Educational Guide: How to Select the Right Blow Molding Partner

What to know about selecting the right blow molding partner for the highest quality assurance.

Introduction to Blow Molding

Choosing the right blow molder partner can make or break your next product. While it may seem like a straightforward process, consistently manufacturing containers to your specifications and up to your quality standards is no small task.

If you take anything away from this guide, it should be this:

Quality standards can be quantified and are often contractually established between the brand manager and blow mold supplier.

What Does That Mean?

If you were to ask us the following, we could provide you with a precise answer that your blow molder would be contractually obligated to meet:

“We’re bidding our bottle business, as we have to produce this 12oz bottle. What hole size do you think is acceptable to ask of our suppliers?”

This guide is designed to help you understand how to both select the right partner for your needs and how to collaborate with them to ensure they meet your expectations.

Blow molders are typically compensated based on the amount of quality containers they produce. So, it is critical that they do not waste time and materials producing poor-quality containers.

Not all blow molders will have leak inspection equipment. Often, it is considered an added expense which, they fear, may slow down their own production runs. ALPS Inspection recognizes these concerns which is why all our solutions are designed to allow blow molders to attain the highest level of quality without jeopardizing their speed. Ultimately, this benefits their bottom line and reputation.

As with any new opportunity, like what you will bring to your blow molder partner (either an existing relationship or new one), they will likely have to reconfigure their existing production lines or redesign an entirely new one.

That is why we created an educational guide for your blow molder partners, to ensure that they design their new line with the greatest quality assurance in mind, both for their sake and yours.

We would advise that you download and send their way as a show of good faith that you are invested in a quality relationship to ensure the success of both parties.

Become a Leak Inspection Expert so You Can Select the Best Supplier

What do they need from you? The key information brands need to provide a blow molder to get the most out of them.

Bottle drawings to clarify size, shape, and any unique details
Oversized bottles and uniquely shaped bottles, for instance, sometimes require special equipment to ensure quality and speed throughout your production process.
Hole size specifications to ensure quality without jeopardizing speed
How fast do you need it to go? This depends on hole size – here is why:

Hole size sensitivity is directly affected by the time it must test, and the volume or bottle size it is testing.

To increase sensitivity we have different platforms which allow us to increase the test time, by adding heads, or other features like vacuumized conveyor, or spacing wheels so we extend the time the test is conducted.
Your max-rate of production to ensure leak inspection does not slow you down
We have inspection machines that can test as fast as your production process. But unless you are producing thousands of bottles per minute, you may not need the fastest machine in our lineup.

Your production rate is going to tell us how quickly, and to what degree of accuracy, your bottles need to be inspected per each platform option we offer.
Post-Consumer Recycled Resin (rPET / PCR Resin) requirements
The wave of attention PCR resin has received in recent years is powerful. What impact does that have on your company?

While consumer demand grows, brands are starting to implement commitments to using certain levels of PCR in their bottles by specific dates. While PCR resin is a more sustainable approach, it tends to present more quality issues than virgin raw materials.

Considering quality is your competitive edge, have you thought about how PCR resin will impact your defect rates, or whether your inspection equipment is able to keep up with this process adjustment?

There are a lot of questions surrounding recycled materials. We just want to ensure your blow molder analyzes this with extra care and does not just assume it is the exact same approach to that of brand-new resin.

Conclusion

If you take anything away from this guide, it should be this:

Quality standards can be quantified and are often contractually established between the brand manager and blow mold supplier.

What Does That Mean?

If you were to ask us the following, we could provide you with a precise answer that your blow molder would be contractually obligated to meet:

“We’re bidding our bottle business, as we have to produce this 12oz bottle. What hole size do you think is acceptable to ask of our suppliers?”