Orlando, Fla. — They are saying some pretty strong words over at Mid-America Machining Inc. But Pete Lobbestael and Dave Yenor said they have the proof and the patents to back up their message.
Both men were at NPE2024 to show off Cornerstone technology, developed by Mid-America, that they said is a game-changer for the plastic bottle industry and a potential answer for legislative demands for lightweighting.
"Cornerstone technology," Lobbestael said, is "redefining the strength-to-weight ratio for extrusion blow molded rectangular footprint bottles or containers."
That's a lot to unpack as far as descriptions go, but what the company has done is change the geometry of the traditional rectangular bottle, replacing each side panel with a set of three symmetrical side panels on either side. Not only does the new design cut resin use compared with a conventional bottle but also the approach makes for a stronger bottle.
"We've implemented it on 22 different designs, and in every situation we've demonstrated the ability to reduce the bottle weight by 20-25 percent while maintaining the strength curve of the current package," said Lobbestael, a senior vice president with the Brooklyn, Mich.-based company. "It comes down to wall distribution and minimizing the parison stretch while blow molding the bottle."
A parison, for those unfamiliar with blow molding vernacular, is a hollow tube of heated plastic that a mold clamps around before air is injected to create a container.
"One of the big ways to lightweight and maintain the performance is by eliminating excess material where it's not needed," said Yenor, vice president of business development.
The new side wall design cuts plastic use because excess material is not needed to push deeper into the corners featured in a traditional bottle.
Mid-America has proven the design with high density polyethylene bottles and will soon start work in polypropylene.
"We anticipate the same results," Lobbestael said. "It's not resin-specific or size-specific or industry-specific. So it will have a lot of impact across a lot of markets."
"What we've done is we've taken what used to be the weak areas of the bottle [the corners] and turn them into strength areas of the bottle," Yenor said. "Strength pillars."
Lobbestael added: "The corners essentially become the structure of the bottle instead of the weak link in the bottle shape."
Mid-America was inspired to tackle the rectangular bottle market thanks to results achieved a decade and a half ago in the dairy industry. The company was able to cut resin use and create a stronger milk container using a similar approach at that time, and the design has been widely adopted.
"It's a sustainable solution, but also it's a cost-savings solution just through your resin savings," Yenor said.
The two men also see applying Cornerstone technology into other bottle shapes. "It's big for the industry," Lobbestael added. "It will drive change across almost every market you can imagine."
The Cornerstone approach is a candidate to be used in "any mature market ... where packaging hasn't changed over a significant period of time," Lobbestael said.
Cornerstone bottles, while saving money on resin costs, also could help brand owners meet mandated lightweight standards, they said.
Mid-America Machining Inc.
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