CAPS & CLOSURES 19 PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 12/21 www.petpla.net Krautkrämer: This is due to the neck support ring (NSR) diameter. Most current 1881 necks in the market are using a very wide neck ring diameter of 33mm. The cap then touches the ring when opened and can only be fixed at an angle of 160°. We recommend using neck support ring diameters of 31mm or even as low as 29mm as these neck support rings do not interfere with a 180° opening angle. You can see how well this works on an OGEU bottle which has this smaller neck ring. (Pictures above) And by the way, the smaller neck support ring also allows further weight reduction in the bottle neck. PETplanet: Which brings us to the neck geometry. Does the bottler have to switch to new geometries? Krautkrämer: This always has to be checked on a case-by-case basis. Bottlers can continue to use their neck finishes currently in use even though we highly recommend to reduce the neck support ring diameter. Nevertheless the new CSD neck GME 30.40 has been developed and is in the stage of market introduction. GME 30.40 provides a weight saving for neck and closure of 1.4g for NSR 33mm and even 1.61g for NSR 30mm. But, of course, I have to consider a bottler’s whole production system, can he/she make step-by-step changes, do they have to switch several lines at the same time etc.? As I said, there is no general answer. PETplanet: You said that the ClipAside is a ThisCap idea and that you have a licence to use it. Does that mean that other cap producers can also obtain a licence? Krautkrämer: Yes, and I think that is a good thing. Ideally one but no more than three technologies have to become established at large scale in our market so that we are able to produce the necessary unit quantities. In my view, it does not make sense to have a hundred different alternatives. Just providing the ClipAside for all neck sizes from 26-38mm involves a huge amount of effort and investment. We have already qualified and introduced the ClipAside for the PET 26 (GME 30.40), PCO 1881, PET 29/25 and PET 38 2- and 3-start. We can also supply samples for the PET 26/1-and 3 start, PCO 1810, PET 33-2 start and the Snap-on PET 26/10. We are well prepared to support our customers with large volume line trials and accompany them through the qualification and introduction process. PETplanet: Thank you very much, Mr Krautkrämer! Opening angle of 180° with narrow neck ring (left) versus an opening angle of 160° with wide neck ring (on the right) Individual test: Opening of various tethered cap solutions The Editourmobil at Bericap’s premises in Budenheim, Germany
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