Injection Compression Molding: Who will be first?
A plastic cup as a food container has several journeys ahead of it - and it's always about efficiency. The efficiency with which it is produced, stacked and transported to the bottler. The efficiency with which it runs through the filling line there and is transported to the supermarket shelves together with its contents. And the efficiency with which it finally passes through a sorting and recycling plant on its way back into the cycle.
In the PDF article in the trade journal “Plastics Insight”, you can read why an ICM thin-wall cup is more efficient and sustainable than a thermoformed cup with a cardboard sleeve.
ICM thin-walled cup (Fakuma 2023)
The article describes an application that we presented at Fakuma 2023. Watch the video to find out the key highlights of this exciting packaging solution.
Transparent, thin-walled and highly recyclable: Packaging made from PET
As a manufacturer of plastic packaging, do you want to make products from PET in the future or are you generally interested in possible alternatives to PP? Then you should plan a visit to Netstal at the NPE. In Orlando, we and our system partners will be demonstrating what sustainable and recyclable thin-wall packaging can look like. At our stand W223, we will be producing a thin-wall cup made of 100% PET on a hybrid Elion 3200. The transparent cup can be processed together with empty PET bottles into high-quality recyclates.
The recycling rate for thin-walled plastic packaging, such as cups for dairy products or spreads, is still low worldwide. This contrasts with PET bottles, which play a pioneering role in recycling. Across Europe, half of all PET bottles placed on the market were already recycled in 2020. The trend is also rising worldwide. However, if all types of PET packaging are considered, the rate is still 35% (source: Statista). Due to its good recyclability and the established recycling systems in several countries, the idea of using PET for thin-walled packaging and making it specifically recyclable is an obvious one. PET packaging must meet certain criteria so that it can be easily collected via the established collection systems and processed into rPET regranulate in the recycling plants together with PET bottles. This is an important prerequisite so that new bottles and packaging can be created from all PET containers.
"Clear packaging or the absence of color additives is preferred for PET packaging in order to achieve the purest possible quality of rPET. At the NPE, we will be showing such a PET cup that is optimized for recycling."
Reto Gmür, Produktmanager Packaging
The thin-walled PET cup weighs around 15 g
Sustainable PET thin-wall cup produced in a climate-friendly way
We have developed such a recycling-optimized solution for the NPE and in collaboration with our system partners. The clear cup weighs around 15 g and has a filling volume of 450 ml. We process virgin PET from the Eastman Chemical Company. We put the cups into the NPE recycling program so that the material remains in the PET cycle without loss. The labels are also made of PET and are provided by the Belgian IML specialist Verstraete. Our Canadian partner StackTeck provides the test mold with two cavities as well as the IML robot that inserts the labels into the cavities and removes and stacks the finished cups.
The PET cup is injection molded in a cycle time of around 4 seconds on our Elion 3200. With its electric toggle clamping unit and hybrid injection unit, the injection molding machine delivers the necessary speed, performance and dynamics. By recuperating kinetic energy from the clamping unit, the Elion is one of the most energy-efficient injection molding machines on the market. In high-speed applications, the Elion is in efficiency class 8 and higher of the latest Euromap 60.1 standard. The unit with RFC injection control shines with its leading shot-to-shot consistency. This is only available from Netstal in this form: The force-dependent pressure changeover is independent of the material properties and enables our customers to keep the part weight within tight tolerances at all times. You do not pay any extra for the leading Netstal precision, because the highest precision has been standard at Netstal for decades.
High-performance and energy-efficient injection molding machine: the Elion 3200
The Elion 3200 is equipped with the optional adaptive pressure reduction. This optional function helps you to save energy. If the pressure reduction is activated, the hydraulic system pressure is permanently adjusted to the optimum point. This option offers you enormous advantages. With a lower pressure, the axles of the machine are less heavily loaded. This has a positive effect on availability. However, the main benefit is the further reduction in power consumption. You produce particularly efficiently and at the lowest unit costs.
World record: Alltrista manufactures 128 beverage caps every 1.9 seconds
At the NPE you will experience high-performance injection molding in its purest form at Netstal. Together with our system partners and customer Alltrista®, we will be presenting the world's most powerful production system for lightweight beverage closures. The key data are impressive: 26mm water closures, 128 cavities, 1.9 second cycle time, 25 % material savings. Read the story to find out how this project came about.
At Alltrista, the production of 26mm water closures is running at full speed on two production lines. Anyone familiar with the subject quickly realizes that a very special application is in use here. You rub your eyes in amazement: is this a mold with 128 cavities that is moved here with a cycle time of 1.9 seconds? Can that be true? Yes, it is: Alltrista is the first company in the world to produce over 3 billion closures with a program like this. To be precise: 3.1 billion caps. We can announce this with a broad chest: We are proud to be part of this success story with our leading injection molding technology.
But let’s hear from our customer first.
“We wanted to be the first manufacturer to operate a system with 128 cavities in less than 2 seconds. With Netstal, z-moulds and Intravis, we have found the best system partners for this project. Each company is a leader in its field and the combination is unbeatable from our point of view. We simply thought: if this is to work, we need exactly these three partners. With the first two 128-cavity systems, we are now producing more efficiently than ever before, can deliver at any time and delight our customers. This has given us an enormous competitive advantage.”
