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Alpla produces a wide range of HDPE bottles in a variety of colors and purges extrusion blow molding equipment every time they change colors.
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The production crew at Alpla finds Dyna-Purge B easy to use with no process adjustment necessary, saving significant time.
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SITUATION:
Alpla Inc. is an international manufacturer of plastic bottles and packaging with more than 100 plants in 30 countries, including 7 in the United States. The Alpla plant located in Cortland, New York operates three Soplar extrusion blow molding machines with 50 mm and 75 mm screws, and barrel temperatures from 360° F to 400° F (182° C to 204° C), processing HDPE bottles.
The Alpla plant would purge with straight virgin material whenever they changed colors. When changing from a dark color to white, memory flow lines of the dark color were very difficult to eliminate resulting in costs-per-purge on average of more than $600. What's more, additional purging was required to remove the flow lines resulting in extended manufacturing downtime.
SOLUTION:
The Alpla operations manager and process technician consulted with Dyna-Purge® to find a solution. The company recommended
Dyna-Purge® B, a non-abrasive, non-chemical "engineered" thermoplastic purging compound, formulated to flow naturally through the barrel and accumulator head.
Dyna-Purge® B features a non-melting but softening thermoplastic that scrubs the screw and barrel, while the carrier matrix flushes away impurities.
RESULTS:
• Using
Dyna-Purge B, Alpla realized
savings of $98,890 annually.
• Downtime for purging each machine has been reduced by 50%.
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Dyna-Purge B eliminated the memory flow lines when changing from dark colors to white.