In the late 1970’s, Presma supplied in an alliance with Plastimac, complete lines for the production of synthetic corks, plastic corks, foamed corks or whatever you prefer to call them.
The process involved a dedicated multi-station structural foam molding machine combined with finishing and printing equipment.
A couple of these lines were operating in Epernay, France (the heart of the French wineries), a couple also in the UK, and another line somewhere in South Africa.
The idea was terrific and generated such a demand that the synthetic cork manufacturers of those years concentrated their efforts in selling know how and royalties, instead of working to refine the manufacturing of the synthetic corks.
We are bringing back a technology that is now in great demand.
After more than 25 years the market conditions are changing and finding good natural corks at a reasonable price has become difficult.
Worldwide there is a shortage of natural bark corks, and in addition they reportedly fail about 8% of the time, souring both wine and customers.
Meanwhile, global wine consumption has increased, especially among premium wines that require corks. Globally, close to 9 billion corks are used each year. A one billion in North America alone.
As machine manufacturers, the resolution for the this year is to bring our 30 years experience to the table and help develop this industry which could bring a lot of benefit to the “wine lover” families, and I invite the other three parties involved, such as material manufacturers, cork manufacturers, and wineries to join us in this business venture.
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Presma has developed a new molding system for plastic corks.
Roto T2/48 and T4/96 rotary injection molding systems for the production of foam plastic corks. Expected production up to 8000 corks per hour.
Rotary Injection Moulding Machines either with 48 or with 96 stations, with twin cavities mould-holders. The main technical features of the two models are the injection units, screw/piston type with electric motor drive, two and four respectively, and located horizontally in axis with the moulds, and the rotary table with one or two sets of 48 mould-holders. On each injection phase the Roto T2/48 produces two stoppers while the Roto T4/48 makes four; the machines may produce at the same time either cylindrical or T-shaped stoppers and, respectively, with two or four different materials/colours. Both machines may run with a cycle time of 1,8 / 2,2 seconds, thus granting an output of 3.000/4.000 pieces/hour with Roto T2/48 and 6.000/8.000 pieces/hour for the Roto T4/48. The injection is assisted via an accumulator which is housed in the base of the machine. The mould-holders are equipped with cooling circuit by coolant liquid and the mould opening is made using a special linear-rotary pneumatic device. The use of this Opening System allows the machine to be fitted with a manipulator for automatic feeding of inserts or for transferring the first moulded item to the adjacent cavity, in order to produce two colour stoppers automatically. The mouldings are pneumatically ejected from the cavities. The rotary table has an insulated protection, to avoid condensation on the moulds. The weight tolerance of the stoppers is +/- 0,1 gr. And the sprue, which is recoverable; weights only 0,12/0,14gr. per cavity. The machine operation is controlled via a PC/Touch-Screen system displaying all process parameters, alarms and Data memories. Presma software is prearranged for modem remote assistance.
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