Page 72 - Plastics News January 2018

produCt news

Sigmasoft presents its first Sigma Graham commissions Graham®

Award to toolmaker, hot runner rotary wheel extrusion blow
firm molding system

igmasoft Engineering GmbH of Aachen, Germany, which raham Engineering Corporation has installed the
Smakes simulation software for injection molding, Gfirst Graham® rotary wheel extrusion blow molding
presented its first-ever Sigma Award at its International system for use in mainland China. The production line,
Users Meeting. In fact, Sigmasoft named two winners: a Mega 26 dual-parison system, was commissioned last
Frankenberg, Germany-based hot runner maker Günther month at the Guangzhou facility of a converter for a
Heisskanaltechnik GmbH and mold maker Speedturtle of leading U.S.-based global consumer packaged goods
Batalha, Portugal. Marco Kwaitkowski, head of production (CPG) brand. The Graham® Mega 26 dual-parison system
and development at Günther, explained how Sigmasoft produces 46,800 bottles per hour to meet the demands
helps the company optimize runners. “The thermally of a leading global CPG in the rapidly growing Chinese
packaging market. “For decades we have served the
and theologically calculated hot runners can be mounted world’s leading converters and CPGs with our flagship
on the mold immediately at our customers and allow a
Graham rotary extrusion blow molding solutions,” said
Graham CEO David Schroeder.
“While we have sold rotary wheel systems for converters
elsewhere in Asia, this project demonstrates the need
for rapid evolution, technological advancement, and
automation to combat China’s increasing costs, growing
regulation, and desire for high quality products for its
domestic packaging market.” Introduced to the project
by the US-headquartered CPG, the leading brand in its
category, the Graham team worked with the company
to define the project scope, evaluate production
alternatives, and build the business case.
continuous and indulgent processing of the polymer due to
the uniform temperature distribution from the connection
nozzle over the manifold and hot runner nozzle up to the
cavity,” he said.
“Because of the thermal evaluation of our manifold
systems, we can eliminate unbalanced filling of cavities
due to hot spots or cold areas.” Speedturtle’s general
manager, Marco Ruivo, and his team use Sigmasoft
simulation to design molds. “With using Sigmasoft, we
take more time for the first steps during designing a new
mold, but in the end, we can deliver to our customers They ultimately decided to proceed with one of their
much faster, as we have less iterations for each mold. converters, who committed to a near-site greenfield
The honor of the Sigma Award shows we are definitely plant with a fully-automated production line. The
following the right approach,” Ruivo said. Because of the volume justified a 26-station, dual-parison, quad-cavity
many projects worthy of recognition, SIGMA decided to wheel producing 46,800 bottles per hour, replacing
already grant a second award during the first ceremony. twelve locally-manufactured shuttle machines. The
The mold maker Speedturtle from Batalha, Portugal, only line’s speed, capacity, and automation facilitates
started working with SIGMASOFT in the middle of 2016. greater efficiencies in production and in downstream
bottle handling.

Plastics News Januar y 2018 72