Two stage PET SBM technology machines manufacturer FlexBlow is building an Industry 4.0 plant for the efficient 8 cavity Hybrid SBM machine production.
FlexBlow announces its moving towards Industry 4.0. Photo: Courtesy of FlexBlow.
FlexBlow said the new 3,500m2 manufacturing facility, which is in addition to the existing 10,000m2 site in Kretinga, Lithuania, will expand its capacity and improve technology.
Investment has been secured for the new production site and the manufacturing unit is expected to start operations by July 2019.
The company said that the vision for new site is expected to transform its processes and operations and introduces a complete manufacturing environment operating on real-time data collection and localization during production.
FlexBlow, which is a family owned company operating since 1994, had an early vision of demand responsive PET bottle blowing. The company said that the close observation of market development showed shrinking PET bottle production batches and increasing demand for greater in-house PET container production flexibility.
The company focuses its strategic progression on continuous technology improvement to meet the client’s needs for in-house versatility.
Technical director and his team at FlexBlow have worked together on combining relevant physical and digital technologies like intelligent robot units programmed to make decisions based on real-time data collected from the production floor, to optimize the processes.
FlexBlow said that the complete picture of its new production site includes an on-site dedicated testing laboratory, 3D printers for both plastic and metal components, along with an excellent working environment designed to boost employee motivation and engagement.
To move away from limited supplier capabilities, the company has decided to start volume production of the new 8-cavity FlexBlow8 Hybrid systems for increased production capacity of up to 12,000bph, with bottles sizes from 10ml to 1.5 l, neck finishes from 18-38mm.
Being able to fabricate all necessary metal parts, including heavy duty metal PET SBM machine components in-house, the company looks forward to becoming self-sufficient.
FlexBlow said that with its large-scale off -site metal parts manufacturing site becomes complete with a new high-precision 5 axis Hyundai milling machines, 2-ton 360-degree overhead cranes, a large-scale sheet metal plasma bending machine, and an industrial large equipment (8,000×4,000×2,600 mm) paint spray booth for that trademark quality finish.