PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2019

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 03/19 www.petpla.net 25 For constructing and building up a machine, 20 to 30 weeks are required. Fogg has been growing steadily in recent months: around 40 people have been taken on. Fogg is also very proud of expand- ing its refurbishing area and it has integrated IT and R&D to its develop- ment programme. Fogg’s latest move towards technological improvement is the addition of a 3D printing lab and a new 44 magnetic capping head system. Fogg’s 3D printing lab is equipped with 10 printers that vary in capabili- ties. These machines range in size with the largest having the capability of printing parts with 40” x 40” dimen- sions. These printers can print with a wide range of materials including rubber, nylon, PETG, polycarbonate, ABS, PLA, and IGUS. This range of materials make it possible for many different departments to utilise these machines. Before the printers, if Fogg was to make a back pocket (the part of the machine that holds bottles in place as they are filled) to test for a particular customer’s bottle, the engi- neers would have to draw it up, the machine shop would have to program the machines, and then they would machine the part on the router out of stainless steel. After testing the back pocket, if it is not perfect, everyone must go through the cycle again. With these 3D printers, the engineer draws up the part and just inputs the information and a prototype prints within hours in a cheaper material. According to Eric Meitz, a mechan- ical design engineer at Fogg, this pro- cess would take about 2 weeks to go through all the steps and be machined in the shop. With the help of the print- ers, an engineer can put the informa- tion into the printer and come back in about 11 hours and the part is printed and ready to test. Once the printed part is tested and finalised, it is sent to the machine shop and only must be milled once out of stainless. One more example of the clear time savings these printers provide is the difference in time it takes to The Model 44 magnetic capping head German Technology May 21-24, 2019, Guangzhou Hall 5.1, Booth S27 make a rubber gripper. Before the machines, the process would take 4 days and is now cut down to 6 hours. Due to the significant time savings, these printers allow Fogg to be more customer focused. Cutting down on the engineering release to production times, Fogg can greatly reduce lead times on custom parts. New magnetic capping heads The Model 44 magnetic capping head is the latest upgrade to the Fogg magnetic capping options. This newer version is easier to assemble and more user friendly. It is easier to take apart and work on for scheduled PMs. This model is a simpler design which allows customers to keep up on any maintenance or repairs inhouse instead of returning the clutch to the OEM/Fogg. The model 44 head is more robust to keep moisture out, allowing this capping head to perform better in aggressive washdowns. It is simple to adjust and features a more accurate torque as well. If one is looking for more torque, this new model is totally retrofittable to all Fogg designed cappers. This can be ret- rofitted to non-Fogg cappers through spartanparts.com . This Model 44 head can be set up for pick ‘n’ place, articu- lating, or random apply capping. www.foggfiller.com