From 7th to 11th May 2018 the Sacmi Closures&Containers Division will be in Orlando at NPE 2018, North America's biggest plastics fair, to showcase all the very best it has to offer the industry.
Pride of place in Sacmi's display area (Orange County Convention Center, booth W363) will go to the CBF (compression blow forming) range. Using a revolutionary container-making process that employs compression technology, these machines produce final products directly from pellets. Since the CBF range can be used with all the main commercially available resins, it offers outstanding precision and versatility.
The CBF range actually combines the best characteristics of alternative technologies such as EBM, IBM and ISBM, making it extremely advantageous for a number of industries. This is largely the result of excellent thermodynamic stability throughout the process, no gate on container bottoms, high productivity and precision-moulded necks. These factors, combined with the excellent flexibility that stems from using different resins and – in general – the ability to produce blown containers at lower cost (up to 20% less weight, performance remaining equal), have made a marked difference on the market and some thirty solutions have already been installed in China, Japan, the USA, India and other countries.
Sacmi's research on the closures front focuses on the repeatability and precision of continuous processes and on cutting weight and cost. This goes hand in hand with a capacity to respond to the burgeoning market demand for integrated solutions for high-added-value product lines. The Group's latest cap manufacturing solution with the well-established CCM (continuous compression moulding) range, equipped with the COOL+ mould, offers a good example.
The application on show at the fair – for the manufacture of a lightweight version of a popular CSD cap – is just one of several Sacmi has designed for the strategic US market, which is constantly on the look-out for new solutions that combine lower weight, less environmental impact and innovative design. It's this capacity to design, together with the customer, the most suitable cap and preform solution – also with an eye to 'green packaging' – that makes SACMI the ideal partner, ensuring each new plant engineering project has everything covered from every angle: from technological consultation vis-à-vis the finished product (thanks to the advanced research lab, accredited by several key players in the beverage world) to the supply of complete production lines that integrate every aspect of manufacturing.
It should also be pointed out that the intrinsic advantages of this technology, which works at lower temperatures with respect to injection, ensure excellent energy efficiency. Moreover, Sacmi solutions also allow finishing tasks (slitting, folding and non-destructive testing) to be performed on non flat-top caps; this is thanks to a comprehensive range of slitting-folding machines that work in concert with cutting-edge inspection systems that allow control of every aspect of cap finishing.
The advanced Sacmi H.E.R.E. (Human Expertise for Reactive Engineering) supervision system, which can be integrated along the entire plastic cap production line (of which the CCM is a part), allows Industry 4.0-type manufacturing plant control. Visitors to the fair will have a great opportunity to 'govern' the machine via remote control, a process that begins when a production order is sent and continues with constant monitoring of all parameters (specific productivity, line efficiency etc.).
Alongside the monitoring and diagnostics tools, the Sacmi Customer Service provides a full range of differentiated services that ensure maximum machine efficiency and reliability throughout the plant life-cycle. This Sacmi-supplied Total Care package places all our experience and expertise at the disposal of Closures&Containers Division customers by way of personalised maintenance contracts that include spare parts and technical assistance.
Close support from the Sacmi team means that customers' workers receive training, ensuring their day-by-day professional development and boosting their understanding of the machines. Moreover, a combination of the best technology on the market and specific consultancy and assistance services makes it easier for customers to upgrade their existing plants. Sacmi sees this as essential as the company aims to reinforce and expand its role as a global industrial plant engineering partner.
All solutions on show at the NPE fair in Orlando – CBF and CCM – will be equipped with a dedicated inspection system for in-line, high speed total quality control. More specifically, the Sacmi Automation & Inspection Systems Division has developed solutions for all-round cap, preform and container inspection (CHS, PVS and BVS). The latter share the same software (CVS 3000 2.2, 64 bit), which can be interfaced, locally or remotely, with any corporate network-linked device such as smartphones or tablets.
On the strategic US market, Sacmi combines technological excellence with outstanding assistance and 24/7 after-sales service, delivered through Sacmi USA and a network of branches that provide customers with close support right from the design phase.
