The ongoing transition towards new neck and cap formats - designed to comply with regulations and sustainability requirements, keep pace with consumption habits and meet standards set by the industry’s top players - can be bewildering for producers as they need to innovate while protecting their investment.
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To ensure a simple, profitable, future-proof transition, there’s no better partner than SACMI. But how is that goal achieved? In three ways: by providing complete product solutions via the Rigid Packaging Lab, through close collaboration with major international certification bodies, such as Cetie, and by adopting a win-win approach that expedites the uptake and diffusion of new standards.
The 26/22 mm neck/cap transition
The soundness of SACMI’s proposal is underscored by a global installed capacity of 39 billion caps per year for 26/22 mm necks. From Africa to the Americas, from Europe to South-East Asia, more and more producers are seizing this opportunity or planning to do so. This change began with the transition from the PCO1810 to the PCO1881, currently the world’s most commonly used cap; over the last 10-15 years this has led to raw material savings of more than 50% and, therefore, greater plant profitability and environmental sustainability. Now, SACMI is aiming even higher with new solutions that are already on the market and certified by the major international brand owners.
Future-proofing (tethered)
The coming into force of the EU Directive on single-use plastics, which imposes the new tethered standard on European markets, is a game changer. It highlights how environmental sustainability is now one of the industry’s guiding principles. However, it also poses questions about what manufacturers who operate in parts of the world where tethered caps are not (yet) mandatory should do.
In this context, SACMI offers a dual opportunity. The first is technological: by slitting the tamper band in post-processing, downstream from compression molding (CCM), the transition can be completed swiftly, flexibly and with limited investment. Secondly, the switch to tethered caps can be combined with new neck standards (all the latest caps in the 26/22 mm ‘family’ are available in both tethered and non-tethered versions).
In short, producers can make themselves ‘future-proof’, that is, ready to accommodate later regulatory changes and, in any case, adapt production set-ups to a variety of market contexts, countries and consumption styles.
In-the-field expertise by SACMI Rigid Packaging Lab
In addition to substantial installed output capacity around the globe - which ensures solutions can be applied immediately - SACMI has chosen to pursue its business goals through technical-technological dissemination. The UAE, Nigeria, South Africa and India are just some of the markets where SACMI has organized country-specific seminars, confirming its role as a ductile technology provider for this upcoming transition. Above all, SACMI aims to make the most of new opportunities by providing comprehensive consultancy services. Ranging from the product and the technology to design, these services draw on a database of over 1,000 cap-neck designs that the lab has, in recent years, created for customers all around the world.
35% less plastic. Good for the environment
Every single solution in the new 26/22 mm family (e.g. new multi-purpose caps such as the AB26CSDT-5 for GME 30.40) has a specific advantage with respect to the ones already in use, the highest performers included. The first, most general benefit is - functionality, strength and sealing performance remaining equal - a reduced need for resins.
Again, there are advantages on the tethered front: with SACMI there’s no need for heavy investment in the mold which, like other molding technologies, would lower line productivity (and jeopardize the anticipated sustainability benefits). From a technological perspective, instead, extensive digitalization of each stage simplifies and upgrades the production process, with all the intrinsic bonuses of SACMI compression technology.
Digitally revolutionized production of beverage caps and preforms - with all the latest solutions needed to streamline the transition to profitable, sustainable, market-ready products - will be the focus of SACMI's display at Chinaplas 2024. Visit the SACMI stand and discover the solution that's right for you!
