Origin’s manufacturing system to produce the first commercial-scale PET caps and closures
Origin Materials and IMDvista, a Swiss high-tech company specialising in the vision inspection of closures and other packaging components, announced a strategic partnership to produce the world’s first PET cap and closure manufacturing system.
“Best-in-class manufacturing partners like IMD are providing subsystems for our production line. Together we are doing something nobody has done before: we are building the world’s first commercial-scale PET cap and closure manufacturing system,” said Origin co-CEO and co-founder John Bissell. “Our high-throughput system will allow us to bring the recycling, sustainability, and performance benefits of our PET cap and closure solution to the world. We plan to bring many such production lines online, not only to make beverage packaging better and fully recyclable, but containers of nearly every kind.”
Bissell added: “IMD is an excellent partner for Origin as we build our first production line. They are a global leader in high-speed testing systems, headquartered in Switzerland with locations around the world including the United States, Germany, and Taiwan with systems in use on every continent. Their advanced camera systems inspect thousands of closures per minute and give us the ability to inspect billions of caps per year. We are excited to partner with IMD and grateful for their contributions as we launch the first-ever PET cap and closure manufacturing system.”
“At the end of the day, a PET closure is the right solution,” said IMD chief sales officer (CSO) Martin Gerber, who immediately saw the revolutionary potential of Origin’s PET caps and closures. Martin had the opportunity to see Origin’s manufacturing development system in Germany and he was impressed. “I see no reason why this closure will not be successful,” Gerber added.
According to Gerber, IMD has explored many approaches to manufacturing PET caps over the years with customers and partners, but a running production line making closures that meet market requirements is something new, even for IMD’s long-standing CSO with 20 years’ experience. Gerber added: “IMD is investing significantly in support of inspection and handling for PET caps, and we are aware that this investment will pay off very quickly.”
“We look forward to showing our PET caps alongside the IMD team at their booth during the upcoming NPE2024 conference in Orlando, Florida,” noted Bissell, who will be speaking at the conference.
Origin and IMD have worked together for over 12 months, in support of Origin’s high-throughput production system for making the world’s first PET caps and closures at commercial scale.
Origin claims the solution is a transformative leap forward in packaging, designing for recycling circularity and improved performance. Origin’s solution improves recyclability, enables light-weighting, and can extend product shelf-life while addressing a greater than $65 billion market.
