German packaging manufacturer Gaplast has expanded its injection blow moulding capacity for the pharma sector by ordering two Uniloy Milacron UMIB 70 and 78 high-performance machines. A further production cell equipped with a UMIB 78 will follo at the end of 2008.
According to Stephan Kneer, technical director at Gaplast, only a few suppliers in injection blow moulding production currently serve the pharmaceuticals market. Alternative processes such as extrusion blow moulding - in which parison waste arises - or thermoforming with relatively high wall thicknesses do not achieve the economic efficiency of injection blow moulding in the manufacture of single-skin containers for aqueous solutions.
Gaplast uses the injection blow moulding process to produce pharmaceuticals containers for aqueous solutions in sizes of 10 to 120 ml. At present 50 % of the production range of the company is injection moulded, the two extrusion blow moulding processes account for 35 % and injection blow moulding is now moving up to a 15 % share of production.
The Uniloy Milacron Injection Blow (UMIB) series form the core of the installations at Gaplast. A feature of this type of machine is the arrangement of the hydraulic components under the turntable so that the work area can be considered oil-free. Gaplast additionally ordered nickel-plated surfaces for this work area from Uniloy so that cleaning can be carried out using a steam jet. This provides protection against contamination of parts and reliably prevents corrosion of all components of the mould.
All systems were equipped with a laminar flow compartment to ensure the required cleanroom environment. In this way production can be carried out in a closed loop under cleanroom conditions (class 100.000).
The containers produced at Gaplast are packed in the production cell in two bags in batch sizes of up to 400 units and should reach the "bottler" in airtight condition. The bottler opens the outer bag in his own cleanroom and fills the containers. There is, therefore, a closed circuit all the way from production to filling.