Not long ago, SIPA broke through a barrier of multi-cavity PET preform production with the first mold in the world to hold 180 cavities. The mold was the same size as one with 144 cavities, but advanced hot runner technology allowed SIPA to insert an extra 36 cavities; that’s an almost incredible 25% more.
Well, SIPA has just gone and broken its own record. It has now made a mold containing no fewer than 200 cavities for preforms with necks up to 28 mm, typical for mineral water and beverage bottles. The mold still has the same external dimensions, so it can be mounted on an XFORM 500 GEN4 injection molding machine.
This 200-cavity mold makes it possible to produce over 140,000 preforms every hour, making the investment in an XFORM 500 production system even more cost-effective than ever. It is just what major packaging companies are after: with a single system producing more preforms, they can cut consumption of utilities, be more efficient in the use of labor, and tie up less valuable floor space.
They can also maximize the potential for packaging line integration. One preform production system with a 200-cavity mold could be used to provide input for two bottle production and filling lines running at 81.000 bph.
SIPA developed the 200-cavity mold using the principles that applied to the 180-cavity mold making no compromises on quality and reliability.
SIPA Preform Tooling Manager comments: “We have the ability to create extremely well-balanced hot runner systems that are virtually unconfined by limits on geometry. SIPA’s GEN4 hot runner design concept provides best-in-class balance, long maintenance intervals, and excellent ease of access when intervention is finally required.
“By increasing output on a 500-tonne machine without making it run faster – rather than running a mold with fewer cavities and shorter cycle times to achieve similar output, but putting extra stress on the machine – we can help the processor prolong equipment lifetimes.”