Alpha Packaging has qualified six new injection blow-molded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) packers as part of its new HDPE Pharma Line. The expansion brings the company’s line to more than a dozen injection blow-molded and extrusion blow-molded bottles that replicate the HDPE round bottles prevalent in the pharma industry. The new line will also be used for clients in the nutritional supplement market.
 
The company is investing more than $3.5 million in new machines, molds and downstream equipment for Phase I of its new HDPE cell, and has plans to double or triple that investment in 2014. Alpha is investing in new IBM and EBM machines and new molds for more than a dozen sizes of bottles, ranging from 50cc to 950cc. Sizes up to 300cc will be manufactured on new equipment using the Injection Blow-Molding process and larger sizes will be Extrusion Blow-Molded with new blow molds. Production lines will also feature vision systems and leak detectors.
 
Brian McCarthy, Alpha’s vice president of sales and new business development, said, “Alpha’s mission in developing this new line of HDPE Pharma Line Packers is to offer nutritional supplement brands, contract fillers and generic and branded pharma companies a complete line of HDPE bottles that matches their current specifications. This will facilitate a more seamless transition to Alpha’s Pharma line. We will have at least 14 sizes of Pharma Line bottles by the end of 2013 at our East Coast facility, as well as other popular HDPE rounds, oblongs and squares.”