Reformulation of Masterbatch for HDPE Packaging in the Liquid Dairy Space

My name is Steve Osmian, Director of Sales for Thermoplastic. Recently, I encountered a particularly complex case involving a beverage brand-owner who was facing major costs & performance issues for a newly launched liquid dairy product.

Shortly after launch, the bottle manufacturer reported warping issues with the bottles: they could partially alleviate the problem by slowing down the EBM machine, but lower productivity meant much higher total-cost-to-produce. Even more critical from a brand-equity perspective, supermarkets had started to file complaints, as they had to discard deformed bottles on the shelves.

The brand-owner head of R&D reached out to me: first to confirm that the blue colorant was the root cause ; second to formulate an alternative masterbatch.

Our team dealt with a multi-faceted challenge: precisely matching the color, ensuring the compatibility with the sensitive dairy product, while broadening the manufacturing process window and improving bottle mechanical integrity.

Three of our laboratories work together: the Color Matching Lab focused on getting the signature blue right, the Polymer Additives Lab brought their experience with dimensional stability and manufacturing processes, and the Analytical Laboratory ensured that the selection of pigment, dyes and additives was compatible with the product.

The new formulation was successfully trialed and launched after 3 months of work. With the new masterbatch, the bottle manufacturer was able to increase production speed by 15%, and to date, the brand owner has reported zero complaints related to bottle warping.