SIAPI with new products at NPE 2012

The New EA4 and EA7 Stretch-Blow Molders : Custom PET ContainersThis year, 2012 is an important year for Siapi as it marks the 20th Anniversary in business. And, Siapi’s new range of linear stretch blow-molding machines continues to maintain the company’s time tested high quality manufacturing standards, repeatability, and reliability. Ranging in size from two(2) to ten(10) cavities, the new line now offers increased production capabilities through new options and kits created specifically for stretch-blow molding of demanding custom containers such as those used for cosmetics, household chemicals, etc.   All of the machines in the range can be equipped with next generation Siapi Advanced Infra-Red (IR) oven banks. These high efficiency oven banks provide high energy penetration resulting in reduced energy consumption and ultimately in optimized material distribution in the final bottle. Even further precision material distribution and weight savings of up to fifteen percent (15%) can be achieved on oval and oblong bottles with the Preferential Heating option. This option can be installed on the entire machine range; and, unlike other competitive systems, there is no cycle time penalty with the Siapi Preferential Heating System. While already well-known for quick-change bottle format flexibility, Siapi has further improved upon its machine changeover process by :1) Reducing the Type and Quantity of Change Parts2) Utilizing Tool-less Quick Release Systems3) Employing Mold Changeover Cart SystemsThe new quick-er changeover platform means :1) Minimized Changeover Time2) Increased Production Uptime3) Minimum Production Investment4) Reduced Staff TrainingThe result is that a complete machine format changeover, including blow molds and change parts, can now be done in a little as 30 minutes.In order to support our cutting edge technology, Siapi Packaging Design & Development Department offers comprehensive packaging development for designing, simulating, sampling, and testing containers in sizes from 250ml up to 40 liters and with neck finishes from 24mm to 180mm. Our combination of experience, expertise, and engineering guarantee successful innovation for our customers. The new Siapi Neck Orientation System coupled with Preferential Heating is ideal for blow-molding containers for custom bottle applications with an oblong or oval body. In this application, the preforms must be consistently and repeatedly positioned in the mold with the same orientation (using Orienting Geometry on the preform support ring). The system is easily accessible and enables a quick changeover between various neck finish formats. And, again, unlike other competitive systems, the Siapi Neck Orientation System has no impact on cycle time or loss on production output, due to the innovative preform synchronization and transport system. The Neck Orientation System without Preferential Heating provides precise and repeatable positioning of neck finishes on round or square containers with respect to the two(2) key bottle axes. The Bottle Exit Orientation System aligns and delivers oval and oblong custom containers exiting the machine in a consistent orientation. This consistent orientation is necessary for delivering containers to automated empty bottle palletizers as well as directly to in-line fill, label, and case pack applications. A new water cooler for the American marketOver 50% of our installations in the last two years have been Siapi’s large-shape blow-molding machines, an area in which the company has been working for over ten years and where it has achieved a strong competitive advantage, and market leadership position.Siapi’s 1-to-5 cavities blow-molding machines for large capacity containers - from 5 up to 40 liters - reach an hourly production rate that can go up to 5,500 bottles per hour for a 5 liters bottle or 1,500 bottles per hour for a 20 liters container. In this area, Siapi manages to satisfy the most demanding customer requirements by offering the highest hourly productivity and unmatched process flexibility and optimization. The EA1S monocavity is the blow-molding machine of reference for the market of large-size containers dedicated to the production of containers from 5 liters to 40 liters. The market for beer, for example, has identified Siapi’s extra-large blow-molding machines as the best technology for the manufacturing of innovative PET KEG.Siapi then developed the EA2S platform which, in the SUPERFLEXIBLE version, is equipped with a stretch-blow-molding system ready to produce with 5-3-2 cavities respectively 5, 10 and 20 liters containers, only by replacing the mold and selecting the correct software configurations on the monitor.The EA1S and EA2S blow-molding machines can be equipped with the HandleMatic system, which allows the automatic insertion of the handle during the blowing phase. This system, applied in the two-stage process / equipment, is one of many patented Siapi Technologies.Because of the reliability of this automation, an important project for America was recently developed by SIAPI for the conversion of a water cooler from PC-to-PET with inserting the handle: the conversion objective was to maintain the same functionality as the previous version, and providing a product that did not have the problem of BPA present in PC.Among the latest developments in this area, and one of the most interesting is certainly the lighter 5 U.S. GALLON water cooler available on the market, which Siapi created from new generation preforms as light as 330 grams for the Middle East market.After the previous solutions for 4-and-5 Gallons water cooler units, Siapi’s R & D Department has achieved extraordinary results with this ultra-lightweight bottle, able to work on a standard dispenser without collapsing. The manufacture of a container of large capacity at such a light weight requires, in fact, an extremely accurate reheat and stretch-blow