Sacmi leads the charge for India’s high-speed beverage packaging

Sacmi’s presence in India is as pervasive as it is discrete. According to Stefano Chiozzini, the company’s leadership in the rigid packaging sector is such that six out of every ten bottles on Indian retail shelves likely feature a closure produced on a Sacmi machine. “In India, most closures—almost 60-70%—are moulded by Sacmi,” Chiozzini notes during his session at the Italian Technology Day during the Plastindia show.

While the Italian cooperative has been globally active for decades, its dedicated push into India has intensified over the last three years. The company has established a robust service and spare parts infrastructure to support a growing fleet of over 300 machines in the country.

The speed of continuous compression molding (CCM)

At the heart of Sacmi’s dominance is the industrialisation of compression moulding for high-speed closures. Unlike traditional injection moulding, Sacmi’s technology is engineered for extreme productivity and repetitive quality. Chiozzini highlighted that the machines achieve a moulding time of just 1.35 seconds per cap, translating to a staggering 1,70,000 closures per hour.

“Compression moulding is specialised for medium to high-volume projects,” Chiozzini explains. “The size of the project usually decides the supplier, and Sacmi is recognised as the premium choice for these large-scale requirements,” he adds. However, the company is also catering to the mid-market with its 24-cavity machine, designed as an entry point for those adopting the technology.

Injection moulding and vision systems

Beyond closures, Sacmi is a significant player in PET preform production, offering lines ranging from 220 to 400 tonnes. A major technical breakthrough showcased at the Bharat Mandapam is the vision inspection system directly inside the injection moulding machine—a first for the industry, as claimed by Chiozzini.

This automatic inspection system allows for real-time process control, capturing data shot-by-shot. By using AI to classify defects such as identifying black spots or colour deviations, the system enables predictive maintenance. “It’s not just about saying a part is good or bad; it’s about tools that help operators be more efficient and controlled,” Chiozzini affirms.

The PureCap project

One of the most significant revelations from the interview was Sacmi’s move into raw material development. The company is developing a project called PureCap, which aims to produce raw material for caps from the recycled HDPE (rHDPE) from post-consumer beverage bottles.

“We are closing the loop by using the closures that come back from beverage bottles,” Chiozzini states. While India currently focuses on rPET for bottles, Sacmi is preparing for the future of rHDPE in closures, developing a patented process to clean post-consumer material and achieve food-grade certification.

The “closeness” factor reflecting on the Italian heritage of the company, Chiozzini points to the “packaging valley” in Italy - the region from Rimini to Milan — which accounts for 70% of the country’s packaging machinery exports. He credited the region’s proximity to the University of Bologna and its history in the automotive sector (Ferrari and Fiat) for the mechanical precision found in Sacmi’s machines today.

Crucially, Chiozzini highlights Sacmi’s unique status as a cooperative. "Sacmi is not in the hands of an owner. The goal is reinvesting to generate work and a reliable history with customers. This generates a powerful message of trust," he concludes.