SPE names Plastics for Life winners

Orlando, Fla. — Blow molded parts picked up three of the five awards in the Society of Plastics Engineers' annual Plastics for Life Global Parts Competition, held during Antec 2018 in Orlando.

A panel of judges selected the winners from among parts that had already won in competitions at SPE conferences during the past year. The honored products were deemed to make our lives better in some way.

A People's Choice Award was also presented to the part that gained the largest number of votes by Antec attendees.

Antec ran May 7-10, co-located with NPE2018 at the Orange County Convention Center.

The Grand Prize winner, honored for Sustaining Life, went to a motor oil dispenser with a flexible spout and hinged lid. The part originally won the "other" category for industrial parts at the SPE's Annual Blow Molders Conference.

Silgan Plastics molds the container for Chevron Havoline oil. The reusable dispensing containers are used by automotive service shops, allowing them to reduce the use of plastic motor oil containers. Design features, such as the spout, handles and mouth, give ergonomic use and can reduce spillage.

The People's Choice and Protecting Life awards both went to the 2017 Chevrolet Traverse for a clevis bracket called the first composite mount designed for a six-cylinder engine. The injection molded nylon part replaces metal components, resulting in a 45 percent weight savings. Other benefits include a reduction in cabin noise and corrosion resistance. The General Motors Co. bracket won an award at SPE's Automotive Innovation Awards Gala.

An OmniPod dispensing system for Germ-X hand sanitizer won the category of Improving Life. Silgan Plastics molds the part on a six-cavity mold running on a Nissei ASB blow molding machine.

The OmniPod system has just four components, much fewer than other systems, for a lower cost of assembly and less complexity.

The brand is displayed on the outside front panel of the bottle.

The product won in the pharmaceutical packaging category at the SPE's Annual Blow Molding Conference.

The Quality of Life Award went to the Medium Blue Ice Pack from Rubbermaid, which works with the company's snap-together modular LunchBlox Containers to keep food cool.

The item had been made in single-cavity molds with side needle blowing, but designers looked for a change after issues with consistency on the port/fill hole formation, the formation of the seat for the plug weld and low-volume output. Blow mold maker FGH Systems Inc. helped develop the part developed so a top and bottom calibration blow method could be used to improve part quality and production output.

Rubbermaid molds the parts on a Uniloy-Milacron UMS 16.D shuttle blow molder, with a W. Muller extrusion head. The parts are completed deflashed in the machine, and robot places them onto a conveyor belt.

The ice pack won at the blow molding conference in the food packaging category.