\u201cCommitted to compostables\u201d describes both the business focus and\u00a0guiding philosophy of a new custom injection molding business\u00a0dedicated to \u201cgreen\u201d materials. UrthPact\u00a0is one of the pioneers in processing these\u00a0notoriously challenging materials. In January 2014,\u00a0it was spun off as a separate company from Innovative Mold\u00a0Solutions (IMS), a custom molder and contract\u00a0manufacturer in Leominster.\u00a0Both firms are located\u00a0in the same building and are owned by Paul\u00a0Boudreau, a former engineering manager at\u00a0Husky Injection Molding Systems.<\/p>\n
Explains Boudreau, \u201cIMS has always\u00a0been an engineering-oriented company.\u00a0We develop new, innovative technologies. We do the impossible.\u00a0About 10 years ago, IMS started dabbling in bioplastics. Last year, we\u00a0formed UrthPact as a separate company with the mission of using\u00a0plant-based biocompostable plastics.<\/p>\n
\u201cManufacturers have a responsibility to the planet. Our team is\u00a0all avid outdoors people. We have a passion for cycling, and we see\u00a0the trash on the roadsides, and we wanted to help do something\u00a0about it. We also asked ourselves, why use plastics made from oil,\u00a0when renewable materials are being developed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Says Derek Helmer, v.p. of business development (another Husky\u00a0alumnus), \u201cWe use mainly blends of PLA and PHA. PHA does a good\u00a0job of improving the properties of PLA; for example, PHA has better\u00a0heat resistance and barrier to moisture and gases. Within the next\u00a0year, we may begin molding straight PHA, which has its own challenges.\u00a0We expect it will be\u00a0more cost-effective than PLA\u00a0once production is scaled up.\u201d UrthPact uses PHA from MHG,\u00a0Bainbridge, Ga..<\/p>\n
NOT FOR THE\u00a0FAINT OF HEART
\n\u201cWe quickly found out all the reasons why most people don\u2019t want\u00a0to mold plant-based materials,\u201d says Boudreau.\u00a0Adds Helmer, \u201cThey don\u2019t behave like typical thermoplastics. If\u00a0you\u2019re thinking like an injection molder with 20 to 30 years\u2019 experience,\u00a0you\u2019ll get it wrong. Where you would think to add heat or\u00a0pressure\u2014these materials need the opposite.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypical thermoplastics have very little MFI variation, but these\u00a0materials vary by 2 to 5 points. They also have a steeper shear-rate\/viscosity curve. And the process isn\u2019t over when we\u2019re done\u00a0molding a part. To get the physical properties our customers\u00a0are looking for requires post-crystallization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to stop complaining about the materials\u2019\u00a0behavior and waiting for \u00a0someone else to solve this. Our job\u00a0is to figure out how to deal with it in our process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boudreau credits this hard-won processing know-how\u00a0with helping overcome the cost premium for biopolymers.\u00a0\u201cWe compete with PP, PE, PS, and PET. Biopolymers have come\u00a0down in price but are still not on par with these conventional\u00a0materials. We decided we couldn\u2019t wait until they hit par.\u00a0We saw that processing waste, rejects, and limited molding\u00a0speeds added to the overall cost of compostable products, so\u00a0we addressed those limitations with our knowledge of high-speed,\u00a0precision injection molding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, we regularly use hot runners,\u201d points out\u00a0Mike Pousland, v.p. of operations. \u201cThe hardware manufacturers\u00a0were hesitant to tackle biopolymers, but we pushed\u00a0them on behalf of our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
UrthPact also paid for testing of some biopolymers to derive the data necessary for computerized flow simulation. Adds Boudreau, \u201cWe also developed product designs to use less material and put material where it\u2019s most useful.\u201d In addition to Design for Manufacturability, UrthPact applied what Boudreau calls \u201cDesign for Compostability.\u201d By the latter he means avoiding excessive wall thickness that could compromise a product\u2019s ability to decompose in the standard 90 days.<\/p>\n
As UrthPact climbed the steep learning curve, it assembled a portfolio of proprietary processing technology, which it is open to licensing to other processors. \u201cOur goal is to promote this technology,\u201d says Boudreau. \u201cProcessing these materials is not just shoot-and-ship. It requires special expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n
COMMERCIAL DEBUT
\n\u201cOur market is single-use consumer packaging,\u201d says Boudreau.\u00a0\u201cOur value proposition is the use of renewable materials and their\u00a0ability to be composted after use.\u201d<\/p>\n
UrthPact\u2019s first commercial application is a replacement\u00a0for the popular coffee \u201cpod\u201d for single-cup brewing, such as the\u00a0Keurig K-Cup and competing products. Such pods are generally\u00a0made of polystyrene with an aluminum lid, though some biodegradable\u00a0versions have appeared on the market. According to some\u00a0reports, as many as 9 billion of these pods are headed for landfills\u00a0each year. \u201cThe coffee pod is five minutes of convenience and then\u00a0it will be around for 500 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
