Successfully Innovative
Henkel plant in Vienna opts for a new KHS Corpoplast, high-capacity, rotary stretch blow molder with lots of extras
In production for the first time: 3-liter PET bottles with recessed gripBjörn von Lengerke*
Treading innovative paths and facing the new challenges these generate together and in a way that benefits both sides: this perfectly describes the collaboration between Henkel and KHS Corpoplast. This cooperation began at the Henkel plant in Vienna, Austria, where conditions for the inline production of PET bottles are ideal. Stretch blow molded PET bottles for all kinds of liquid products were first manufactured at the Henkel site in Vienna in the mid 1990s in place of the polyethylene, polypropylene, and PVC bottles previously produced in an elaborate extrusion blow molding process. This meant that new ground had to be trod in all senses of the phrase. Right from the start, the initiator and ideas man behind it all was Werner Rosenberg, then responsible for the control of liquid products at Henkel Central Eastern Europe (HCEE). Wolfgang Hlavacek, HCEE's engineering manager, says, "Werner Rosenberg's assumption that PET bottles would have a whole range of advantages for us has been fully confirmed. The stretch blow molding process using preforms is much simpler than extrusion blow mold technology. The stretch blow molders on our Henkel site here in Vienna, limited by its surroundings to just 31,500 square meters or 340,000 square feet, enable us to produce our own PET bottles, take up less space, and ensure that we are not dependent on converters. Process costs are also reduced and the bottles for our market products in the liquids sector are aesthetically more pleasing through the use of PET material." Martin Bachmayer, production manager at Henkel in Vienna, adds, "In the years of working with KHS Corpoplast we have learned to appreciate that in them we have a partner who not only makes top-quality stretch blow molders but also has a wealth of expert knowledge on the design of PET bottles. Our conviction has opened doors for KHS Corpoplast at other Henkel sites. For good reason there are now currently 25 KHS Corpoplast stretch blow molders in operation within the Henkel concern. The advantages of this cooperation have been demonstrated once again by our most recent project in Vienna. The aim here was not only to construct a stretch blow molder that met our specific requirements but also to design various PET bottles for our liquid products that hold one to three liters and have a particularly user-friendly recessed grip. We are extremely satisfied with the resulting cut in manufacturing costs, even more flexible production planning, and a further reduction in the amount of space required." * General Sales Manager for InnoPET Blomax stretch blow molders, KHS Corpoplast GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg Detergents and cleaning agents for Austria and Eastern Europe As an international company employing about 50,000 employees and with a distribution area covering 125 countries, the Henkel concern is active in the three business sectors of detergents and cleaning agents, cosmetics and body care products, and adhesive technology. The Henkel plant in Vienna concentrates on the first of the three (detergents/cleaners), distributing these both in Austria and Eastern Europe. Christian Werschnik in Material Management Detergents claims, "About 20% of the goods produced are sold on the home market, with the remaining 80% distributed throughout a total of 18 countries in Eastern Europe. Some of our biggest buyers include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic." Number one on countless markets According to Michael Sgiarovello, director of corporate communication in Austria, Henkel is the clear Number One in Austria for detergents and cleaning agents, with Persil, Dixan, and Weißer Riese among the top five brands of laundry detergents. Other examples that illustrate Henkel's dominant position on the market are Pril, the top liquid dish detergent in Austria; Somat, the country's second most popular dishwasher detergent; Silan, the number one brand of fabric softener; Fewa, the top special detergent; and so on and so forth. Henkel detergents and cleaning agents are also top of the class on the markets of Eastern Europe, such as in the fabric softener category in Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine, for example, or – in relation to the entire CEE – in the special detergents segment. Henkel CEE – one of the most successful brand name companies in Central Europe The Eastern European market is of great interest to Henkel, demonstrated among other things by the fact that in 1998 the Henkel Austria Group renamed itself Henkel Central Eastern Europe (CEE). With its headquarters in Vienna, Henkel CEE is today one of the most successful manufacturers of brand-name articles in Central Europe and market leader in the field of hair care products, adhesives, and coating technology. Henkel CEE is also tops with its laundry detergents, cleansers, and beauty products. Henkel CEE is responsible for 32 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and with its over 10,000 employees realizes a turnover of approx. 