New PET hot-fill standards set with launch of Amcor's Rebound line

Amcor PET Packaging establishes new hot-fill standards for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles with the introduction of its Rebound line. Amcor's new line offers substantial improvements to aesthetic and functional issues that have challenged hot-fill bottle design - Rebound provides a significantly lower propensity to denting, increased label support area for less label crinkling, improved top load performance and the option to reduce PET material usage by up to 20%. Further, Rebound's™ structural attributes and design elements are scalable enabling bottle production ranging from small, single-serve sizes all the way up to larger, multi-serve containers. As an industry leader in heat-set bottle performance and quality, Amcor has adopted Rebound™ as its standard hot-fill design for all new product designs and launches. Existing products can easily be converted to take advantage of most of the Rebound™ benefits. Amcor's focus on leading the PET bottle technology challenge has resulted in bottles with 50% less vacuum retention than conventional, hot-fill PET versions. The decrease in vacuum retention means that filled containers are less prone to denting, helping to insure that the bottles will retain their intended shape all the way through the distribution cycle. "Our new Rebound™ technology is yet another example of an Amcor's initiative which addresses both customer and consumer needs. Listening to our customers needs and delivering on those requirements is a key component of our partnership philosophy," says Russ Hubbard, vice president of product development. Rebound technology also increases the label "flat-area" by 100%. This is accomplished by eliminating the need for three of the standard six vacuum panels seen on hot-fill bottles today. Since Rebound™ panel technology absorbs considerably more vacuum than standard panels, Amcor has been able to eliminate every other panel on a round container - each eliminated panel is replaced with a flat area to support label application. Rebound technology enables molded bottle panels to become a major design element rather than an engineering requirement. Packagers can now depart from traditional rectangles and into other label panel shapes-such as triangles, freeform shapes, etc.-to create additional branding opportunities. Additional resilience is also realized under top load pressure - providing virtually infinite top load performance as measured on conventional QC equipment. Far from conventional, Rebound™ is designed with "flex points" which help absorb pressure. The top load compresses the container, the Rebound panel deflects outward and after the weight is removed, the container "rebounds" to its original shape. Further, Rebound's features and benefits have been achieved while lightweighting the bottle-approximately 20%-compared to traditional hot-fill containers. This is attributed to Amcor's state-of-the-art injection molding expertise as well as advanced container design and processing capabilities. The result is a lightweight container that performs with a high degree of consistency on the packaging line. The introduction of Rebound follows on the heels of two other successful heat-set bottle design programs within the past year. Single-serve, hot-fill designs were debuted under the "panel-less" banner and multiserve offerings were unveiled under the Ultimate brand. Amcor PET Packaging is the leading manufacturer of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic packaging for the global food and beverage industries, operating 48 plants in 18 countries. Its parent company, Amcor Ltd., offers a broad range of packaging solutions and ranks as one of the top five global packaging companies. Amcor's sales for the 2003 fiscal year that ended June 30, 2003, were US $7 billion.