News

Jul 08, 2023

The shape of things to come

From demand for beverage pods and skin packs to the need for maximum

From demand for beverage pods and skin packs to the need for maximum flexibility, Lynda Searby finds out what trends are moulding the thermoforming lines of the future.

Two innovative thermoformed packaging formats are creating ripples in a sea of standard trays, pots and tubs. One is skin packaging for proteins, and the other is pods for coffee.

"The adoption of skin packaging within most of the major protein groups has been dramatic in the UK in recent years and this has carried on throughout 2016.

Furthermore, all the current indicators show that this trend will continue throughout 2017," says Phil Crozier, field sales manager at thermoforming equipment giant Multivac.

He attributes the rise of skin packaging to the format's ability to "display the product to great effect…providing outstanding visuals, less waste in store and a more robust pack to protect the product".

Multivac offers a range of equipment for this application, from the entry level R105MF through to the large volume R575MF, with pricing and throughput to suit all products, applications and budgets. The company also has temperature and hygiene-controlled product development facilities that can be used to produce concept and sample packs to gauge customer and consumer interest.

Multivac's observations are backed up by Leeds Vacuum Formers, a West Yorkshire thermoformer with a fleet of five machines and a £6m turnover.

Nigel Coates, the firm's managing director, says: "The use of vacuum skin packaging (VSP) as an alternative to modified atmosphere packaging continues to increase as advances in VSP materials and processing make the process ever better, both in terms of product quality and cost effectiveness."

The trend towards ‘pod’ packaging for hot beverages is one that has been clocked by Engelmann & Buckham, which represents German thermoformer manufacturer Gabler, in the UK.

"Coffee pods from three, five or seven layer PP are becoming increasingly popular," notes Hugh Morris, director at Engelmann & Buckham.

He says that Gabler has particular expertise in thermoforming small items – for example, its machines are used in Korea for making PET cups for dispensing communion wine.

Pods for beverages can be made on any Gabler thermoformer, from its smallest machines right up to its M100 model which launched at the K trade fair in October.

While these two formats stand out as on trend, users of thermoformers are looking for machines that give them the flexibility to produce a range of pack formats – a point that is made by Ulma Packaging's product manager, Alistair Cook.

"Ulma is being asked for as much flexibility as possible, and for the ability to use a variety of materials on the same machine," he says.

Responsiveness important

Flexibility is certainly the name of the game at Leeds Vacuum Formers, where responsiveness to shorter lead times is becoming increasingly important.

"In recent years we’ve seen a growing requirement for shorter production lead times – most notably from new clients. This results in the need to simplify tooling and carry out tool changes far more frequently, both of which require greater flexibility in machine design," says Nigel Coates.

Being flexible is also about being able to produce short runs cost effectively. Although Leeds Vacuum Formers reports that as it grows as a business, the volume requirements of its customers are tending to grow too, Coates is acutely aware of the need to remain flexible in order to respond to requirements for smaller batch quantities.

"Reasons for these smaller batches can be numerous – from customers testing the market with a limited run through to them topping up an existing one if sales have exceeded expectations," he says. "But whatever the reason, it's essential that the production of small batches can be handled cost effectively, and the growing ease of machine set-up is a major factor in enabling us to do this."

Thermoforming equipment designers are responding to this call for greater flexibility with designs that offer fast, efficient changeovers. Multivac, for example, offers a number of flexibility options on all of its thermoforming machines, from the traditional vario die construction, through drawer systems to tandem and even triple mounted die sets.

"The advent of drawer systems has proven to be particularly in demand with our customers looking for simple and fast pack sizes changes. This system typically reduces the changeover time from one pack size to the next by up to 75%," says Crozier.

There are numerous other ways in which thermoformers have advanced of late; Coates says there have been more important advances in recent times than at any other time since he began working in the industry in the late 1980s.

"We’ve seen significant increases in productivity as a result of cycle time reduction; improved quality consistency thanks to more accurate control of machine functions, resulting in the constant reproducibility of moulded parts; and a fall in running costs through a variety of means, including more efficient heating and the replacing of expensive pneumatic actions with servo drive motors," he says.

