With interest in single-serve capsules for a broad variety of beverage and food products on an upward growth trajectory, the ability to provide a turnkey path to commercialization is becoming increasingly important.

Plastic Technologies, Inc. (PTI), a global leader in plastic package development, has teamed up with HRSflow, a manufacturer of high-precision hot-runners for injection molds and ERMO, a moldmaker specializing in thin-wall containers, caps and closures and medical applications. HRSflow has significant experience in demanding, high-performance applications. The goal is to help improve speed-to-market for brand owners desiring a fast track from concept to the retail shelf.  (HRSflow and ERMO are brands of INglass group.)

The collaboration will make it easier for brand owners to develop new capsules, validate resins, confirm barrier properties and improve speed-to-market.  

“PTI has been helping many brand owners develop capsules or pods that will deliver the performance parameters required by the specific product application.  With these single-serve containers being evaluated for everything from coffee to soup products, it is also important to be able to work with a hot-runner manufacturer that has expertise in material rheology. That is why we are collaborating with HRSflow and ERMO,” said Thierry Fabozzi, managing director of PTI’s European business unit.

The initiative is in keeping with the results of a recent study done by PTI which uncovered significant performance and barrier differences in capsules used for coffee and other applications. The results made it clear that brand owners need to have a better understanding of capsule structures and their impact on taste and barrier (oxygen, water vapor transmission rates). Creating an improved supply-chain infrastructure, by offering fast material evaluation is one way to address those issues.