technical window

01/2020

SIPA starts up mold refurbishment and conversion center at new plant in Brazil

SIPA has begun refurbishing and converting injection molds for PET preforms at its new South America Refurbishment and Conversion Toolshop in São Paulo, Brazil. SIPA recently moved into the location, which also serves as its South American hub for sales and technical service.


The new operation covers an area of 1100m2, full of equipment incorporating the very latest technologies, providing SIPA mold experts with capacity to upgrade at least six molds every month. VP Brazil & Conosur Director at SIPA Sul America, emphasizes that SIPA will work on molds made by any major preform mold maker, not just SIPA itself. “In fact, most of the work we are likely to carry out here will be on molds from other suppliers,” he says. “This is very much in line with the way things work at our other mold refurbishing and converting operations around the world.”


Today, SIPA operates mold refurbishing centers at its headquarters in Vittorio Veneto, Italy, as well as in the Americas (Atlanta and Los Angeles in the USA; São Paulo in Brazil, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico) and Asia (Bangkok, Thailand). The company’s most recent investments, not just in Brazil but also in the USA, have proven to be hits with customers, with major projects being carried out for some of the most important PET preform producers in the continent.


SIPA already has a strong reputation in South America, just like it has in other places around the world, for its expertise in refurbishing molds. In fact, it has already carried out work for such well-known PET preform makers as Lorenpet, Plastipak, and Engepack, as well as other major converters.


SIPA uses the slogan “Works like the first day” to send a strong message to customers that by the time its technicians have finished their expert work on molds in need of repair or an upgrade, the molds will run just like a brand-new mold.


The company refurbishes hot halves and cold halves. The biggest call comes from users of large molds, typically with 96 or 144 cavities. “Not so long ago, we took on a project for complete cold-half refurbishment on a 144-cavity mold,” says SIPA Sul America’s director. “It took us less than two weeks to have the mold back up and running, performing as if it were brand new.”


Customers have a range of options when they want to optimize a mold. They can have a regular refurbishment, with old components being replaced by new ones to ensure ongoing preform quality; or they can choose to have the mold converted to produce a completely new, most likely lighter, design of preform.


SIPA Sul America’s customers want a reliable and competent supplier for this type of service, a partner who can provide them with a highly cost-effective way of upgrading production without having to make a major investment in completely new tooling. They know this is what they get from SIPA, now more than ever.


Customers can also benefit with SIPA’s LCS Life Cycle Service, a comprehensive package of services aimed at increasing the overall effectiveness of customer operations, through such activities as improving the reliability and availability of equipment, analyzing productivity and part quality, improving personnel performance, and collaborating on planning.

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