Inkjet & Digital Printing
HP and Innofibre Showcase New HP Molded Fiber Packaging and Production Solution
Wednesday 14. April 2021 - At the International Molded Fiber Association (IMFA) annual conference, the leading event for the molded fiber industry, HP showcased independently verified performance leadership, partners and customers driving entirely new packaging designs.
They released new research data validating HPs solution as a more productive, efficient option for molded fiber tooling compared with traditional woven wire tooling.
“Based on our testing, HPs Molded Fiber Advanced Tooling Solution can offer greater precision, along with faster forming and drainage times,” said Tarik Jabrane, NSERC Industrial Research Chair, Innofibre. “Compared to traditional molded fiber tooling, HPs tools can be changed quickly and easily, with fewer stops in the workflow. The speed of iteration and ability to change tools enables more prototyping and ultimately provides a more cost effective option for the industry.”
“We are proud our efforts to introduce a truly disruptive solution for the packaging industry have been validated by Innofibres research,” said Mariona Company, Global Head of Molded Fiber Solutions, HP Inc. “Based on the data released by Innofibre, it is no surprise we are gaining traction with molded fiber manufacturers in Europe, the US and Canada as they look for innovative new tooling options to meet customer demand. This is just the beginning, we are committed to advancing our solution, helping the molded fiber industry grow and accelerating the transition from single use plastics to sustainable packaging.”
Market Leading Productivity and New Design Possibilities
Molded fiber, also known as molded pulp, is currently used in handling and packaging thousands of renewable products from food containers to packaging of household items and electronics to single-use medical service items.
Unveiled in September 2020, HPs Molded Fiber Advanced Tooling technology enables fast and enhanced design and fabrication of high-performance molded fiber tooling in as quickly as two weeks compared to four to six weeks experienced by customers using traditional methods. Combined with HPs new tooling production service, the end-to-end solution yields increased production up time, reduced maintenance, and mass customization capabilities.
Key findings published by Innofibre confirm that the HP solution delivers a greater number of stronger parts more quickly than traditional tooling.
Improved fiber retention resulting in stronger parts: due to its excellent first pass pulp retention, especially of the longest fibers, HP tooling uses less fiber to make parts with greater strength than equal grammage parts from 50-mesh tooling.
Significant process efficiencies and cost reduction: due to its superior fiber retention, and faster forming, HPs solution saves customers time and money – savings equivalent to avoiding having to discard every eleventh egg tray being produced into whitewater.
High quality personalized parts: HP digitally designed screens resist wrinkles so customers get parts with crisp edges and borders, and highly personalized, legible markings.
New Customers Embracing HPs Solution Across Industries
Several new customers throughout Europe, the United States and Canada across industries including healthcare and electronics have begun using HPs tooling solution. This builds on collaboration with existing customers including Fiber Innovation, Pacific Pulp, Pulp Moulded Products, and Western Pulp Products Company as well as partners such as PMD and Veritiv who are working on a variety of new designs.
Vernacare is a global leader of paper moulding products specializing in high quality single-use medical products committed to innovation. The company is looking to improve efficiency gains, accelerate turnaround times, and increase productivity with HPs unique rapid screen replacement.
“Compared to traditional manufacturing, HPs solution increases the speed from concept to execution, and has the potential to improve our productivity efficiencies and machine volumes,” said Garry Partington, Research and Development Manager, Vernacare.
Polyco Healthline Group specializes in protection and hygiene products and services including disposable gloves, workwear and bags. Polyco has used molded pulp for more than two decades and its Thermofiber division develops non-medical molded pulp accessories. The company is working with HP to develop applications that reduce the amount of plastics used in the industry.
Eco Pulp is a Finland-based packaging producer that specializes in technical molded pulp inserts. They are currently using HPs tooling solution to produce packaging for electronic devices.
“Thanks to HP we are increasing our production efficiencies. The middle screen is saving us a lot of time in the production process, it is light, easy to carry, making the process faster and more sustainable,” said Ari Henttonen, Managing Director, Eco Pulp.
New customers include Eco Pack, Enviropack, ERI Mexico, YFY Jupiter and many others exploring new use cases using HP tools. HPs own business, one of the largest manufacturers of consumer tech products in the world, is leveraging the solution to help achieve its sustainability goals, including a commitment to eliminate 75% of single use plastic packaging by 2025.
Technology Advancements Unlock New Value for Manufacturers
HPs Molded Fiber Advanced Tooling Solution leverages proprietary HP innovations in digital manufacturing software and data intelligence along with HPs industry-leading, industrial 3D printing technology to offer a more efficient, optimized digital design experience, replacing the need for handcrafted screens, CNC machining, and manually drilled form tools.
As a result of Innofibres research and work with partners including PMD, HP has quickly advanced its tooling capabilities, developing enhancements to optimize production processes and create more personalized solutions. These innovative advancements demonstrate HPs commitment to open up entirely new design opportunities enabling projects that would be impossible using traditional methods due to complex geometries and shallow draft angles.
HP AdvancedPro Transfer Tool: a lightweight transfer tool providing an extra digitally designed screen on the transfer side for improved productivity and process efficiency by reducing forming cycle time and moisture content. The tool improves transfer-side smoothness and enables parts with low draft angles as well as custom markings on the transfer side.
HP FlowTec SmartScreen: custom screens algorithmically designed to fine tune slurry flow and improve molding performance for challenging geometries.
“We started to work with HP because my desire was to have a fluid dynamic approach to the tooling used for molded fiber products. I didnt have sufficient knowledge of this approach and very few people in the Industry do,” said Jalal Kahn, Head of Design Pulp & Paper Products at Polyco Healthline. HPs FlowTec SmartScreen is a breakthrough tooling innovation thanks to which we can actually have a more predictable slurry behavior resulting in efficiency gains for molders.”
HP at IMFA Conference
HP will be present at the virtual IMFA annual conference from April 13-14, delivering a keynote address together with Eco Pulp, Polyco Healthline Group, and Vernacare. HP will also be delivering a technical session together with Innofibre and PMD, providing a deep dive into Innofibres research and HPs technology advancements. On April 20, HP will follow up on its sessions at IMFA with a free, in-depth webinar and Q&A session to discuss opportunities to transform molded fiber packaging with its end-to-end solution