Company Announcement - Refillable packaging for additives or decorative closure for convenience beverages – the new-generation dispensing cap from Incap Ltd. offers a host of new possibilities for innovative product design. Developed by an international project team, the versatile dispensing cap was turned into a point-of-sale product by two companies: Hähl and Teamplast. 

Consumers are prepared to pay more for functional beverages enriched with nutrients or health-boosting additives. This trend allows beverage producers to move into a lucrative growth market, more so as their product innovations also cater to another emerging trend: convenience products. Enriched with vitamins, minerals or probiotics, the new beverages offer on-the-go solutions, which can be conveniently consumed directly after a workout or during lunch breaks.

When dispensing caps become refill products
In order to avoid the use of preservatives and prevent detrimental effects on or even loss of the effectiveness of additives after long storage, manufacturers have developed a dispensing cap that contains dry or even liquid additives in a separate chamber inside the cap. Twisting the cap, the consumer only triggers the mixing procedure when the product is about to be consumed.
The patented, lightweight dispensing cap for PET bottles developed by Incap Ltd. now adds another benefit for beverage producers to the equation: maximum freedom of product design and additive options that can be tailored to individual consumer requirements. The dispensing cap is suitable for liquid additives as well as for granules, hot or carbonised bottled beverages. The there is more: as the bottom of the cap is hermetically sealed, it can be sold in combination with the beverage or as an additive refill product. Athletes can conveniently carry their additives in their gym bags, children can mix in apple or orange flavours while they are travelling on the back seat of a car – there is no end to the creative potential of this innovative product, as Axel Hauck, co-owner of Incap Ltd. explains.

Fine-tuning within an international teamwork
This project is a perfect example of successful international teamwork. The German company Horst Hähl Kunststoffspritzguss & Werkzeugbau GmbH and the Dutch plastics specialist Teamplast supported Hong Kong-based Incap Ltd. at all stages of product development right through to market maturity. While the new Incap dispensing cap has a complex design, it also meets a wide range of optical, tactile, safety and hygiene specifications and provides the required ease of operation. Featuring wall-thickness levels of less than one millimetre and an extremely complex geometry, the cap has to withstand high pressure and different temperatures. The sealing properties must not be jeopardized, particularly when carbonised beverages or hot liquids are being bottled. All project partners provided input for the processing-related fine-tuning. Hähl supplied expert information on prototyping and pilot moulds, Teamplast, certified expert for plastic closures, supported the manufacturer with constructive optimization measures to ensure profitable and efficient large-scale production.

Prototype and large-scale production on Sumitomo (SHI) Demag injection moulding machines
In order to meet the product’s exacting precision and repeatability requirements, Hähl carried out the production mould optimization trials on an all-electric Sumitomo (SHI) Demag IntElect injection moulding machine. Teamplast also ran their large-scale production with injection moulding machines from the German-Japanese manufacturer with headquarters in Schwaig near Nuremberg. The Dutch specialist operates at total of 30 Sumitomo (SHI) Demag injection moulding machines.

Interview with Jürgen Mangold and Axel Hauck

Jürgen Mangold, Managing Director of Horst Hähl Kunststoffspritzguss & Werkzeugbau GmbH and Axel Hauck, Director Incap Europe talk about the different project stages and the special features of the new Incap dispensing cap: 

How did Hähl and Incap come to be project partners?
Mangold: We knew Mr Hauck from earlier projects. After we encountered problems with our prototyping mould in China, he suggested that his company Hähl take on the development of the prototyping mould as well as the optimisation, construction and final design of the production mould. Together with Teamplast, we optimised the mould for large-scale production.
Why is precision such an important requirement for injection moulding machines?
Mangold: The mould optimisation trials quickly revealed that the production of Incap dispensing caps required maximum precision in terms of dimensional stability and geometry of the carrier components, in order to ensure that the sealing properties of the membrane and the assembled carrier components were never jeopardized. The process safety had to be guaranteed at all times. This is why the 8-cavity production mould design was optimised –during pilot trials on an all-electric Sumitomo (SHI) Demag IntElect injection moulding machine.

What makes Incap dispensing caps so special?
Hauck: With their special design, Incap dispensing caps are in a category of their own among competing products on the shelf. While consumers using our product feel that they are contributing to their health and wellbeing, they also experience this cap as a fun novelty item as these caps allow them to add the ingredients themselves and watch them dissolve in their beverage. Bottlers are impressed with the product’s versatility, which is why our caps are ideal marketing material. A beverage is so much more interesting if consumers can prepared their very own special drink.

www.teamplast.nl

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has shaped the development of the plastics industry from its very beginning. As a specialist for injection moulding machines for plastics processing, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag and its Japanese parent company are leading the industry.

The global development and production network of Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is comprised of four facilities in Japan, Germany and China with more than 3,000 employees. The product portfolio includes all-electric, hydraulic and hybrid injection moulding machines with clamping forces of between 180 and 20.000 kN. With more than 115,000 installed machines, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is present in important global markets.

More than 5,000 machines sold per year make Sumitomo Heavy Industries and its plastics machinery division one of the largest manufacturers of injection moulding machines in the world. At Sumitomo’s headquarters in Chiba, Japan, the company manufactures machines with clamping forces in the small to medium range. Nearly 95 % of all delivered machines are equipped with an all-electric drive concept.
The Germany-based facilities in Schwaig and Wiehe specialise in the production of Systec Servo machines with hybrid drive concept and hybrid high-performance and high-speed El-Exis SP and Systec SP machines. IntElect machines with electric drives for the international market are also being produced in Germany.

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag will continue operations at the former Demag facility in Ningbo/China, which came on-stream in 1998. The Chinese subsidiary of Demag Plastics Machinery (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. has been operating a local facility with a production area of 11,000 sqm since 2007. Demag Plastics Machinery (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. is planning to expand its production capacities in Ningbo (Zhejian province). By mid-2015, the production will be stepped up from the current rate of about 650 to 1,000 injection moulding machines per year. The injection moulding portfolio is comprised of the hydraulic Systec C series with clamping forces of between 500 and 10,000 kN for the Asian market.

In addition to injection moulding machines, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag offers customised and standardised systems for the part handling automation, technical and process solutions for special applications, tailored services and service concepts as well as a range of financial options to support investment in injection moulding machines.

With its comprehensive sales and service network of subsidiaries and agencies, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is present in all major markets.