Saudi Arabian preform and bottle cap producer ALSAD is a big fan of XFORM from SIPA. It now has four GEN4 versions of the 500-tonne version making PET preforms for mineral water bottles. It also has one of SIPA’s unique 180-cavity preform molds.
At its plant in Riyadh, ALSAD 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.
ALSAD Vice President Zeid Al Nazer says the company values XFORM for its high productivity and short cycle times, and also because of its low energy consumption, its very high overall efficiency, and its low physical footprint. ALSAD also appreciates SIPA’s responsiveness and after-sales service.
A key advantage of the XFORM system is the unparalleled production cost that it offers, especially when it is running with a 180-cavity mold. But whatever the mold it is holding, the XFORM always scores high in numerous performance categories. For example, one factor especially important at this time is its excellent energy efficiency. XFORM consumes less than 200 Wh for every kg of PET it processes.
Numerous factors make this possible, but 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 optimal insulation on the extruder barrel also play their part.
Other important features are the well-known robustness of XFORM, which manifests itself 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 mold, for example, covers no fewer than eleven million cycles.
High uptime is further ensured by low mold changeover times made possible by ease of access to the mold and PMC (Post-Mold Cooling) area. High preform quality and consistency (shot-to-shot weight variation is under 0.025%) are further advantages that all add up to the low TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the system.
ALSAD was impressed by the ability of the SIPA team to install the most recent system and put it into operation during some of the most difficult months of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Says SIPA Area Manager: “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.”