The companies that build the machines for producing everything from water bottles and cosmetic containers to automotive fuel tanks and industrial drums will show their latest developments in running recycled materials and speeding up cycle times and mold changes at K 2019.
Like their plastic industry colleagues, the builders of blow molders are focusing on how their machines contribute to the circular economy. The aim is to preserve resources and eliminate waste as opposed to a linear economy of take, make and dispose.
To that end, watch for major blow molding machine manufacturers to show how recycled content can be incorporated in three-layer bottles. Engineers and R&D teams in the industry also have intensified their focus on reducing energy use by improving electric drives and control systems.
Machine manufacturers also have been improving the molten tubes that are inflated with air to take the shape of the cavity for container production.
Here are some of the highlights to be presented from the blow molding industry.
Bekum Maschinenfabriken GmbH (Hall 14, Booth C3) will present its newly designed blow molding machine for packaging that can contribute to the circular economy.
The Berlin-based company, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, has a K show exhibit theme of "focused on the future." Its latest machine, called Concept 808, will use Bekum's tri-extrusion technology, which can process single-origin polyethylene and polypropylene scrap. The post-consumer material can be embedded between layers of virgin plastic materials, which also reduces the cost to manufacture containers.
The new machine also has a magnetic quick mold change system, a next-generation control system and other improvements that reduce energy consumption by 20 percent.
Egg Harbor Township, N.J.-based Jomar Corp. (Hall 14, Booth A32) is encouraging new processors of bottles produced by injection blow molding to check out its Model 25 machine that comes with an "entry-level price." The machine replaces the Model 20, which will be discontinued.
"We've found that customers wanted a Jomar, but they either didn't have the capital required for our larger machines or couldn't meet their annual volume requirements with our Model 20," Jomar President Carlos Castro said in a news release. "The need to provide a high-quality, high-volume machine at a lower price point drove the development of the Model 25."
The company says it sold its first machine to a cosmetics company.