Modern packaging, in addition to fulfilling some technical and economic functions, must also be an eye-catching advertising medium to stimulate buying desires. For manufacturers of milk beverages, PRELACTIAPET preforms bring new possibilities! The innovative bottle design allows them to stand out from the competition. This patented barrier preform also offers huge economic advantages due to its double-layer structure.
At CHINAPLAS 2018, Netstal will be exhibiting a two-layer PRELATINA barrier preform for milk bottles. Prelactia can safely and economically package liquid dairy products with exceptionally long shelf life. New cloud-based analytical applications AnalytiX can help injection molding machines further increase efficiency.
Milk bottle maximum design freedom
Netstal will exhibit at the International Rubber Exhibition an innovative packaging solution for liquid dairy products PRETALACTIA.
In the field of soft drinks, brand owners have been using PET bottles for many years for their excellent design freedom and have tried to stand out in the competition at the point of sale through unique and more unusual bottle shapes.
Because it is difficult to achieve this by HDPE or paper-packed milk, the advantages in filling liquid dairy products so far are not obvious. 'Plasticia Preforms made of PET opens up new opportunities for the filling of liquid dairy products. "Compared with competitors' individualized bottle shapes, they are even better," said Stefan Müller, regional sales director for Netstal Asia.
Very few additives, but better photoresist properties
Compared with other packaging methods, this patented two-layer barrier preform has economic advantages. In the overmolding method, an inner ash layer with a thickness of only 1 mm is first injected. The dark color ensures a very good light. Resistance characteristics. 'This is very similar to the milk bottle made of dark brown glass before. PRELACTIA can block almost all visible spectrum. Therefore, this kind of bottle is very suitable for dairy products with longest shelf life', Müller said. In the two production steps, the previously injected blanks were covered with a pure white outer layer with a thickness of only 1.4 mm.
The bottle wall of the PRELACTIA bottle is thinner and the weight is reduced by about 20% to 30%.
By adding a white pigment 'titanium dioxide' for coloring. Unlike single-layer bottles, this method can reduce the titanium dioxide content from at least 10% to only 3% of the total weight. 'The market price of titanium dioxide is between seven and eight per kilo. Between euros. Therefore, the potential for saving each year is also very impressive," Müller said.
Economy, Durable Pure PET Milk Bottle
Due to its ecological advantages, modern PET milk bottles may also replace the outdated bottles made of HDPE on the market for a long time. The price of PET raw materials is 30% cheaper than that of HDPE. Because the bottle wall of the PRELATANA bottle is thinner, the weight is reduced. About 20% to 30%, so more cost savings. 'Unlike extrusion blow molding, there is no noticeable loss of material during injection molding. Water and energy consumption is greatly reduced. Material and resource savings for brand owners In return, Prelactia became a sustainable solution, Müller explained.
Threads are precisely defined by the injection moulding process, so that even after multiple openings can be reliably sealed with a screw cap, there is no need for additional sealing with aluminium foil. PRELACTIA bottles are made of pure PET and therefore are, in principle, recyclable.
Although market share is increasing, in fact, the recovery of colored PET has not been completely solved in many countries. However, as one of the largest countries in Europe, France indicated that it can collect, separate and reuse milk made of colored PET. The bottle's, Müller stressed. In French supermarkets, customers can buy milk in bottles made of PET PRELATIA as early as several years ago.
AnalytiX Analysis Application
'Industry 4.0 is a very important topic for our Chinese customers. Under the concept of 'Plastics 4.0', Netstal has developed innovative digital solutions that our customers can use to further increase their production efficiency,' said Müller. .
At CHINAPLAS 2018, Netstal demonstrated its first analytical application AnalytiX in Asia for the first time.
At CHINAPLAS 2018, Netstal demonstrated for the first time in Asia the new analytical application AnalytiX. With cloud-based production monitoring, users can track their machine's most important parameters online anytime, anywhere. 'Our customers will automatically assess the state of the process and machine Benefits. This saves a lot of time and improves the efficiency of the employees', Müller explained. With intelligent parameters on stability and productivity, the user can see at a glance the trend change or performance deviation of a single machine.
All data is stored in Switzerland
In Netstal, data security is an important topic. All information is hosted on the secure Netstal cloud in Switzerland and cannot be accessed by third parties. The distribution of user management and access rights is entirely in the hands of customers. The prerequisite for the use of AnalytiX is the injection molding machine. With 'iOTReady Package'.
It consists of an NRS connection module (Netstal Remote Support) and a Euromap 15 interface. The machine's network connection can be wired (LAN) or wireless (WIFI, 4G). The basic version of AnalytiX is free, is a suitable for iOS or Android system The application. With paid subscription, the range of functions can be flexibly adjusted according to individual needs.