Talk to enough blow molders and a few words keep coming up: electric, recycled and, increasingly, AI. Machine builders showed off a wave of new equipment at K 2025 and in the months since, and the throughline is clear — processors want lower energy bills, more flexibility to run post-consumer recyclate (PCR), and controls that don't require a specialist to run.

Here's a rundown of what's new, with links to full stories or Product Innovations by PMM editors.

All-electric machines take center stage

The shift away from hydraulics continued to dominate new product introductions.

Uniloy debuts 2 all-electric blow molders — Uniloy showed two all-electric machines for the first time at K 2025. The UIB 129.E injection blow molder is the second in a three-machine line replacing what used to be a 13-machine hydraulic setup, and it needs just 18 kilowatts under normal operation — up to 60% less energy than comparable hydraulic systems. The UCS 35 J.ED Coex3 continuous extrusion shuttle machine, meanwhile, can run up to 100% regrind in the middle layer of a three-layer jerrycan and uses about 40% less energy than a traditional hydraulic shuttle machine. Both run on Uniloy's Uni-Smart control system.

Kautex KEB Green is efficient, versatile — Kautex added an all-electric line to its relaunched KEB extrusion blow molding series at K 2025. The KEB Green comes in three clamping-force sizes — 13.5, 27 and 42 tons — with one to six cavities, and it's built for medium-output runs of everything from bottles to 20-liter jerrycans to technical parts like air ducts. Dry cycle times run as low as 2.1 seconds, and the company says the line easily handles post-industrial and post-consumer resin.

Automa by Magic debuts its first all-electric blow molders — After more than 40 years of building hydraulic and hybrid machines, the Italian manufacturer's new AbM series of continuous extrusion shuttle blow molding machines marks its first all-electric line. The three sizes range from 3.4 to 15.7 tons of clamping force, with a patented lever-type clamping system designed to eliminate vibration and flash defects, plus a regenerative energy recovery system that captures braking energy from the servo motors.

Bekum SmartLine series offers cost savings — Bekum built its new SmartLine from the ground up and says it delivers 30% lower investment cost, 20% less energy use and 10% less material consumption than comparable machines. The first two models, the SBlow 5 S/D and SBlow 15 S/D, target small and medium-sized processors — including newcomers to extrusion blow molding — with energy-efficient HiPEx extruders and Bekum's Industry 4.0-enabled Control 8.0 system.

Tahara upgrades electric extrusion blow molder — The TJD25B-M, an upgrade over Tahara's TJS25A-M, adds a double-station configuration, a post-cooling unit and an upgraded drive system for making single- or multi-layer 20-liter jerrycans. The double-station setup extends in-mold cooling time, and the post-cooling unit cuts down on heat-related deformation, such as tilted necks and warped bottoms — while still allowing PCR in the middle layer of a three-layer structure.

Compact and specialty machines fill out the lineup

Not every processor needs a mega-machine, and a handful of builders focused on flexibility for smaller or more specialized runs.

BBM debuts AI-powered control system — German builder BBM Maschinenbau und Vertriebs showed a prototype AI-powered control system at K 2025 that lets operators troubleshoot problems by typing or speaking a question — "like ChatGPT for blow molders," in the words of BBM Chief Technical Officer Felix Schulte. It was demonstrated on the new all-electric BBM 180, a compact machine built for technical parts with roughly 180 tons of clamping force and a three-platen clamping system with no oil to heat before startup.

FlexBlow 2 allows easy mold changes — The Lithuania-based builder's new two-stage, all-electric machine targets food jars and dairy, alcohol and personal-care containers up to 1.6 gallons. Magnet-mounted molds can be swapped in as little as five minutes, and the machine includes an integrated vision system, near-infrared wall-thickness monitoring and a leak-test system built in.

ST BlowMoulding machine produces ultra-clean drums — Demand for ultra-clean processing is growing, and ST BlowMoulding's new CXT 810 HT CoEx 3 answers it with a fully electric, three-layer coextrusion head built for 220-liter L-ring drums used to store and transport wet electronic chemicals, liquid pesticides and other sensitive materials. The company says the machine uses the least energy yet achieved in this category while minimizing dust and metal-ion contamination — critical for semiconductor-grade packaging.

PET and stretch blow molding advances

Preform heating and stretch blow molding got their own round of upgrades focused on sustainability and precision.

EvoBlow Laser uses lasers to heat preforms — Sidel's newest machine for PET packaging swaps the halogen lamps used in conventional ovens for lasers, with up to 36 heating lines compared with eight heating zones on other machines. That precision opens up lightweighting in spots that couldn't be thinned before, such as just below a container's neck, and the company says it can cut preform waste by up to 50% while using up to 100% recycled PET.

Nissei ASB unveils 3 blow molders at K 2025 — Nissei ASB brought three new machines to K 2025. The HSB12-4N/111N, which the company calls the world's first 1.5-step, double-blow heat-set machine, molds double-blow heat-set PET bottles directly from resin for carbonated beverages, capable of more than 25 return-and-fill cycles. The redesigned ASB-70DHP/50E makes major movements electric for the first time, targeting trigger-style household bottles, while the compact PM-90/111N vertical clamp machine can produce up to 20,000 bottles per hour from 100% recycled PET.

New Sacmi process is efficient, productive — Sacmi's Linear Blow Forming combines compression molding of the preform with stretch blow molding of the container in a single fully electric line. The modular system, which can be configured with two to six cavities, produces up to 30 million containers a year and includes Sacmi's in-line Bottle Vision System for quality checks — well suited to food and pharmaceutical packaging.

Rotary and large-format upgrades

Graham upgrades Revolution MVP rotary wheel blow molder — Graham Engineering's rotary wheel machine, configurable with 12 to 24 stations, now offers two retrofittable software packages: Total Process Control, which adds a melt pump to improve precision when processing PCR or regrind, and a new Preventive Maintenance package that uses sensors in the wheel to feed a subscription-based maintenance service. The company says Total Process Control cuts variation limits from PCR and regrind in half.

Recycled content and PCR processing