Germany's Gaplast (Saulgrub) recently installed a new co-extrusion blow molding machine from machinery manufacturer Bekum (Berlin, also Germany) to help Gaplast make deeper inroads into the medical packaging market. The machine, a Bekum BM 206 DL with 6 extruders, is used to process patented 6-layer blow molded containers with a bag-in-bottle design.

 

Gaplast introduced its bag-in-bottle packaging at the interpack trade show in 2005. Fitted with a special spray applicator, the bag contracts as its contents are consumed, helping to ensure that less product remains in the bottle and, more importantly, that any medicine in the bag remains free of germs. Patented is the method Gaplast uses to attach bags to the tops and bottoms of the blow molded bottles.

 

To increase capacity for this packaging, Gaplast ordered a dual-station BM 206 DL shuttle machine with 4 extrusion heads and 6 extruders, running a 4+4 mold. Bekum fitted the line with a quick mold change feature and added an additional bobbing hydraulic on the extruder to optimize control over the tubing. The extrusion head distributes material via a spiral distributor for the bottle, with a side-fed die head and heart-shaped curved tube used for the inside bag.