Computer-aided teaching has also come to the fore, and Leeds Vacuum Formers has found that it definitely has its benefits.

"It enables basic setting functions to be learnt and carried out by machine operators, rather than qualified machine setters, freeing them to focus on more demanding tasks," says Coates.

Multivac says that its R&D focus is on helping customers reduce energy usage and downtime while increasing flexibility. To this end, recent developments to come out of its design departments have included advances in the use of servomotor lifting units, electrical devices, new cutting systems and higher efficiency drives.

"The move from costly and troublesome pneumatics to electrical lifting systems, for instance, has brought many advantages to the end user: the ability to process a greater variety of film thicknesses, faster cycling speeds, higher closing forces and greater reliability," says Crozier.

In the future, Multivac says its focus will be two-fold: technical and packaging innovations.

"Our technical innovations will deliver even greater efficiencies, reduced energy overheads and increased production flexibility. Our packaging innovations will offer new pack styles and materials with which our customers can increase their own market share," says Crozier.

Gabler has increased cycle rates through a feature called ‘Speed Flow’, which essentially increases air volume, and responded to demand for more stacking options, such as reverse stacking and A-B stacking for anti-nesting.

Looking forwards, Morris predicts that "faster cycle rates, lower energy consumption, better stacking technology and better controls – including intuitive touch panel HMI visualisation," will be among the innovations to shape the thermoforming lines of the future.

Coming at the question of future innovation from a user perspective is Nigel Coates, who says he would expect to see in-mould labelling – already commonplace in injection moulding – being offered on thermoforming machines.

He also thinks it likely that camera aided quality assurance systems will be introduced into thermoforming, given their prevalence in other areas of industry.And on his ‘wish list’ is universal tooling.

"From a processor's point of view the fact that different machine manufacturers employ different tooling means it's very difficult to move tools from one machine type to another. While this may work in terms of tying a processor to a particular machinery manufacturer, it does nothing to help that company in terms of its flexibility. Finding a way to address this issue would be of significant benefit," he says.

New equipment: thermoforming, injection moulding and blow moulding

Multivac has introduced a new thermoformer model for sliced cooked meat and cheese applications with a pack depth of 40mm or less. Based on the company's R2x5 series, the new R235 is said to offer an impressive price/performance ratio. In another development from Multivac, the R 085 ‘e-concept’ promises to bring additional energy efficiencies to the smallest machine in the company's range. It is said to deliver up to 30% in energy savings through the use of an integrated recirculating chiller, a zero compressed air requirement and the use of electrical systems in place of pneumatics.

K 2016 saw the launch of a new speciality closure manufacturing system from Husky. The HyperSync is a synchronised system, with mould, machine, hot runner and auxiliaries designed to work together to deliver faster cycle times at a lower total part cost. Husky's new HyCap 4 system for high output beverage closure moulding also made its debut at the show. The fourth generation of HyCAP machines, this latest model features a redesigned HMI, a new part eject assist feature to ensure a consistent freefall of closures at the fastest cycles, and sensor-driven mould alignment to reduce mould wear. It is also said to improve energy consumption by up to 40% versus the previous generation system.

Krones is offering new upgrades for the heaters of its Contiform S and H series of blow moulding machines through the Krones Lifecycle Service. The ‘energy-optimised heating case’ upgrade can reduce energy consumption by 10-15% by improving heat penetration of the preforms, while ‘adjustable emitter support pairs for heating cases’ reduce the amount of energy required for the heating operation.

Thermoforming specialist Gabler, represented in the UK by Engelmann & Buckham, used K 2016 as the launch-pad for a new thermoformer with tilting tool. The M100 manufactures PP cups with sealing rim and a diameter of 70.5mm in an 84-cavity tool. It features reverse stacker automation, Gabler's SpeedFlow form air system and increased forming area and tonnage versus its predecessor.