Plastic Technologies Inc. (PTI) established a new closure testing lab, thought to be the first independent facility of its type.
“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. 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,” explains PTI’s Greg Fisher, Ph.D, who is responsible for overseeing the lab.
Closure testing capabilities will include: application, top load vent, removal torque, opening performance, secure seal, carbonation retention, impact, barrier, scavengers, lubricants and others. The lab will also include a single-head capper to test reliable and reproducible capping, as well as a vision system to measure critical dimensions and facilitate tooling evaluations.
 “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 said. Accurate analysis also is critical to ensure that packaging materials and structures haven’t been over engineered, thereby negatively affecting cost and source reduction initiatives. Equally as important is making sure that adequate materials and design elements are in place to meet performance criteria.
The total package approach also helps reduce the number of samples required to execute the tests and eliminates the need for correlated bottle data from one lab with closure information from another.
“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.