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Coca-Cola endorses new mold-making technology

Soft drink bottler lauds new patented technology for manufacture of plastic molds, both for injection and blow molding.

Pw 16375 Coke Bottle

The Coca-Cola Co. rarely publicly endorses another company’s technology. But the Atlanta-based firm is endorsing the use of new mold-making technology for its global network of packaging suppliers. In October, it permitted Metallamics (Traverse City, MI) to issue a press release saying that Coke believes the process will significantly reduce the cost and improve the quality of preforms and plastic bottles used in its packaging. What makes this even more eye-opening is that Coke doesn’t have access to the technology on an exclusive basis.

Metallamics calls the technology SM?X™, which stands for shape-making heat exchangers. The company has won worldwide patents on its mold-making concept that transfers heat from the molded part back into the mold more rapidly and more uniformly than conventional molding tools.

Coke even allowed its principal engineer for package development and design, Chris Kjorlaug, to discuss the company’s findings. “We’ve taken our time thoroughly evaluating this,” Kjorlaug says. “And we’ll continue to look at it, in terms of new applications and improvements. There are definite benefits to the technology, both from the standpoint of processing, as well as part quality.”

Kjorlaug says the company did extensive lab testing before it initiated a commercial beta test, particularly for injection molding. Although he says he personally hasn’t had deep experience using the technology for blow molding, he says the company has done testing. Rob Baskin, a Coke spokesman, confirms that the beta-site testing was underway for more than a year before the announcement.

“Here, frankly, we are endorsing this process. In the last 18 months or so, we’ve relaxed our policy and allowed suppliers to make public this type of news,” Baskin says. “We think this will be good for our system.”

Better molds

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