Optimizing Blow Molded Packaging: Coupling Two Optimization Schemes for Enhanced Resource Usage

Extrusion blow molding is a widely used manufacturing process for producing hollow plastic packaging products, yet the optimization of their mechanical performance is often approached in a fragmented manner. Conventional workflows treat the product’s shape, defined by the blow-molding tool, and its internal material distribution, determined by the manufacturing process, as independent design variables. This separation overlooks their mutual influence, limiting achievable load-bearing capacity and material efficiency. This study introduces an integrated, sensitivity-based optimization routine that simultaneously adapts product shape via shape basis vectors and refines internal material distribution by adjusting shell thickness parameters. The framework enforces symmetry in geometry and material layout, while constraining the products mass and internal volume to ensure functionality and resource efficiency. Applied to an industrial packaging product, the method demonstrates substantial gains in load-bearing capacity, highlighting the benefits of addressing geometry and material distribution in a unified optimization process.