![]() Since the prototype had been so well received at the fair, it was clear that stretch blow-moulding technology was going to be an integral part of Krones’ portfolio going forward. “Back then the machine ran at such a low speed that you could actually watch the blow-moulding process,” says Gerhard Schuster with a wry grin. To save space, the machine featured two levels: The preforms were heated up on the upper level and blow-moulded into bottles on the lower one. The first Contiform stretch blow-moulding machine opened the door to a new Krones era. But it did in fact produce bottles reliably and was sufficiently fine-tuned to be presented at the drinktec in the same year. Sure, this machine developed and built at lightning speed was not (yet) a technical masterpiece. In less than three months, the first prototype was ready. ![]() Thrilled by this unusual project and exuberant at the prospect of doing some genuinely ground-breaking work, the development team enthusiastically set to work. Trusting his intuition, he gave the order to build the first stretch blow-moulding machine in 1997. But Volker Kronseder, the company’s Executive Board Chairman at the time, believed in the potential of this emerging market. So investing in developing the relevant technology seemed to be a rather unattractive proposition. What was the reason for the initial scepticism? PET containers were still a niche phenomenon in the beverage sector back then. In retrospect, it is downright unbelievable to see how this decision has influenced the entire sector worldwide,” recalls Gerhard Schuster, one of Krones’ earliest stretch blow-moulding pioneers. “In the company, our work was considered something of a joke initially since the idea was so radically new. But 25 years ago, it was impossible to foresee whether going into the PET market would eventually turn out right. That insight is, of course, crystal-clear only in retrospect, based on the knowledge we’ve gained since then. If this machine had not been invented, Krones’ story would have taken an entirely different course – and most probably a less successful one. ![]() From the 2000s at the latest, the Contiform has been an integral part of Krones, just like milk froth is to a cappuccino. Thankfully such figurative language will no longer be necessary when the fourth generation of the stretch blow-moulding machine is launched at the upcoming drinktec.
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