2.5 billion euros a year. Focus in Vienna on liquid products At the Henkel plant in Vienna, liquid products and also powder laundry detergents and cleansers are manufactured, with 140,000 metric tons of liquids being produced and about 80,000 metric tons in powder form. With such a high output, in 2009 the Henkel factory in Vienna became the largest Henkel laundry detergent and cleanser plant in the world tonnage-wise. "In the next few years we're planning to increase production to 270,000 metric tons," explains Bachmayer. "The expected plus will primarily be in the segment of liquid and gel laundry detergents and cleansers." Efficient, space-saving plant technology a must "An important aspect in all this planned growth is that there is no extra space available. This means that in the future we will have to rely even more on plant technology that operates extremely efficiently and also takes up little space." Most recent innovation: new stretch blow molder for large PET bottles with integrated recessed grip In the light of all this, it's thus no surprise that in addition to the four space-saving, KHS Corpoplast stretch blow molders already installed in Vienna, a fifth has been ordered. The next generation of stretch blow molder, the InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH in operation at the Vienna site since 2009 and especially tailored to suit Henkel's requirements, has over eight blow stations that take up just 20 square meters (215 square feet) of space. The InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH is currently responsible for producing 1-liter, 2-liter, and 3-liter PET bottles, outputting 11,200 1-liter PET bottles per hour, 10,400 2-liter PET containers per hour, and 8,000 PET bottles an hour in the 3-liter variety. The machine has been conceived in such a way that it is capable of making PET bottles of up to four liters in size – should this be required. Hlavacek is enthused. "This new machine allows us to not only produce large-size PET bottles for our brand products inline but also to introduce recessed grips to this size of PET bottle for the first time ever. This is something Werner Rosenberg thought about years ago. The technology that has now come into play is, in our opinion, a great achievement." If it had not been feasible to develop a rotary stretch blow molder such as this, to achieve the planned quantity of PET bottles we would have instead needed about four linear machines working with PET granulate in what is known as a one-step procedure." Successful combination: innovation based on tried-and-tested components It thus suited Hlavacek very well that KHS Corpoplast blow-molding components tried and tested over many years were integrated into the new stretch blow molder. "Our operators know exactly what's what," says Hlavacek. "The launch of the new machine was thus very quick and easy, leaving us to concentrate on our new undertaking, namely the introduction of recessed grips to our PET bottles." History of collaboration: Henkel and KHS Corpoplast master new challenges together Says Hlavacek, "I would like to add here that the development of the new stretch blow molder was preceded by a history of collaboration between KHS Corpoplast and Henkel in Vienna, in which the challenges we presented were mastered together, step by step." Preferential heating process for PET bottles guarantees even material distribution with minimum material consumption When in the 1990s Henkel and KHS Corpoplast began developing machines and PET bottles for the Henkel plant in Vienna, there was only a demand for stretch blow molded PET bottles in the beverage industry. The convention in the beverage sector is to use round PET bottles; Henkel has traditionally always marketed its products in oval containers. This was the first challenge KHS Corpoplast faced when it began working with Henkel; it had to design a stretch blow molding process that could be applied to oval bottles in such a way that the controlled, optimum, and even distribution of materials was guaranteed in each bottle, using as little material as possible and producing bottles that were perfect in appearance. The preferential heating process was born, tested extensively both in the lab and in practice – and subsequently fully approved by the Henkel plant. When preferential heating is used, preforms are selectively preheated in the blow molder before the actual blow molding process begins. Selective preheating of preforms means that specific segments of the preform walls are heated to different degrees when these are conveyed past the heaters, ensuring a homogenous distribution of materials across the entire circumference of the oval bottle. During this heating process, preforms are held in place by what is known as a mandrel and specifically heated from two sides. Selective preform heating can also be used in the production of trigger or sprayer bottles, where conveyor mandrels align the preforms with absolute precision using studs integrated into the preforms. After the preheated preforms have been transferred to the blow molds, formed blow molds are created in full accordance with the preform profile, thereby generating precisely the required bottle shape in precisely the required bottle quality. As part of the preferential heating process, KHS Corpoplast also provided plenty of expertise on how to adapt heating parameters to cope with variously colored preforms, for example. Rollout of PET technology within the Henkel concern: Vienna plant acts as competence center "Once the preferential heating process was fully developed," Hlavacek observes, "it was defined as a standard for all KHS Corpoplast stretch blow molders in operation at Henkel." As a result, the preferential heating process can also be found in the new InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH. It could be generally said at this point that within the Henkel concern, Vienna is heralded as a center of competence in the field of PET bottle production. In the middle of 2000, this PET technology was thus 'rolled out' to numerous other Henkel sites. At the same time it was also ascertained that Vienna was the Henkel plant with the most efficient filling and packaging lines in the sector of liquid laundry detergents and cleansers, not least thanks to the use of KHS Corpoplast rotary stretch blow molders. Just how popular the PET bottle has become within the Henkel concern since then is illustrated by the total number of PET bottles produced each year using stretch blow molding technology: about 400 million units. Preform design for 35 variations of PET bottle Besides establishing the preferential heating process in the KHS Corpoplast stretch blow molders, in time many new challenges presented themselves with regard to the design of new preforms. Since the year 2000, KHS Corpoplast has been a constant partner to Henkel in the design of over 30 new variations on the PET