Sacmi’s goal: to complete the CCM range while, at the same time, taking the compression ‘world’ to unprecedented levels by proposing a machine that can produce 2,000 pieces per minute with a cycle time of 2.4 seconds. This, then, is the CCM 80, which will flank the CCM 48 and 64 models, which have already been on the market for some time.
This machine offers all the advantages of compression technology (Continuous Compression Moulding), that is, maximum homogeneity of cap output guaranteed by the fact that the punches work independently of each other. Not so with injection technology, which, while providing high output rates, struggles to ensure uniform output quality.
There are several reasons for this: injection technology (usually featured by 128-cavity moulds) makes it extremely difficult to maintain uniform temperatures, to ensure uniform distribution of plastic etc. So outgoing pieces are not all the same and, because bottling lines are ever-faster, any downtimes caused by cap quality problems can inflict economic damages on the producer that are much higher than the unit cost of the individual cap. It follows that compression and therefore the dimensional consistency and qualitative excellence are both absolute musts.
The CCM 80 has already received highly encouraging market feedback. Previewed at Chinaplas, it was immediately purchased by an important Chinese customer, Tin Hsin, one of the major local bottle and pre-form producers: the machine will become fully operational at the start of 2010. When Sacmi displayed it again at Drinktec in Munich, it attracted the attention of Hana Water, one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest bottling concerns: they too purchased the machine. That’s an excellent result, especially when one considers that the CCM 80 is, by definition, ideal for companies with high output volumes, as is usually the case on emerging markets (China alone accounts for 35% of Sacmi’s sales in this sector). Companies interested in the CCM 80 will also be pleased to note that the initial outlay is a relatively contained one: machines downstream from the line (pilfer band cutter etc.) are, usually, already designed to manage output rates of this type, so the new machine can also be installed on existing lines without any need to replace or adapt other parts of the plant.
Sacmi then, sees this machine as essential: it allows us to cover the high-volume production ‘segment’ with very short cycle times while offering more advantages in terms of energy resource optimisation than in the past. The CCM 80, in fact, features new extrusion control systems which adjust energy consumption according to speed, which, in turn, depends on cap type and geometry – with the result that the unit cost of the individual cap drops even further. It might fittingly be called a “variable consumption system”, that is, one that makes using the machine profitable in any production situation, thus allowing the CCM 80 to take its place among a new range of Sacmi machines specially studied to enhance quality while simultaneously cutting energy costs and reducing environmental impact.