UrthPact teamed up with San Francisco Bay Coffee, Oakland,\u00a0Calif., to develop a substitute that is\u00a0more than 97% compostable by weight. Instead of a cup, it consists of\u00a0a rigid ring of biopolymer attached to a \u201cteabag\u201d-style filter container\u00a0that holds the ground coffee. UrthPact also molds the degassing valve\u00a0of biopolymer. The lidding film over the ring and the outer bag packaging\u00a0are made from biopolymer by Ultra Flex Packaging in Brooklyn,\u00a0N.Y. This package, which fits Keurig and other single-cup\u00a0brewing systems, was launched in 2013.<\/p>\n
UrthPact is working on five other projects for single-use\u00a0disposables, one or two of which will launch this year, Boudreau\u00a0expects. He sees these applications sustaining double-digit\u00a0growth for his new venture.<\/p>\n
EXPANDING PRODUCTION
\nUrthPact currently has six injection presses of 100 to 350 tons in\u00a0Leominster. Five are Netstal Synergy hydraulic presses, and one is\u00a0from Sumitomo (SHI) Demag. The plant\u00a0covers 30,000 ft2 and\u00a0employs 40 people. Boudreau plans to add two more presses this\u00a0year; the plant has room for up to 10.<\/p>\n
UrthPact started up a second plant in Lincoln, Calif. (near\u00a0Sacramento), in July. It has one injection machine but three more\u00a0are planned for this year, and the 42,000 ft\u00b2 plant can hold 15. It will\u00a0employ 15-20 this year.<\/p>\n
In Leominster, UrthPact has two automated cells for assembling\u00a0degassing valves, and two more will be added by the end of the year.\u00a0drop out of the molds onto conveyors equipped with cooling fans\u00a0and camera inspection. The coffee-pod rings are subjected to 100%\u00a0vision inspection for dimensions, ovality, short shots, and flash.<\/p>\n
The conveyors are supplied by Dynamic Conveyor Corp.,\u00a0Muskegon, Mich. Adam Parker, v.p.\u00a0of manufacturing, says the modularity and reconfigurability\u00a0of the DynaCon conveyors was a key advantage in setting up\u00a0this plant and the one in California. \u201cWith other conveyors, we\u00a0had to delay the purchase until we could figure out the ideal\u00a0production layout. But the DynaCon conveyors are so flexible\u00a0that we can bring them in early and figure out how we might\u00a0reconfigure them later. We\u2019re not locking ourselves in\u2014we can\u00a0experiment to find exactly what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean Wright, manufacturing engineer, concurs: \u201cWith rapid\u00a0growth like ours, it\u2019s important to be able to reconfigure our\u00a0auxiliary equipment and do an R&D project without the conveyor\u00a0systems. The DynaCon conveyor is like a large erector set\u2014we\u00a0can reconfigure it as needed instead of being stuck with one fixed\u00a0system. It allowed us to\u00a0revamp the entire postmolding\u00a0process.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an example,\u00a0Wright notes that the\u00a0conveyor belts were\u00a0ordered originally with\u00a0flights spaced at 12-in. intervals, but that did not separate the parts\u00a0as planned. He was able to order additional flights and rebuild the\u00a0belt. \u201cWe were able to pull the belt completely off and add twice the\u00a0number of flights in about an hour. With another conveyor-belt\u00a0system that would not be possible because the flights are typically\u00a0permanently attached and cannot be adjusted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parker notes another advantage: \u201cMost conveyors are custom\u00a0built, but these are standard modules.\u201d<\/p>\n
UrthPact has a quality lab equipped with a coordinate\u00a0measuring machine and an optical comparator. Some parts, like the\u00a0coffee degassing valve, have tolerances as tight as \u00b10.5-1 mil.<\/p>\n
A more unusual QC testing capability at UrthPact is a specially\u00a0built composting room with controlled temperature and humidity\u00a0for testing compostability according to ASTM D6400.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cCommitted to compostables\u201d describes both the business focus and\u00a0guiding philosophy of a new custom injection molding business\u00a0dedicated to \u201cgreen\u201d materials. UrthPact\u00a0is one of the pioneers in processing these\u00a0notoriously challenging materials. In January 2014,\u00a0it was spun off as a separate company from Innovative Mold\u00a0Solutions (IMS), a custom molder and contract\u00a0manufacturer in Leominster.\u00a0Both firms are located\u00a0in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[6026],"supplier":[10565,10564],"class_list":["post-28018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biopolymers","supplier-innovative-mold-solutions-ims","supplier-urthpact"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28018"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=28018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}