In order to meet the constantly changing market requirements and stand out from the competition, producers of bottled beverages are constantly outdoing each other in ideas for the best possible display of their products. This applies to both smaller producers and such big players as PepsiCo. At the same time, the very change of the shape of the packaging is so expensive and time-consuming that even large international concerns look for savings by optimizing each stage of production. This case-study presents an example of how 3D printing technology allowed a leading beverage producer in the world to reduce the production costs of new products by as much as 96%!
Max Rodriguez – Senior Manager of Global Packaging R&D, Advanced Engineering and Design at PepsiCo’s R&D Center, has always struggled with the high cost of developing and implementing new solutions – “creating traditional metal bottle blow molding tools at PepsiCo’s R&D center meant weeks of waiting and thousands of dollars in costs. Once a digital bottle design is created, it takes up to four weeks to make the metal mold and then an additional two weeks to optimize the actual prototype blow molding process. A single toolkit for metal molds can cost as much as $ 10,000 depending on its complexity. “
To bring new products to market faster and cheaper, Rodriguez began to take an interest in 3D printing. Initially, 3D printers were excellent at producing prototypes, but attempts to obtain durable tools did not give the desired results. When the printed molds were used in molding machines, they could produce a maximum of about 100 bottles – later there were surface problems. This prompted Rodriguez and his team to explore the possibility of a hybrid approach combining conventional metal mold parts with 3D-printed inserts.
This hybrid model – which PepsiCo patented at the end of 2020 – relies on a universal metal outer mold shell that fits most commercial blow molding machines. PepsiCo then verified that it was possible to additively reprint only the essential internal mold parts that reflect the geometry of the final product.
Working with Dynamism, a Chicago-based 3D printing technology distributor, the PepsiCo team tested industrial 3D printing solutions that could meet both size and material requirements. Between 2020 and 2022, Rodriguez conducted proof-of-concept trials with a pilot blow mold to ensure the right scale of production, forming bottles at a rate of 600 to 800 bottles per hour – on a single hybrid mold. The modular concept was successful, but the durability of the materials remained a challenge.
“In developing a mold tooling solution using additive manufacturing, we focused on identifying a material that could withstand the conditions typical of our production environment,” says Rodriguez. “In blow mold heating applications, it is common to heat the molds to a temperature of around 140 ° C. It was also important that the material was able to withstand a blow pressure of 40 bar.
PepsiCo has been producing bottles every day using hybrid molds for several months. All thanks to the newly discovered photo polymer xPEEK from Henkel Loctite which meets the above-mentioned conditions. “Time and cost are of course important, but more important is flexibility as it allows us to go through many different iterations of the project in record time, so we can evaluate the performance of all subsequent activities. Our activities validate how the bottle will perform on PepsiCo’s packaging lines, vending machines and the entire distribution network. It really helps to speed up a lot of processes, ”says Rodriguez
Blow molding trials at the PepsiCo R&D center provided data that showed that the 3D printed mold samples were comparable to the metal mold samples. Rodriguez printed the molds on Carbon M2, Stratasys J55 and Markforged X5 3D printers to confirm that the mold insert 3D printing concept is independent of the 3D printer, but ultimately chose the Nexa3D NXE 400 and its xPEEK147 material with Henkel Loctite material. The NXE 400 is large enough to print several mold parts at the same time, plus it is ultra-fast for faster iteration and production.
“We cut production time from 4 weeks to 48 hours. We cut the cost from $ 10,000 to $ 350. A complete set of molds can be made in 12 hours, of which 8 hours is 3D printing and 4 hours is post-processing. The cost is approximately $ 350 for the kit. Hybrid molds ensure the production of approx. 10,000 bottles. As a result, almost 96% cost reduction is achieved compared to traditional metal tooling. “By taking advantage of these opportunities, we expect 30% faster growth,” says Rodriguez.
The exclusive distributor in Nexa3D Poland is 3D Phoenix. Ask what can change in your business: info@3dphoenix.pl.
Source: 3DPhoenix press release.
