American container maker Howard Packaging has confirmed its confidence in SIPA technology for production of PET bottles for engine oil additive. The Corydon, Indiana-based converter now has three ECS SP 80 single-stage injection-stretch-blow molding (ISBM) units producing small and medium-sized bottles.
Howard Packaging has pioneered the use of PET for production of engine oil bottles additives. It began branching out from its core extrusion-blow molding (EBM) technology for polyolefins and PVC back in 2015, when it invested in its first ECS SP 80. It now has a broad offering of PET bottles, ranging from 5.25 oz. up to 64 oz.
Lucas Oil, a world leader of high performance lubricants and a well-known presence on the Indy 500 car race circuit, is a major customer. Not long ago, it benefitted from collaboration between SIPA and Howard Packaging in the development of new bottles with narrow long necks to take its engine additives.
The U.S. partners appreciate the low weight and high performance of the PET bottles, which are very drop-resistant – nothing worse than oil all over the floor! Plus, single-stage production using the ECS SP 80 is an ideal solution when production requires numerous changeovers. The SIPA units run fast and efficiently, and the time and effort involved in changing format is low.
Howard Packaging gets excellent technical support from the people at SIPA North America. One of the many benefits is short turn-around times for any mold renovation or repair.