Coca-Cola Amatil selecting the right external partners for the project was paramount. “The company could have gone in for a ‘me too’ like-for-like product, as The Coca-Cola Company owns the intellectual property (IP) for the Mercury caps it uses, but Coca-Cola Amatil wanted to turn necessity into an opportunity, to take the product forward,” said David Chalmers. This included addressing some issues with the existing design, which was not totally reliable with warm-fill nitro dose technology; sealing; and historic tamper evident (HTE) features” said Chalmers. Added security The sports cap is a three-piece closure, comprised of the base, slider and overcap. The external base tamper band is located at the bottom of the thread and there is a second tamper feature where the overcap joins the base. Closures used for products in the Coca-Cola System need to pass their “Tamper Evident Testing”, known as “Historic Tamper Evidence” (HTE) testing. The design is the first-of-its-kind to be approved by The Coca-Cola Company. At the same time as addressing the issues of security and perfor- mance, especially in extreme tem- peratures and with nitro dosing, the opportunity was taken to address the issue of materials. The presence of two complicates recycling and adds an additional layer to the manufac- turing process, so the decision was made to go with just one: HDPE. Its strength and rigidity characteristics are different from PP, which meant that attention had to be paid to struc- tural integrity during the design pro- cess. Weight was not so much of an issue, as the sports cap is a premium product. “We didn’t have an end weight target; our priority was the design features,” said David Chalmers. “We were prepared to add weight to achieve quality and security approval from Coca-Cola; we could have gone more aggressive in regard to light weighting but then we would have been in the same position as our existing suppliers. We knew what was required and undertook design and safety iterations ourselves, until we were confident this cap would pass the tests. We became the first company within the Coca-Cola organ- isation to pass the HTE and Packag- ing approvals, in the first attempt.” The design process: two years and multiple iterations There were plenty of challenges along the way, including getting the slider to perform its functions prop- erly, and to feel right while doing it. The spout itself had to dispense at the right flow rate and achieve the right ‘drip performance’. It took a total of two years, plenty of human resources and numerous iterations of the design until it was right. We were fortunate to be joined by Michael Fink, Vice-President Sales and Marketing with z-Moulds; Michael Ludemann, General Manager of Husky Injection Molding Systems ANZ Pty Ltd; and Rod Druitt (CEO) and Michael Furlong, of Universal Closures Ltd (UCL), which is based in Tewkesbury, England, as well as Wahroonga, Australia. Mischa Bechtolsheimer, International Sales Manager with Eckel & Sohn, was also present for the launch ceremony. UCL was briefed to improve the existing cap design and to ensure approval for the tamper-evident features – a major consideration, according to Rod Druitt. “The existing designs only had provisional approval,” he explained. “Our brief was to ensure that the whole closure would be approved by The Coca-Cola Company. Not just the base – the cap as well. We were also tasked to come up with a design that could be assembled satisfactorily, would deliver ‘drinkability’, would pro- tect the product and would cope with warm fill.” Along with the requirement to shift from two materials to one, while keeping familiar ‘feel’ and visible fea- tures, it was quite a challenge. UCL, Husky and z-Moulds collaborated closely in developing the finished product. F.l.t.r.: CCA managing director Alison Watkins and David Chalmers, Opera- tions Manager, CSD, at the official open- ing of the SyLon Mercury sports cap production line at Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia Final assembly of the SyLon Mercury sports cap. Finished units can be seen on the conveyor visible through the lower part of the window just right of centre. Explaining how the SyLon Mercury sports cap is put together A view of the Sylon Mercury sports cap production line, including raw material storage bottom right.