Christopher Navratil, CTO at Alltrista’s parent company
Innovative mold-machine combination pushes physical boundaries
Let’s go into a little more detail. Water closures of the 26 mm type are produced for still water that is filled into PET bottles. Thanks to an innovative design, z-moulds was able to make its mold as small and light as a 96-cavity mold. This results in decisive advantages for the user. Compared to previous 128-cavity molds, the mold fits into a machine with a smaller tie bar distance. The compact design of the mold also means that less mass needs to be moved. An important prerequisite for the fastest possible cycle times. Consequently, running 128 cavities with a cycle time of less than 2 seconds is a world first. At Alltrista, the lines run at around 1.9 seconds. Occasionally it is also 1.85 seconds. The complete production system also requires very little floor space. Each line produces 1.55 billion closures per year on around 50 square meters. More output per square meter of production area is currently not possible.
Maximum productivity in a small space: At around 50 square meters, the Alltrista production system only requires a small footprint
Significant energy savings and 25% less plastic
More output is a great thing. Add to that savings on materials and electricity and you have efficiency at its peak. Comparative measurements have shown that the Elios 4500 with 128 cavities consumes around 12% less electricity than comparable machines from the competition. However, these were equipped with only 96 cavities. In addition, the application engineers at Alltrista were able to make the closures 25% lighter and therefore much more sustainable without compromising their function. Based on the full programm productivity of 3.1 billion closures per year, Alltrista saves over 930,000 kg of material. This corresponds to the weight of approximately 160 adult African elephants.
Intravis high-speed downstream quality control
However, the enormous number of caps is not yet ready for dispatch immediately after demolding. Before they can be filled into octabins, the closures pass through the downstream equipment of our system partner Intravis. The CapWatcher Q-Line carries out a comprehensive 360° full inspection of the closures. Today’s computing power makes it possible: up to 80 closures per second are checked for more than 40 quality criteria with an accuracy in the hundredth of a millimeter range. The cavity-related inspection is carried out with up to nine high-resolution cameras. An enormous amount of data that is processed in real time. The high performance gives Alltrista the certainty at all times that the closures are flawless immediately after production and that customers are only supplied with good parts.
A look inside the CapWatcher Q-Line. The system uses 9 high-resolution cameras to check up to 80 caps per second for more than 40 quality features
Alltrista: Innovative contract manufacturer from South Carolina
All in all, the Alltrista production system for 26 mm closures is the new benchmark in terms of speed, productivity, efficiency and sustainability. Two identical system solutions for closure production are currently in production at Alltrista. Alltrista Plastics LLC specializes in innovative, high-volume precision manufacturing. From rigid packaging and custom molded solutions to assembly, filling and kitting, Alltrista supports customers in the medical, healthcare and consumer goods industries with a wide range of products and services. The company’s ability to assemble strong teams on a project-by-project basis allows it to be flexible on even the most challenging orders.
Christopher Navratil confirms: “This closure application is proof of our innovative strength and our unbridled desire to keep pushing the technological boundaries. We are proud that, together with the experts from Netstal, z-moulds and Intravis, we were able to increase productivity by at least 30 percent in this project. For us, this is a prime example of how companies from the USA can work successfully with partners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.”
Alltrista attaches great importance to the continuous improvement of its own sustainability. The company was audited by Ecovadis in 2023 and received the silver medal for its sustainability performance to date. Alltrista ranks in the 88th percentile of all companies assessed by Ecovadis and among the top 7% of peer companies.
Witness the Alltrista production system live at the NPE in Orlando
As mentioned at the beginning, we will be presenting an identical production system for 26 mm closures at our NPE stand. Alltrista will have its own staff on our booth to provide information from the customer’s perspective. For detailed information on all the company’s services, we also recommend a visit to booth S22065 in the South Hall, where Alltrista will be showcasing its full range of contract manufacturing and injection molding products and services.
Visit our NPE exhibitor profile and plan your visit:
CAP-Line
At the NPE you will see a Netstal machine labeled CAP-Line for the first time.
With the CAP-Line, we offer specifically pre-configured injection molding machines for closure applications. The CAP-Line 4500 on our stand is based on the high-performance Elios platform and is equipped with various features for the efficient production of beverage closures.
The CAP-Line 4500’s all-electric toggle-type closing unit with a drying time of 1.4 seconds enables cycle times of less than 2 seconds. Thanks to the optimized barrier screw, we can use a smaller injection unit. The new screw design ensures a higher plasticizing performance and a better degree of homogenization. Further options are available for individual optimizations, such as our four-button Smart Operation or the adaptive system pressure reduction, with which you can achieve additional energy savings.
With the new concept for the CAP-Line, we are aligning our portfolio even more closely with our customers’ applications. As a closure manufacturer, you benefit from a system that is individually tailored to your application. However, pre-configuration speeds up the consultation and quotation process so that delivery times for the machine are as short as possible.