SIPA stretches into non-beverage market

Italian packaging machinery company SIPA has launched two single-stage PET injection stretch blow moulders for small production runs.

Sales manager Pietro Marcati said the ECS SP80 and ECS SP50 “fill the last gap” in the company's product line.

“There was one range of machine that was missing – a small single-stage machine for specialty containers, or non-beverage containers,” he said.

“Today SIPA is the only producer in the world that can offer single-stage and two-stage systems for all applications in the beverage and specialty markets.”

At the recent NPE exhibition in Orlando, Sipa had the hybrid ECS SP80 running with a six-cavity mould to produce 500ml, asymmetrical PET bottles for household cleaning products at a rate of 1565 bottles per hour. It is also suited for the production of containers for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care products and spirits, producing bottles as small as 20ml, 30ml or 50ml.

“This machine is for the customer who wants to make a different container with different shapes – oval, cylindrical, wide-mouth, miniature bottles, bigger bottles, whatever,” Marcati said.

“They're looking for many different shapes in order to be unique."

The machine's features allow for quick changeovers of four hours between different product configurations, shapes and sizes.

The machines are designed for high-speed production, using hydraulics when large forces are required and servo electric drives for fast movements.

The ECS SP80 is energy efficient, with a consumption as low as 20kWh. The clamp unit is positioned vertically, and all hydraulics are kept below the level of the table to avoid any oil contamination.

SIPA is represented in Oceania by HBM Plastics & Packaging Technologies.