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Terekas was started in 1994 as a preform and bottle maker. A few years later it graduated to building its own machines, which it soon started offering for sale to other molders. It shipped its first two machines to Canada two years ago, and just delivered the first system to a custom blow molder in New York State. FlexBlow machines are also used in Spain, Germany, Benelux, Australia, Iceland, Slovenia, Belarus, and the Baltic States. These all-electric servo machines use standard, high-quality European components from Siemens, Bosch, AEG, and Festo. Today, Terekas has representation on all conti- nents except Australia. Terekas handles U.S. sales directly from Lithuania, but technical support for the FlexBlow line is handled in North America by K&G; Machinery Works Ltd., Mississauga, Ont. (kgmachineworks.com). SMALL AND VERSATILE Terekas calls its FlexBlow machines "the smallest universal blow molder" with the "highest flexibility on the two-stage market" and "the fastest complete changeover the industry." A FlexBlow 2 (two-cavity) measures 1.7 × 2.8 m (5.6 × 9.2 ft). Output of the newest models is up to 1600 bph per cavity. If you are interested in an attractively priced stretch-blow machine to produce a wide range of sizes and shapes of PET or PP bottles in low volumes with frequent change- overs, then take a look at a newcomer to the U.S. market, the all-electric FlexBlow machine from Terekas UAB in Lithuania (flexblow.com). You can see one of these machines in operation at Pack Expo in Las Vegas, Sept. 25-27. What makes these machines unusual is their wide range of versatility, said to be unprecedented for a two-stage (reheat) system. Normally, such flexibility is associated with one-stage machines that require higher investment, especially for tooling. For example, a two-cavity FlexBlow 2 model (photo at right) can mold neck sizes from 18 to 110 mm, bottle sizes from 50 ml to 2L (or up to 6L in one cavity) at outputs around 1600 bph. It can produce oval or asymmetric bottles and hot-fill containers (to 93 C/200 F), and it guarantees alignment of neck detail to the container body. A complete format changeover, including restart time to produce good bottles, is only 20-30 min, beating the competition by a wide margin, according to Gytis Sirvinskas, market-development manager. By Matt Naitove Executive Editor Compact, 'Universal' Stretch-Blow Molder Offers Wide Flexibility, Quick Changeovers Unprecedented versatility in a two-stage machine, at a competitive price. Model Cavities Neck Container Nominal Speed FlexBlow 1 1 18-120 mm 10 ml – 10 L 1600 bph FlexBlow 2 1-2 18-120 mm 10 ml – 6 L 2600 bph FlexBlow 3 1-3 18-120 mm 10 ml – 6 L 4500 bph FlexBlow 4 2-4 18-48 mm 10 ml – 6 L 6000 bph FlexBlow 6-4 2-4 18-120 mm 10 ml – 6 L 6000 bph FlexBlow 4 Hybrid 4 18-38 mm 10 ml – 2 L 6800 bph FlexBlow 6 Hybrid 6 18-38 mm 10 ml. – 2 L 8500 bph FlexBlow 8 Hybrid 8 18-38 mm 10 ml - 1.5 L 11,500 bph FlexBlow Multi 16 18-38 mm 10 ml – 1.5 L 23,000 bph FlexBlow Two-Stage Machine Models Two- to six-cavity FlexBlow machines are entering the U.S. market for producing a wide range of custom bottles in batches as low as 10,000 to 20,000 units. 12 SEPTEMBER 2017 Plastics Technology PTonline.com B L O W M O L D I N G Close -Up On Technolog y