molding process because, the control of material distribution must be very precise due to the low amount of plastic (PET) available. Numerous detailed studies and a simulations were developed with structural analysis software and laboratory tests that would guarantee the results would match the container’s project design.STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS PETWall and Profiler ®Siapi, in collaboration with COMSOL, developed study models for the numerical simulation of finite elements of PET containers. SIAPI decided to use this tool to combine the design of a container with the simulation of its performance and, by doing so, optimize the system while minimizing the need to prototype the applications.The performance simulation of a container makes it possible to verify the limits and the criticality of the container, anticipating problems and Identifying appropriate design solutions. This process ensures the reduction of prototyping costs and time. Another advantage of the application of structural mechanics is the ability to provide customers with a detailed analysis of simulation and a list of causes leading to the variations from the original project in order to achieve the required specifications. For Siapi, Structural Analysis improved especially the manufacture of large capacity containers or special containers.Besides, when we move to very low weight bottle, the bottle design itself is not sufficient to guarantee bottles with good performance. It is absolutely necessary to consider the complete process, including preform design and process parameters, to achieve a consistent minimum wall thickness necessary to prevent bottle deformation. Therefore, Siapi is working with AGR, using their PETWall Profiler ® applied to large size bottles to manage the production process to a very fine wall thickness control to keep the bottle profile close to the target.Stack LockTM : a case of successful change-over to PET for containers 50% lighter and STACKABLEAnother practical and extremely current application, confirming that Siapi is the ideal partner for the new challenges in change-over projects to PET, is the line of stackable containers with a square base of 10 liters, 16 liters and 20 liters, which the company developed initially for the North European market and which is now becoming of great interest in Central and North America as well. These containers are used primarily in the food-oil sector, as well as in the chemical industry.A recent successful case history is about converting a container for environmentally friendly fuel from HDPE to PET which managed to achieve a reduction of 50% of the original weight. A special design was created to make the container stackable up to 4 layers, giving the customer a great advantage in terms of logistics and transportation.    The weight reduction and the strength of the material, combined with the possibility of total recycling as well as the maximum functionality achieved through inserting the handle into the neck of the container make PET the ideal solution for low-environmental impact solutions with a significant reduction of CO2 emissions during road transportation.Wide mouth for the American marketUpon request of the North American market, Siapi began developing the Wide Mouth technology since 2004 by launching a series of EAWM 1-2-3-4 cavities linear blow-molding machines for containers with openings up to 180 mm in diameter and with a capacity of 12 liters.To date, Siapi is the benchmark for those customers looking for these applications, offering them a complete service that starts by design of the preform to the manufacture the container, and can include a preliminary prototyping stage, which allows validating the application before or in parallel with the launch of production equipment and molds.The areas of use are varied even if the most important relate to the food industry and in particular the conversion of the containers from glass to PET and from a single-stage technology to a two-stage technology.Two major case studies deserve special mention.The first is an important project in North America where Siapi led the conversion of a 500ml Jar with a 70mm neck from single-stage technology PET container to a two-stage technology. The driving force behind this project was the significant reduction in container weight of almost 30%. Siapi’s contribution involved not only the development of the container’s design but also the optimization of the profile of the preform. This container could be produced on Siapi Reheat Stretch-Blow Molding equipment at a rate of up to 4,800 jars per hour.The second case history concerns the Middle East market and in particular a project to produce 1.5 liters containers dedicated to the packaging of vegetable fat for seasoning. This is also a change-over from a single-stage to a two-stage technology that aimed to create a more appealing container from an aesthetic standpoint as well as added functionality for the end user. The customer has identified Siapi’s U-blower monocavity EA1WM as the ideal platform for this goal. The goal achieved was a vessel with an 83 mm opening, weighing 59 grams, with a productivity of 1,200 bottles per hour, to be filled at medium temperature to make the vegetable fat fluid and ready to fill the container.The change-over from a single-stage to a two-stage, in this case as well, has been made possible due to Siapi’s technology as well as the active co-operation with another partner company that has provided the preform molds. Siapi provided its PET expertise by optimizing the design of both the preform and the container; starting from the initial conceptual drawing of the container.

SIAPI AMERICA INC

David L. Batten, Sales Manager – North America

tel. 001.678.892.7200

tel. 001.877.834.5709 (toll free)

d.batten@siapiamerica.comSIAPI s.r.l.

Maico Zanco, Sales & Marketing Manager

Tel: +39 0438 4096

Fax: +39 0438 401016

maico.zanco@siapi.it