Smart Molding International 1-2025

17 www.smart-molding.com machinery Consistent quality standards to minimize production costs The cooperation between WITTMANN BATTENFELD do Brasil and Thomriss has long since become friendship. Tomaz dos Santos and Marcos Cardenal from WITTMANN BATTENFELD do Brasil have known each other for 33 years. Tomaz dos Santos founded his company and purchased his first injection molding machines in1990. Although impressed byWITTMANNBATTENFELD fromthe very beginning, the company first invested in injection molding machines from a Chinese supplier. For cost reasons, according to the CEO. But the quality did not convince him. This is why now only machines from theWITTTMANN Group are admitted to the plant. Due to their extremely high process stability and quality consistency, they have proved less costly in the end. Not to forget: the application technology support given by Marcos Cardenal and Cássio Luis Saltori. “My family always says: Tomaz, your second name is Battenfeld,” dos Santos tells us with a twinkle. “That has almost become a love relationship between me and my technology supplier.” Since 2008, the Battenfeld brand of injectionmoldingmachines has been a part of the WITTMANN Group. WITTMANN is the only supplier on the market able to offer turnkey solutions covering the entire injection molding process, including raw material preparation and feeding, as well as injection molding, automation and mold temperature controlling, inline recycling and digitalization. Tomaz dos Santos fully exploits this advantage for his company. The whole range of auxiliary equipment for drying, handling and dosing of the plastic granulates comes fromWITTMANN, as well as the linear robots for demolding and depositing of the molded parts. The automation systems are becoming more and more important for Thomriss in view of the rising quality and efficiency standards. PET in more and more applications “WITTMANN is a development partner for us,” dos Santos emphasizes. “Whenever we are facing new challenges, we get together to develop a solution. I can always rely on Cássio and Marcos to find the best possible deal for us.” Such as for the dropper bottle lid with an integrated pipette made of two different materials. TPE is used for the flexible dome, while the screw top consists of polypropylene. Both components are produced in multi-cavity molds and directly assembled at the plant immediately after injection molding. Following extensive testing, the two development partners jointly selected the materials and optimized the process. “With this solution, we are very flexible and inexpensive”, says dos Santos. Wherever permitted by the required functionality, Thomriss follows a strict mono-material strategy. “Sustainability ranks very close to the top of our customers’ priority list. In the cosmetics sector, sustainability of the packaging is an important purchasing argument”, explains dos Santos. This is precisely why a material which is relatively new for Thomriss is rapidly entering its product portfolio: PET. “PET has many advantages. Packaging items made of PET offer transparency, high rigidity and durability. The decisive factor for us, how-ever, is recycling. For this material, a closed cycle already exists. So, we design more and more packaging items to be made of PET and go the PET way in high-volume applications as well.” Among the products displayed on the conference table, we find several specimens of innovative cosmetics packages consisting of PET and recycled PET. For example, lip gloss packs, which are running off the clock-out belt of a SmartPower machine on the day of our visit, and which we meet for a third time shortly afterwards in the clean room for surface finish. Author: Susanne Zinckgraf, Head of Strategic Marketing, WITTMANN Group WITTMANN Group www.wittmann-group.com The lids of the dropper bottles consist of two components: TPE and PP; Thomriss and WITTMANN BATTENFELD do Brasil developed this packaging solution in close cooperation Tomaz dos Santos (center) from Thomriss, Cássio Luis Saltori (left) and Marcos Cardenal (right) from WITTMANN BATTENFELD do Brasil have been development partners for many years