Agr International Inc. offers its Agr Process Pilot automated blowmolder control system to provide an extra layer of process management and quality assurance for a German juice maker shifting from 25% recycled PET (rPET) to 100% rPET bottles in response to a sustainability directive. The Process Pilot provided a “technical safeguard” to ensure that the blowmolding production process is stable and robust. Noting that stability in environmental conditions and in materials is always a big concern in blowmolding, even more so due to irregularities inherent in rPET as an amalgam of plastics from different sources, the company explains that the more recycled resin there is in a preform, the harder it is for the blowmolder to achieve the material distribution targets required for well-performing bottles. The variability in rPET results in non-conforming bottles and creates downstream problems like jams in the labeler due to skewing. The granular control of the Process Pilot system, powered by sophisticated algorithms, counteracts all these variables, automatically triggering corresponding changes in process settings to adjust for irregularities. The Process Pilot, working inside a KHS Series IV reheat stretch blowmolder, is producing roughly 30,000 100% rPET containers an hour. Any non-conforming bottles are diverted from filling, avoiding product waste and preventing them from getting to market. 

Agr International Inc., 615 Whitestown Road, Meridian, Pa. 16001; 724/482-2163; www.agrint.com.