WM Thermoforming Machines: Following the trend of the American red cup

In the marketing the psychology of the colour throw its weight around, since from our birth our minds are programmed to answer to the input colours give us. A demographic research on colour demonstrates how important our visive perceptions are, the colour is the fundamental of visual code, it helps us to understand reality, transmit moods, interact with our nervous system, influences our perceptions, our judgment and our sensations. Each colour can communicate a precise feeling and have a psychological effect. For example in a supermarket the colour connected to each sector is studied in every detail and the customers declared that the colour is the main element that bring to the choice of one product instead of another.

Red is the colour of the fire, is the colour of passion, can symbolize warmth and with his different shades can mean the power of attraction, but also danger, it's even the colour of the devil. Can mean courage and innovation. It's the first colour of the rainbow, the first colour the infant identify and the first colour every people have named.

And red is the colour chosen for the iconic American PP cup. The classic big size disposable beverage holder anyone can remember in any US movie or TV series, half-filled with any sort of drink or crushed and thrown away.

This that might seem only a simple object with a very few economical value, is a real piece of technology and engineering. It has been studied in every aspect, the perfect shape, so that can be stacked without clung together but a shape that, at the same time, can be easily removed from the mould during the production. The curved lip to avoid one cup from sink ing too tightly to the next, the bottom more rigid to allow more air flow between the stacked cups, the rigidity of the cup itself so that the cup doesn't bend when filled, but also doesn't have too much grip.

WM Thermoforming Machines in the last year has followed the American trend of the big size red PP cup. A total of four In-line plants have been delivered, two of them for the American market where this type of production is "traditional", the other two in Europe, where the big red cup is a new tendency.

The In-line plants are the model INTEC FT 900/3, which start the process from the automatic dosing and feeding of the PP granules and finish its work with the recycling of the scraps which are reduced to flakes and re-sent to the dosing unit at the end of the line. The line is equipped with the new extrusion group manufactured completely by WM Thermoforming Machines, the N.EXT 75 which has a screw diameter of 75 mm and two co-extruders N.EXT 45 with a diameter of 45 mm. The total extrusion capacity of the group is 1,096 kg/h.

The process continues with the flat die head of the extrusion that feeds a vertical laminating calender composed by three rolls which produce the extruded sheet having a width of 930 mm and a thickness ranging from 0.2 to 2 mm.

The sheet is then transported in line through a toothed chains system to the thermoforming machine model FT 900, where the products take shape. The FT 900 can use moulds with a maximum size of 880x520 mm and has a clamping force of 75,000 DaN and thanks to the tilting system of the movable platen that can rotate up to 75 degrees, the formed cups can be easily removed by the lower half mould.

The cups are formed and cut in-mould, removed with aspirating spindles and sent to a collection cage. The stacked cups are then sent by a conveyor belt to the Rimming Machine, a completely WM production, with three rotating screws. The rimmed cups follow their way to the counting, packaging and boxing units ready to be delivered to the final customer.

The advantages of the In-line system is the real reduction of energy consumption, since it can produce 120.000 cups per hour, reducing waste and reducing the personnel necessary to manage all the system.

WM designs In-line systems that can be used for many different production purposes, from PP cups to disposable plates made of co-extruded polystyrene as well as yogurt, butter, margarine and ice cream containers, made of polypropylene, polystyrene or a multi-layer barrier.