![]() This year, moldmakers Otto-Hofstetter GmbH (Uznach, Switzerland) and Electra Form Industries (EFI, Vandalia, OH) announced they, too, can supply 144-cavity preform molds. Preforms are cooled for five cycles before being released. Netstal claims its 144-cavity unit is the fastest available, with lock-to-lock time of 2.7 to 2.8 seconds. The processor has ordered another three systems, though not all have been delivered yet. Such units can make more than 1 million preforms a day. processor Western Container soon after K 2001, with molds supplied by MHT (Ginsheim, Germany). Injection molding machine maker Netstal Maschinen AG (Näfels, Switzerland) supplied its first 144-cavity PET preform molding machine to U.S. Most of these large molds have been sold in North America to mold preforms for carbonated soft-drink (CSD) bottles, but more than 10 are being used for water bottle preforms. "Our customers say costs are much lower compared to the 96-cavity systems," as processors improve their utilization of available capital and manpower, while increasing outputs, he says. In fact, Husky now has sold more than 50 of such molds, according to Mike Urquhart, VP PET systems. When first made public during the K 2001 show, even officials at the two firms then making the molds (Husky and Germany's Mold & Hotrunner Technology, or MHT) expected demand to be limited primarily to some very large processors. ![]() This would lift PET beyond the single-serve drinks market to the multi-pack level, which is dominated by metal cans.īigger and faster has been the hallmark of equipment developments, with the largest preform molds increasing from 96 to 144 cavities in the last four years. Under development is packaging for PET cans or small PET bottles. In more established PET bottle markets, bottled water and hot-filled applications (juices, soups, and sauces, for example) are fast-growing, high-volume markets. PET beer bottles in Eastern Europe will be a key issue at the NovaPack conference in Munich next month, as about 40 percent of non-premium beers in Eastern Europe already are packed in PET. The country is expected to become the largest beer market in the next few years. China's beer sales are now second only to those of the U.S., and are growing at 6 percent annually. China has special promise as a market, having notoriously poor glass bottle-making operations and a fast-growing, beer-drinking culture, which could make it one of the first large markets where consumers accept PET-bottled beer. Not surprisingly, such growth has led to a bounty of PET preform processing developments, many announced in the last three months.Ī number of factors propel the PET bottle market, or will soon. AFTER A DECADE OF ANNUAL GROWTH RATES of more than 10 percent, the global rate of demand for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers has slowed somewhat, to about 8 percent.īut that growth remains the highest for any large-volume plastic and is based on the enormous demand now annually consumed.
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