bottle, from the initial idea for a new plastic container to its industrial manufacture. Bottles & Shapes™ program in use In the design of new plastic bottles the Bottles & Shapes™ program was put to good use. This was also the case in the redesign of large PET bottles with recessed grips manufactured on the InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH. The customer's greatest wish here was to also profit from the advantages of PET and the stretch blow molding process when making large-size bottles. Bachmayer says, "We were planning on introducing a large PET bottle to the market that was particularly easy for the consumer to handle. In accordance with Werner Rosenberg's initial ideas, it was to be just as easy to handle as the plastic bottles made in the extrusion blow molding process with reach-through handles. At the same time, as with all other new bottle developments, we wanted to cut down on the weight of the PET container." After clarifying what was to be filled and anticipating the expected forms of stress on the various PET bottles while being conveyed through the line, during shipping to the retailer and at the point of sale, KHS Corpoplast suggested several designs in close collaboration with Henkel in Vienna. The shape of the container was developed using computer simulation. Once Henkel was satisfied with the suggestions for the PET bottles, samples of the prospective new containers were made. The reason for this is that the haptics and visual design can be better perceived with samples than when only seen on the computer screen. The suggestions made by KHS Corpoplast came closer and closer to what Henkel in Vienna envisaged. The selected PET variants were then manufactured on a lab machine that works just like the stretch blow molders later used in practice. As test results confirmed all given specifications, Henkel then gave its approval to go ahead with production of the plastic containers. Hlavacek explains, "We left ourselves plenty of time at the design stage in order to do full justice to all marketing requirements and also take all functional and economic aspects into account. This paid off – as it always does." The InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH is now making the required PET bottles in 1-liter, 2-liter, and 3-liter sizes, complete with recessed grip, for the Perwoll, Silan, and Fewa brands of laundry detergent. Using a special stamp, a toggle lever integrated in the blow mold prints a recess on both sides of the bottle preform during the blow molding process. The existing web between the two sides of the recessed grip is currently spaced at around 10 millimeters. "This is a very good result," declares Hlavacek, "that we would still like to improve on with the help of KHS Corpoplast." Constant striving for improvement What generally distinguishes the Henkel plant in Vienna is its permanent questioning of what is already in use and a constant striving for improvement, the results of which become standard practice. The development of new varieties of bottle was thus not the only novelty to evolve from the establishment of up-to-the-minute KHS Corpoplast stretch blow molding technology at the company. Greater savings in compressed air set new standards Another plus that has been integrated into the InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH regards the aspect of sustainability. The stretch blow molders at Henkel have to date all contained the Airback air return system. This ensures that after the blow mold process but shortly before the PET bottles exit the machine some of the compressed air in the newly inflated bottles is extracted and used to blow mold new bottles in other blow stations. However, a minimum of compressed air is still left in the PET bottles that is released into the atmosphere. The new stretch blow molder has an integrated ring vessel that receives the remaining compressed air not required to blow mold the PET bottles and feeds it straight back into the compressed air system at Henkel's Vienna plant. This is where the Airback II air return system comes into play. "With this," claims Bachmayer, "we have a 30% compressed air feedback rate and thus an additional big savings potential." It's thus hardly surprising that at Henkel the ring vessel has also been earmarked as standard for future KHS Corpoplast stretch blow molders when it comes to reducing the consumption of compressed air. Innovative in every respect Hlavacek proclaims, "We see ourselves as an innovative Henkel plant in every respect, actively putting Henkel values into practice according to our motto of 'We focus on innovation'. This is also proving fruitful on the market, as the new large containers prove – and this is where everything comes full circle. Particularly in countries which prefer family packs, such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the 3-liter PET bottle has helped boost our sales of fabric softener enormously." The big bottle now holds eight percent of the entire fabric softener market. Within Austria, the family-size container is primarily in demand for special promotions, helping to again underpin extremely strong market positions. More success planned "And these growing sales figures," adds Bachmayer, "will help us achieve our planned production target of 270,000 metric tons a year even faster." In 2010 – and this is official – the Henkel factory in Vienna is planning to produce 230,000 metric tons of goods, 150,000 of which are to be liquid products. In view of the further growth predicted for Henkel products on the Eastern European market, this seems perfectly feasible. And these growth figures, thinks Mario Altan, senior brand manager of Henkel CEE, are largely contributable to the high level of investment shown by Henkel, including innovations in both concept and packaging. "These innovations," concludes Hlavacek, "will also be of great significance in the future to the increase in production flexibility brought about by the inline manufacture of PET bottles – and, accordingly, also to our partnership with KHS Corpoplast."
