Packager’s investment boosts output

Packaging manufacturer Plastipak has reported a sharp rise in output of an isotonic beverage preform as a result of the purchase of a new Husky 128-cavity, 600 Index preform system. The new machine started production at the company’s Garland, TX location in January, producing a 38-gram, 20 oz. isotonic beverage preform with a 16-second cycle time. Plastipak previously ran this application on a 96-cavity Husky G-PET system. The company is able to produce the isotonic preform 23% faster using Index 600, at a rate of 28,500 preforms an hour.
"On single-face systems, the cycle is limited by the thread cooling time," said Mike Urquhart, Husky’s vice president of PET. "Index systems cool the preforms on the cores and in the neck rings for an extra cycle before demolding, resulting in higher quality threads and a much faster cycle,"
The Index 600 was introduced at NPE 2003.