SPE awards highlight the best of thermoforming

Schaumburg, Ill. — For thermoformers, the annual parts competition at the Society of Plastics Engineers' Thermoforming Conference is a big deal. And one company that always seems to take home hardware picked up three awards this year.

Profile Plastics Inc. won the gold award in two categories: a cover set for surgical waste management system won the award for heavy-gauge pressure forming, as well as the People's Choice Award. The Lake Bluff, Ill., company also won for two twin-sheet body protection plates.

Matt O'Hagan said more than 200 ballots were cast for the People's Choice by conference attendees, which is a record.

“It was a great turnout this year. Another great set of parts,” he said before announcing the winners at a dinner Sept. 27.

“Getting into the heavy-gauge, things got really, really difficult for the judges, especially on the twin-sheet side, because there were a lot of parts,” said O'Hagan, who is sales manager for non-automotive and distribution for LyondellBassel's Equistar business. He is based in Lansing, Mich.

The student award winner was Sara Allgeier for her pizza box made of twin sheet thermoformed polypropylene sheet — eliminating the soggy cardboard pizza box. Allgeier is enrolled at Penn State Erie.

The Thermoforming Conference was held Sept. 26-28 in Schaumburg. Here is a recap of the parts competition winners:

Roll-fed consumer, gold

Jamestown Plastics Inc. of Brocton, N.Y., won the gold for its Click-it Clam, a clamshell package with a patented locking feature so it can be opened and closed with one hand. The user simply pushes on the power part of the flange under the pin, which forces the wall to deflect, releasing the pin and letting the lid pop open.

Snapping it closed again makes an audible “click.”

Jamestown officials said Click-it Clam is safe to use — no more cutting and tearing to pry open a clamshell — as well as beneficial for arthritic, visually impaired and elderly customers. And it's a reusable storage container.

Roll-fed consumer, silver

Transparent Container Inc. of Addison, Ill., won silver for a package holding 30 Sharpie markers for a special limited edition collection for Wal-Mart's Black Friday sale. The challenge in 2015 was to fit 30 markers in a package that had held 28 before, but without making the package any larger.

The final package has two large front panels that open like doors to reveal the markers. They have a four-color printed graphic of a lion's head, and a clear PET window.

The Sharpie tray is formed from PVC sheet.

Roll-fed, gold

The Barger division of Madison, Wis.-based Placon Corp. picked up the gold for a package for medical orthopedic implants. Thin-gauge, vacuum formed thermoplastic polyurethane offers protection for the implants, and adds impact resistance to the glycol-modified PET sterile blister packaging.

The package protects round, femoral heads, one of several components that complete an assembly for a medical hip implant.

Thermoformed TPUs are highly abrasion-resistant, important because, according to Barger, many orthopedic implants have very coarse, textured surfaces that allow for bone growth into the implant. Traditional packaging for orthopedic implants, such as closed-cell foam and vinyl, cannot stand up to those rough surfaces and can abrade, the company said.

Barger listed some challenges with thermoforming TPU, including difficulty to demold the parts, which tend to turn inside out for complex-geometry shapes. The company used a proprietary method fo cleanly eject the part. Also, the material can shrink so Barger resulted that issue with process controls.

 Roll-fed, silver

OMG srl of Givoletto, Italy, gained silver for designing, building and testing a thermoforming machine to produce a container for sterilizing surgical knives. The machine can feed polystyrene rolls or sheets, at the choice of the operator.

The system is OMG model RV 81 PN-M-LB.

OMG's display at the conference included the containers, plus a complete documentation of the production process.

Roll-fed recycled, gold

Innovative Plastech Inc. of Batavia, Ill., scored for its clamshell to hold a book and recorder musical instrument for the movie “Frozen.”

Retailers can display the eye-catching clamshell package, which is formed from recycled PVC.

For securing the package while hanging, the clamshell is designed with six button snaps around the perimeter. The platform snap can lose effectiveness for such a long package, to the button snaps give a consistent and sure closure — and the consumer can open and close it, to the clamshell acts as a protective case for the instrument and book.

The production tool is a two-cavity aluminum mold, attached to a water-cooled block.

Heavy-gauge vacuum forming, gold

Associated Thermoforming Inc. of Berthoud, Colo., earned the gold for a touch tower soft drink dispensing system, employing LED touch technology for the dispensing choices.

The colorful, curvy structure is made by assembling to the skins vacuum formed ribs. The tooling was temperature controlled billet and cast aluminum.

Heavy-gauge vacuum formed, silver

Electro-General Plastics Corp. of Grove City, Ohio, won for a bright red koala display, with an attractive structure and embedded, eye-catching graphics.

Each part was formed with ABS WeatherPro T-30 using red metallic color, for weather resistance and impact strength.

To the construct the assembly the company uses a structural adhesive metal to bond the metal to the ABS sheet. Electro-General uses aluminum, water-cooled tooling on a four-frame rotary thermoforming machine. Three tools are used to form the parts. All parts get CNC trimmed to machine a close tolerance.

