I am looking for input as to the best plastic blow molding manufacturer in North America? Currently I am lead designer on a cosmetics packaging project that requires some good quality blow molding. The problem I am having is finding a manufacturer who can do quality work. They all tell me “yes we can do it” then I see samples and it looks like shite! The product is not that complicated but it does need a manufacturer with the capability of doing hydrolic core pulls.
I also know next to nothing about blow molding. Have you found any useful sites about the subject? I have only done simple bottles that need to be held to a tight tolerance, hence the companies I posted and they show only the end result, not the process. I am sure everyone would appreciate any info you may have.
I will post a more comprehensive update over the week end but for now here is a brief overview.
We are working on a new hair care packaging solution for a client. The project started in September 2004. Using our company design process as guidance (SOP) after research phase, we quickly generated a number of concept options for our client. The client chose the concept direction from the options that best suited their brand. We then moved into design phase #1 and then design phase #2 (refinement). We prototyped and tested utilizing SLA models. All was on target and under budget- Great! Then we hit the Engineering phase, things started to get bogged down. Although we are familiar with blow molding and the product was designed within reasonable manufacturing parameters we soon found out that blow molding technology has advanced quite rapidly in the last few years. However, manufacturers have streamlined their manufacturing and each has geared to specific machinery and capabilities. By doing this they limit the size, material of product that they are able to manufacture. Our problem was that we had designed our product with an undercut on the bottom. In order to get this undercut we need a standard blow mold machine to use what is called a core pull. this is a cylinder that pushes up into the mold as the mold closes and pulls out as it opens through each cycle. Most standard blow mold machines come with this capability. however as it turns out most manufacturers only use it on big 1-10 L blow molded products. Our product is 250-ml and this is the problem. the manufacturers do not want to “play around” with set up. We have been looking for a blow molding manufacturer since December. Some of the other problems we have: quality control, IML (In Mold Labeling) capabilities, material (LDPE)… the list keeps going. We are still looking for the most appropriate blow mold manufacturer and thanks to people like yhk and iab we are almost there - thank god!
One good thing that has come out of this project is that we are now basically experts in the blow molding field.
I appreciate the update. It would be helpful if you could post a sketch of the undercut and the core pull mechanism. I understand it can’t be of the actual design, but if it were of the principle, us visually-oriented people may understand what you are saying a little better.
Sorry iab, I cant post image or sketch. Heavy duty confidentiality contact.
Basicaly the undercut on the bottom allows the neck of a second bottle to recess (stack) into the bottom another bottle. This is mainly for shipping requirements. It is actually a very common detail, but on much bigger containers.
yhk - the product is hair care packaging. the contacts you sent where good but yes they where mainly geared bigger. Thanks though, they did help track dow a more suitable manufacturer.