Speaking at Krauss-Maffei’s open house in Munich earlier this year, Henninger said it has completed a thorough comparative analysis of Krauss-Maffei’s EX series all-electric machines against its hydraulic CX units.

The results, he says, in terms of energy usage and repeatability, have led to a change in strategy. “Rexam Pharma will always go for all-electric machines in future,” he said.

As part of the study, Rexam molded a 51.58 gram polypropylene part in a 16-cavity tool on 160/750 CX and EX models. The EX resulted in an energy cost of 0.746 kWh/kg compared to1.427 kWh/kg for the CX, says the company.

Tests comparing KM 80/180 CX and EX machines showed better repeatability on a nominal 13.2 mm dimension, with the EX achieving standard deviations of 0.006 compared to 0.009 for the CX.

The closing and opening times were faster with the EXmachines, too. Rexam cites 0.67 and 1.04 seconds for the EX machines, compared to 0.86 and 1.18 seconds for the CX models.

All of the injection molding machines at the Rexam Pharma plant in Neuenberg operate in a cleanroom, where the EX water cooling system reportedly keeps the temperature down, relieving pressure on the air conditioning system.

Rexam Pharma is a unit of London-based packaging company Rexam plc.