Heavy-gauge pressure formed, gold and

Heavy-gauge innovation, gold

Profile Plastics won gold for its surgical system cover set and two twin-sheet body protection plates. See sidebar story for more information.

Heavy-gauge pressure formed, silver

Providien Thermoforming grabbed silver for an enclosure assembly that serves as the fascia and door front to an automated microbiology system. The assembly is a mix of single-sheet and twin-sheet pressure formed parts, formed from custom-colored PVC blend, on textured and smooth, multi-cavity tools.

The design gives a snap-fit interface been the front and rear fascia parts, and formed-in threaded inserts.

The door has CNC-routed slots on a curved plane to accept a clear polycarbonate viewing window on the medical product.

Heavy-gauge innovation, silver

Hampel Corp. of Germantown, Wis., won for its work on the Calf-Tel housing system for dairy calves, which replaces wood.

The climate-controlled, elevated unit is formed from high molecular weight polyethylene, to withstand the most brutal weather conditions. The sheet has a pigment to block ultraviolet light.

A sliding roof cover can be opened or closed, depending on the weather.

Hampel forms the hutch on a large, male cast aluminum tool, multiple zoned temperature with a deep draw to match the cover. The front is formed on a large twin-sheet cast aluminum tool, also multiple zoned and deep draw, with vertical twin-sheet edges, and curved to match the hutch.

Twin-sheet, gold

Associated Thermoforming got gold for its large twin-sheet parts creating the floor pan and ramp for a wheelchair-compatible temporary shower.

The bottom surface has ribbing to give it the necessary strength. the top surface has molded-in features to facilitate draining, and the attachment of walls and doors.

Both parts are formed from ABS sheet on aluminum tooling.

Twin-sheet, silver

Corvac Composites LLC, based in Kentwood, Mich., won for its lightweight panel assembly for an underbody automotive engine compartment closeout, with an integrated service door.

The customer wanted low cost, light weight, rigidity, a smooth lower aerodynamic surface and the ability to withstand rigorous automotive exterior part validation.

Corvac used high density polyethylene, made from at least 50 percent reclaimed material. The parts were molded in a five-cavity water cooled aluminum tool.

Heavy-gauge, value added, gold

Medallion Plastics Inc. of Elkhart, Ind., snagged gold for a complete interior dashboard for a Class A motorhome.

The assembled dash, along with driver and passenger consoles have automotive-style stitching, making the part a set up from the current ABS/vinyl wrapped style of dashboard tops.

Medallion uses ceramic tooling that is non-water cooled, using innovative design techniques to allow for negative drafts in the tooling. The post-assembly process of the process of the parts, along with custom hardware and brackets, reduced the amount of time required to install the dashboard, and also do service if needed, according to the company.

Heavy-gauge, value added, silver

Allied Plastics Inc. of Twin Lakes, Wis., won for a case assembly for a marine propeller — so it needs to be very tough to pass drop tests, the company said.

The project started out as a single-sheet case, but it became clear than a twin-sheet case was need to protect the propeller. The prop is secured by a nylon dowel and receiver. High density foam, mounted on the dowel, fits between the pro hub and the top cover. Four steel locking caps secure the top and bottom of the case.

Allied formed the case of two sheets of high molecular weight polyethylene, on a two-cavity, water-cooled aluminum mold.

Heavy-gauge TPO, gold

Brentwood Industries Inc. of Reading, Pa., won gold for a dashboard assembly for a low-entry heavy truck, made of 20 components — six thermoformed, two machined and 12 injection molded louvers.

The top surface of the dash is pressure formed while the other thermoformed duct work components are vacuum formed out of TPO, which is custom color matched by for LyondellBassel, and extruded by Primex Plastics Corp.

The assembly, which is ready to be installed directly into the truck cab, replaces multiple subassemblies that had been installed by the customer.

Heavy-gauge TPO, silver

Plastitel Products of Laval, Quebec, Canada, won silver for its twin-sheet thermoformed baggage door for a e-Lion school bus. Company officials said Lion Bus is only North American manufacturer of all-electric type C school bus manufacturer.

Lion Bus has started delivering the e-Lion to Quebec and California.

The bus manufacturer has always used fiber-reinforced composites for many of its exterior parts. All of the side skirts and baggage doors were converted from traditional fiber-reinforced plastics to a TPO using Plastitel's twin-sheet thermoforming process, which gives quicker production time, reduced manual labor, removes the need for painting, cuts weight and improves esthetics.

PMC supplied the sheet in a custom school bus orange color.

Sheet-fed recycled, gold

Valley Industrial Products of Fort Valley, Ga., won for a laminated, vacuum formed front face of a decorative wall protection system.

The film is prelaminated onto extruded polyester from 100 percent postindustrial regrind, produced on a twin-screw dryerless extruder. The front face of the film is screen printed, then the total assembly is vacuum formed using an array of frosted, incandescent reflective bulbs.