PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2019

44 TRADE SHOW REVIEW PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 12/19 www.petpla.net TRADE SHOW review Heat-set upgrade for Lithuanian SBM machine It was very late in the run-up to the K show that Lithuanian machine manufacturer Flexblow decided to present “Double- Blow”, the latest version of its well-known Freedom range of models. The compact two-stage SBM machine is based on the company’s established frame design and is capable of making containers with a neck finish of 18mm to 120mm; this means that one single system can be used on a flexible basis for a wide variety of applications. The exhibit on display is designed to be of particular interest to hot-fill bottlers, as highlighted by the prominent “Hot-fill freedom” lettering on the machine. CEO Gintautas Maksvytis explained the key innovations. “Like the other models from our company, the system is fully electric,” he said. The specialist heating and cooling design results in an increased degree of crystallisation “This model manufactures bottles with a high degree of crystallisation for product fillings of up to 93 °C with, if required, oval bottle geom- etry; the oven comes with preferential heating zones. As well as virgin PET, the stretch blow moulding machine can processes rPET or PLA, at a maximum output of 2,800 bottles per hour.” Flexblow claims that Double-Blow has a power consumption of approximately 30 kW/h. The exhibit at the trade fair booth worked with a four-cavity system. As with other models from Flexblow the moulds aim to allow for a rapid change of less than ten minutes or a complete system change in approxi- mately 30 minutes. “Our integrated inspection system is also new,” Mr Maksvy- tis explained. “Temperatures are monitored and leak tests are carried out during the manufacturing process and the machine also measures the correct wall thickness of the containers, while they are being made.” The company is increasingly focusing on sustainable production at its Kretinga location. “Six months ago, we converted our manufacturing facility to green energy and we want to continue pursuing and expanding on this principle.” www.flexblow.com Moulding machine manufacturer goes PET Egg Harbor Township in New Jersey, located around one hour’s drive south-east of Philadelphia, PA, in the USA, is home to the head office of machine manufacturer Jomar. The company, whose history dates back to the late 1960s, has built and sold more than 2,000 injection blow moulding machines worldwide for a variety of plastic applications in the small and medium output range, primarily for non-food applications. External markets are particularly important for the company: around 80% of its production is destined for export. PET processing is not new for the company but, due to its increasing popularity in personal, beauty and health care pack- aging, i the logical next step was to expand their capabilities with PET. At the K trade show, Jomar presented the Technodrive 65 PET, its new, variable three-station IBM model. “We generally have a lot of customers who come from the extrusion sector and are looking for alternatives, or want to add IBM equipment to their production facilities,” Sales Manager Ron Gabriele explained. “The machine on the stand here is being publicly presented for the first time in Europe. It is specifically designed to process PET and then revert to more traditional IBM materials such as PP or PE.” The Technodrive 65 PET is the first Jomar machine to focus on PET. The model on display featured six cavities, producing 50ml perfume containers with a wall thickness of 0.7mm at a cycle time of 12 seconds and at an output rate of approxi- mately 1,700bph. A maximum of eight cavities is possible; the smallest neck size is 8mm diameter. Full changeover, including screw exchange, takes approximately 4½ hours. The compact machine (L: 292 x W: 198 x H: 341 cm) has a drying cycle time of 1.8 sec and an average consumption of 24.7 kW. In addi- tion to PET, the system can also process other plastics, such as HDPE or PP. www.jomarcorp.com F.r.t.l.: Aidas Vizgaudas, lmantas Maksvytis, Gintautas Maksvytis and Kay Barton Sales Manager Ron Gabriele in front of the Technodrive 65 PET