Family-owned former has been in the forefront of sustainable thermoforming and package design for years. Has it been worth the effort?

Exhibitors at this year’s show introduced an assortment of new machines and upgraded models with designs incorporating the latest in mechanical, hydraulic, and electronic technologies.

At K 2010, thermoformers will be greeted by numerous advances in inline machines for packaging.

Two Southern California processors have boldly gone where no one has ever gone before.

NPE had its share of innovations in thermoforming, notably a new machine that opens the small-bottle market to thermoformers. New trim stations offer more in the way of output and versatility. And more machines are now outfitted with off-the-shelf controls to facilitate servicing. A line of formers from Australia also arrived in the U.S. (Note: additional NPE thermoforming news appeared in May and June—see Learn More box.)

For thermoforming of both heavy-gauge sheet and thin-gauge packaging, the show will present new machines with unusual flexibility, able to form a wide variety of products and materials.

After several fits and starts over the last decade, thermoforming IML appears ready for prime time, thanks to improvements in output and labeling technology. For now, the action is mostly in European packaging.

Like many other NPE exhibitors, thermoforming equipment suppliers are taking less machinery to this year’s Chicago event.

Innovations in thermoforming at K 2004 included new twin-sheet technology for automotive fuel tanks, a highly flexible and modular "plug-and-play" industrial vacuum former, and a range of high-speed units for cups and packaging.

A twin-sheet thermoformed pallet uses PP foam as a plug assist that becomes the lightweight structural core.