Plastic Technologies Inc. Opens Closure-Testing Lab

Plastic Technologies Inc. (PTI), a provider of package design, package development, rapid prototyping, pre-production prototyping, and material evaluation engineering services for the plastic packaging industry, is opening an independent closure-testing lab. It will be able to study plastic and metal closures for a broad variety of packaging applications.

“Closure manufacturers have traditionally offered testing support for their products, but up until now there really hasn’t been an independent closure evaluation and analysis lab," explains PTI’s Greg Fisher, Ph.D, who is responsible for overseeing the lab, in a press release. "PTI’s new capability complements its previously-established bottle testing service. This means that brand owners wanting to test the performance of the entire package now have a one-stop place to go.”

Testing will include evaluation of application, top load vent, removal torque, opening performance, secure seal, carbonation retention, impact, barrier, scavengers, lubricants, and others.

“We’re establishing the new closure testing lab because our clients have been requesting a ‘total package review’ capability. Today’s brand owner wants as much data as possible about package performance so they know if modifications are necessary before the product is made available to consumers. They also know they can get more precise performance results when bottle and closure testing is conducted in tandem,” Fisher added in the release.

The lab will employ a single-head capper in order to test reliable and reproducible capping, as well as a vision system to measure critical dimensions and facilitate tooling evaluations, PTI reports.

“Most brand owners don’t have the full in-house capability or instrumentation necessary to thoroughly conduct a total package analysis. This is just one more service that PTI can provide,” Fisher said.

PTI's total package approach is intended to help packagers determine whether packaging materials and structures meet performance criteria yet are not over engineered, which could affect cost and source reduction initiatives, PTI explains.