Toothpaste manufacturer Colgate Palmolive (UK) Ltd in Manchester approached Graham Engineering to conduct shrink performance trials for their new '2 in 1' whitening and mouthwash product. Their toothpaste container is rudder shaped, tapered and manufactured from PETE. Various sleeve materials were tested and as the sleeve location and shrink was critical, Grahams' technical team recommended OPS (Orientated Polystyrene). Other factors were taken into account, such as the accurate application of the sleeve so that the art work design did not bleed around the edges of the container. Also, a clear 'busy-strip' had to be located accurately down one edge to indicate the amount of product in the container.
The main challenge was to build a 150 bottle per minute line into a very limited space. Working closely with Colgate, the Graham team came up with the solution of modulising the RF250 sleeving system to provide good production line performance without compromising the commercial finish of the product.
The line included a twin infeed scroll assembly to space and position their bottle prior to the full body sleeve applicator, a horizontal and vertical material perforator and then the material shrinking was through a Graham steam tunnel. To finish, an air tunnel was used to dry off the container prior to packing.
Colgate-Palmolive Project Engineer, John Rimmer said " We already have Graham equipment on site successfully applying tamper evident sleeves to our mouthrinse bottles. We've been very satisfied with these machines over the years and had no hesitation in approaching Graham again for this new full body sleeving application. Graham were particularly helpful in sharing their knowledge and experience in the selection process for the sleeve itself, in terms of its material, dimensions and tear-off options".
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