44 PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 06/22 www.petpla.net ONsite Major Saudi converter Al-Sad benefits from Sipa’s preform technology and support Saudi Arabian preform and bottle cap producer Al-Sad operates four Gen4 versions of the XForm 500 t machinery from Sipa, making PET preforms for mineral water bottles. Among the four systems it also has one Sipa’s 180-cavity preform moulds. At its plant in Riyadh, Al-Sad produces PET preforms in four different weights: 7.9g, 8.5g, 9.1g, and 10.4g. Every day, the four XForms together produce over 10 million preforms. Al-Sad Vice President Zeid Al Nazer says the company decided on Sipa’s XForm because of its productivity, short cycle times, low energy consumption, its high overall efficiency, and its low physical footprint. Al-Sad also appreciates Sipa’s responsiveness and prompt after-sales service. Sipa states that a key advantage of the XForm system is the reasonable production cost that it offers along with high reliability. The advantages can be exploited with moulds of all cavitation. For example, one factor especially important at this time is energy efficiency: The XForm consumes less than 200Wh for every kg of PET it processes. Numerous factors make this possible, but Sipa stars that highlights among them include the machine’s all-electric toggle and the Kers Kinetic Energy Recovery System – not unlike that used in Formula One racing – that stores braking energy and then reuses it to accelerate clamp closing. Servo-driven hydraulic pumps and good insulation on the extruder barrel also play their part. Other important features are the robustness of XForm, which is claimed to result in low maintenance costs. This extends beyond the machine itself to other important elements of the total system: Sipa’s guarantee for the cold half of the mould, for example, covers 11 million cycles. High uptime is further ensured by low mould changeover times made possible by ease of access to the mould and PMC (PostMould Cooling) area. High preform quality and consistency are further advantages that all add up to the low TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the system. Al-Sad was impressed by the ability of the Sipa team to install the latter system and put it into operation during some of the most difficult months of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Sipa’s Regional Sales Manager says: “We put an almost incredible amount of effort in making sure that everybody involved in the project was kept safe during the installation period. Regulations and norms in operation at the time were extremely strict, and obviously we abided by them all. But we still got the job done in the allotted time.” www.sipasolutions.com 180-cavity mould BEYOND THE HORIZON PROCESS SOLUTIONS FOR POLYMER RECYCLING AND SOLID STATE POLYMER UPGRADING Polymetrix, a Sanlian Buhler Company, provides process technology including EPCM services for the polymer recycling and manufacturing industry. Leading supplier of rPET systems and integrated rPET plants for single line capacities up to 70’000 tons per year. www.polymetrix.com www.slhpcn.com
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