With immediate effect KHS is to cooperate with the LiquiForm Group by contributing its own patents to the development of innovative molding and filling manufacturing technology, a technique which combines two previously separate processes. The two companies have now signed a license agreement to this effect. With their cooperation they hope to achieve a breakthrough for the new LiquiForm™ molding and filling manufacturing technology which in the long term is to supersede the conventional stretch blow molding process. The KHS Group has been doing its own research into this combined technology for many years now and will contribute some of its expertise to the project.
“Our partnership will drive the change in paradigm in the beverage industry further,” says Frank Haesendonckx, head of Sales and Technology at KHS Corpoplast. Disruptive LiquiForm™ technology revolutionizes the entire process chain. At the time of writing, beverage producers who wish to fill PET bottles first have to manufacture bottles from preforms in a stretch blow molding process using compressed air. The blown containers are then filled with beverage at a second stage in the proceedings. LiquiForm™ technology permits bottles to be made and filled in one single operation. To this end, the liquid to be bottled is used during filling to shape the receptacle. The new technology is currently at an advanced stage in its development.
“The advantages for bottlers are obvious. Not only is the filling stage superfluous with LiquiForm™; resources such as air and electricity are also saved,” states Haesendonckx. Beverage producers also save space as only one machine is needed instead of the standard stretch blow molding/filling block.
KHS speeds up development
The KHS Group, which is heralded as a technological leader in the PET sector, among others, has been researching this topic for years and already registered its own industrial property rights in this field. In part these have been included in the agreement. Together with its partner the company from Dortmund in Germany is thus paving the way for customers to profit from LiquiForm™ technology in the near future. “We want to ready this technology for market with our many years of KHS expertise,” concludes Haesendonckx.
“Our partnership will drive the change in paradigm in the beverage industry further,” says Frank Haesendonckx, head of Sales and Technology at KHS Corpoplast. Disruptive LiquiForm™ technology revolutionizes the entire process chain. At the time of writing, beverage producers who wish to fill PET bottles first have to manufacture bottles from preforms in a stretch blow molding process using compressed air. The blown containers are then filled with beverage at a second stage in the proceedings. LiquiForm™ technology permits bottles to be made and filled in one single operation. To this end, the liquid to be bottled is used during filling to shape the receptacle. The new technology is currently at an advanced stage in its development.
“The advantages for bottlers are obvious. Not only is the filling stage superfluous with LiquiForm™; resources such as air and electricity are also saved,” states Haesendonckx. Beverage producers also save space as only one machine is needed instead of the standard stretch blow molding/filling block.
KHS speeds up development
The KHS Group, which is heralded as a technological leader in the PET sector, among others, has been researching this topic for years and already registered its own industrial property rights in this field. In part these have been included in the agreement. Together with its partner the company from Dortmund in Germany is thus paving the way for customers to profit from LiquiForm™ technology in the near future. “We want to ready this technology for market with our many years of KHS expertise,” concludes Haesendonckx.
