5.) Hot Air
Balloon Jugs
Elsewhere
in the facility, packaging that will help keep the milk fresh and
pure is being made. Plastic pellets are heated to over 300 degrees.
Then, "blow mold" machines create molten plastic "balloons"
that are encased by the two halves of the mold. After a few seconds
of pressure, out comes a gallon plastic jug! Another machine trims
all the excess from the container and then sends that scrap material
around to be re-used by combining it with the raw material pellets.
The
half-gallon jugs come out of the molds a little larger than they
should be. So, they are sent through an "annealer" where
they are briefly subjected to 1100-degree heat. That's enough to
shrink them to the proper size.
Overhead
conveyor systems move the containers along to the next step in the
process.
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