Thermoform IML system opens up new opportunities

German-based Hekuma has developed an in-mould labeling process for thermoforming which the company hopes to have out in the market by the start of next year. According to company spokesman Bernd Bruckert there is already a growing level of customer interest in the technology which will get a formal launch at this year’s K show in Germany

‘What we’ve done so far is produce a small, one cavity production system which runs at around 15 cycles a minutes,’ explains Bruckert. ‘This was really just done to see how labels would perform during the thermoforming process and for us to test which labels work best.’

However, things are rapidly moving on from these tests and Hekuma is now building a larger machine with four cavities for beverage cups which will be unveiled at K. ‘The cup is similar to those used in single-serve soups - a high volume product in the European market,’ continues Bruckert. ‘Further down the line we plan to build a system with 16 cavities which we hope to have completed by the start of next year. We’re talking to a customer to see if they’ll dare to invest in this kind of system. However, we don’t realistically expect a decision before K and the first proper production runs on the systems we’ll have there.”

The company is currently studying the way the pre-cut labels behave during thermoforming. ‘At present the label sits in the cavity under the rim and with the one cavity system this works very well. The biggest problems we foresee on larger and faster machines is getting the air out of the cavity from under the labels,’ says Bruckert. ‘We’re therefore looking at ways of putting small holes in the labels to prevent bubbles from forming.’

No decision has yet been made about how best to achieve this and the company is currently looking at two approaches - putting the holes in the labels during printing and alternatively perforating them during the actual thermoforming process. ‘This is just one of the things we haven’t yet decided on as we have no proper experience with either method. There may well be other problems further along the line as we move up to larger numbers of cavities - difficulties we can’t imagine right now,’ he continues.

The Hekuma system is a single draw process which when perfected will enable thermoformers to adopt a decorative technology previously only available to injection moulders. According to Bruckert 2005 should see a full production system available.