As part of a world exclusive, Serac will unveil French start-up Agami’s Roll N Blow thermoforming machine at its stand at Interpack. Serac is a shareholder in Agami and both companies are working in tight partnership. The machine is designed to produce bottles much more inexpensively than is possible using traditional methods, and that are much lighter. It uses innovative tubular thermoforming technology, with reels of plastic sheeting that are extruded flat at high speed. It can produce tall, round bottles with capacities of between 100 and 500 mL. It is targeting the producers of fresh dairy products, yoghurt drinks in particular, as well as fruit juice manufacturers.

A simple technology that combines thermoforming and blowing
The raw materials come as rolls of plastic sheeting. The sheeting is cut into strips. Each strip is shaped into a tube around a blow pipe. Each strip is then welded longitudinally. The resulting plastic tube is then heated and blown into a mould in order to create a bottle.
Many types of plastic can be used for thermoforming (PS, PP, PLA, PET, etc.). There are also economic benefits in using multilayer materials, since the films are extruded flat.

Real cost savings
Producing very wide plastic films, extruded flat at high speed, is very economical. On the machine, the plastic is converted from sheet form straight into bottle form. This generates purchase savings of 30 to 50%.

Using reels of plastic sheeting as the base material reduces transport and storage costs, as well as the costs of handling the bottles or empty preforms before they are blown. Whereas previously 25 lorries were needed for supplying actual bottles or 5 lorries for supplying preforms, now only one is needed for supplying the reels of plastic sheeting.

In terms of the accessories required for production, consumption is reduced right across the board compared with traditional technologies: the blowing is carried out at low pressure (less than 6 bar) and at low temperature (under 150°C). There is no need for a high-pressure compressor and 2 to 3 times less electricity is needed than with traditional preform blowing.

The Roll n Blow thermoforming machine on display at the show can produce up to 7000 bottles/hour.
Come and view this innovation at Serac’s stand at Interpack 2011: Hall 13 C63/D64.

For any further information about Serac’s stand at Interpack: www.serac-group.com/interpack2011

作為法國一家創業公司Agami的股東，塞拉克公司（SERAC）將在國際包裝展覽（Interpack）上首次推出ROLL N BLOW熱成型包裝機。這種機器生產的包裝瓶成本和原材料重量，比採用傳統方法生產的產品都要低得多。這款包裝機是基於一種創新的管狀熱成型技術，採用卷裝塑膠紙作為原料，這種原料以平板擠壓成型的工藝，可以進行高速率的生產。採用這種技術，可以生產裝100至500毫升的高、圓形包裝瓶。可用於包裝新鮮乳製品，尤其是稀質的優酪乳和果汁類產品。