SIPA’s XFORM 500 preform injection molding system is getting another upgrade. The 500-tonne system is already into its third generation since it was introduced at NPE 2012 just six years ago. It stands out for its speed, its versatility (it accepts any generation of legacy tooling from any major mold maker), its energy efficiency – consumption is under 220 Watts for every kilo of PET consumed – and its reliability. These are for sure also the reasons behind the record in sales volume for SIPA XFORM on this first part of 2018. Now, a new feature on the mold cold half lets XFORM 500 stay out even longer between pitstops. Till today, GEN3 third-generation cold halves were guaranteed to run for eight million cycles before maintenance was recommended to ensure that there was never any flash over 0.2 mm. SIPA can make this guarantee, thanks to the use of its LongLife surface treatment and a strong mold structure with very low deformation, high precision and high reliability – as well as optimized cooling. 11 million maintenance-free cycles Eight million maintenance-free cycles is a lot. But now SIPA is going well beyond this. It is extending the guarantee period by close to 40% – to 11 million cycles. More time saving, more money saving, more satisfaction all round. The XFORM 500 is capable of running with preform molds holding up to 180 cavities while XFORM 350 can accept molds up to 128 cavities. This means that between one refurbishment and the next, the system can produce almost two billion preforms. That’s a lot of bottle.