Many bottling facilities buy PET “preforms” from a vendor, which are then blow-molded on-site to create the final bottle shape. With production often running at up to 1,200 bottle-per-minute, reducing preform cost by even a penny per bottle would result in significant savings. This confidential water bottling plant wanted to bring preform injection molding in house to save money and improve quality control, but they had a limited window to accomplish the project and could not afford to stop production. Woodard & Curran designed a system to meet these goals, and completed it on time despite working through one of the coldest winters in recent history.
The new molding process required a building expansion to house it, with process utilities and an advanced HVAC system to maintain a clean production environment. The process included the injection molding equipment and conveyors to integrate the new preforms into the existing production line. Woodard & Curran also designed the resin storage silos and pneumatic transport systems to deliver it to the molding machines. The design was fast-tracked and integrated with construction planning to save time.
CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCED TO AVOID INTERRUPTIONS
In order to complete the project on time, construction of the 12,000 square foot building addition needed to be precisely timed to match equipment delivery dates. Delays would have jeopardized the entire project schedule. To make this possible, we worked closely with the vendors, contractors, and client to align schedules and keep multiple timelines running simultaneously. In the end, the building was complete and the new systems installed and commissioned with the bare minimum production downtime needed to synchronize with existing production.
