Krones goes for sustainability, efficiency in developing of its new generation Contiform

GERMANY – German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer Krones has unveiled its fourth generation Contiform stretch blow molder which is reportedly more environment friendly and highly efficient.

“Environmentally friendly, sustainable, AND cost-effective operation: That was one of the paramount goals for this latest evolution of the Contiform,” Krones said.

In developing the new machine, Krones’ R&D team focused on reducing energy consumption in preform heating and, of course, in lowering compressed air consumption in the blowing process.

They shortened the distance between the heaters, made the heating space even more compact overall, and redesigned the heaters with parabolic reflectors.

 “As a result, they’ve cut energy consumption by 11 percent compared to the previous generation,” Krones revealed.  

“Environmentally friendly, sustainable, AND cost-effective operation: That was one of the paramount goals for this latest evolution of the Contiform.”

The team has also achieved substantial savings on compressed air with the addition of a new Air Wizard Triple air recycling system that uses a three-stage compressed-air recycling process that can reduce compressed air consumption by as much as 20 percent.

The focus on sustainability hasn’t been limited to the machine’s operation as it also includes the materials used in the installation process. As an example, the protective panels are made of recycled plastic.

In order to further improve total cost of ownership (TCO), the fourth-generation Contiform uses a newly developed skip-and-run technology which monitors the mold-hanger locking device and allows a blowing station that is not locked to pass along the main cam.

This enables, for instance, the machine to eject a defective preform without triggering an emergency stop of the entire machine, considerably reducing the scrap rate and eliminates the need for operator intervention.

Enhanced user friendliness

The new Contiform is also now even more user-friendly: It features a large-screen interface with the latest touch technology and improved visualization software.

Assistant systems guide the operating personnel through the settings, even making automatic suggestions. That makes operating the machine more intuitive and more efficient.

Adding to that, Krones has developed Contiloop AI, an automatic process control system, and put it to use in the new Contiform.

The combination of AI-based software and newly developed hardware makes it possible to detect even the slightest variations in material distribution in the production of PET containers and to automatically adjust key stretch-blow-molding parameters in real time.

This ensures that the bottle quality meets specification and this factor is particularly important when working with rPET where quality and composition are critical factors and they can sometimes be rather uneven.

Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro-industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE.