Plastics packaging: Compression molded preforms nearing commercial use

During a tour last week of the manufacturing facility of Sacmi Imola, the world’s leading manufacturer of compression molding equipment, MPW learned that the company’s CBF (Compression Blow Forming) technology is soon to get its first commercial test as an Italian molder will in the next days take delivery of the first of these units. MPW spoke with Marco Savorani, PET sales manager at the company; his is a recently formed position as the company expects to make inroads into the PET perform market, he said.

Currently PET preforms are injection molded, with two companies—Husky and Netstal—manufacturing more than 80% of the global machinery capacity for this application. The PET preform market is a huge one when considered on a volume basis—think only of all of the PET beverage bottles in the world—but a small one on a machinery basis with only about 300 PET preform molding systems sold each year, according to industry experts.

Sacmi is the parent company of injection molding machinery manufacturers Negri Bossi, BM Biraghi and Oima, but none of these make preform lines. Sacmi’s revenues primarily stem from its position as a leader in the manufacture of tile forming machinery, but its plastics processing machinery business is growing, especially its compression molding business. Sacmi announced in October 2007 that it would develop a machine for PET preforms, and early this year announced it would also develop compression molding equipment for multi-layer performs (for a report on that, see the April issue of MPW or this link: http://www.mpw.plasticstoday.com/?q=articles/14595). According to Savorani, about 60% of the world’s supply of closures for plastic carbonated soft drink bottles are compression molded. Sacmi enjoys a near-monopoly position on the machinery end: a few processors make their own compression molding machinery, but otherwise its Sacmi’s ballgame.