Mason Pinder's toolmaking skills have been put top the test by Bulmers, the Hereford, UK, cidermakers, when it launched its single-serve flavoured schnapps shots with the Sidekick chaser.
Bulmers developed the design of shot acapsule' that clips either onto the edge of a sleeve glass or directly to a bottle. Working with Mason Pinder, the mould tool design was developed to cut cycle times, improve reliability and reduce capsule material costs during production build-up by more than 40percent.
One of the key design choices was the moulding material. Since visual appearance was crucial, Bulmers chose a PET polyester to give a glass-like clear finish but at the price of a critical high pressure moulding process that depends on a precise temperature window to achieve quality results.
During the pre-launch phase it became clear initial volumes of in excess of 450000 per week would be needed. Mason Pinder was asked to take full technical leadership of the project.
After a series of evaluations, the company developed an upgraded design for the production tools and, in conjunction with hot runner specialists Huskeys, developed a new hot runner system. These modifications allowed Bulmers to re-specify the PET material to a more temperature critical, but lower cost, one.
Mason Pinder has now delivered three 16 cavity tools, including a
16 impression tool set.
For more information, visit www.masonpinder.co.uk
