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What’s said to be “the world’s first cross-process platform” capable of integrating bottle blow molding and cap injection molding inline with filling was shown operating at September’s Drinktec 2017 beverage technology fair in Munich, Germany. SACMI of Italy (U.S. office in Des Moines, Iowa) present a system using its new CPB cap and preform buffer magazine, which reportedly permits synchronizing the two molding operations, despite their differing productivity parameters. SACMI says the CPB unit offers converters “the ability to move closer to bottlers” by using through-the-wall or in-house manufacturing solutions.

Other news from SACMI at Drinktec included HeroBlock, an all-new “quadblock” system that combines stretch-blow molding, filling, capping, and labeling in one machine. “Total  elimination of conveying systems and intermediate stages” offers “unique compactness,” according to SACMI.

Also new was digital label printing, a further advance on SACMI’s Colora Cap digital (inkjet) cap-printing technology, which offers “agile customization”—the ability to change the print image from cap to cap. Drinktec 2017 also previewed a new digital label-printing module, integrated into the bottle labeler, which allows agile customization of preprinted labels without the difficulties that come with printing directly on the bottle. This is described as an affordable device that can be retrofitted to existing equipment and can be used with any bottle shape.