Korea Ever-Power’s ZQ series IBM machine lead time from order confirmation to machine shipment from Ansan-si is typically 10–16 weeks depending on model and order backlog — ZQ40 and ZQ60 at 10–12 weeks, ZQ80 at 12–14 weeks, ZQ110 and ZQ135 at 14–16 weeks. Mould set production lead time (injection mould + blow mould + stripping tool) is typically 8–12 weeks from final container design approval, running in parallel with machine production. The complete project timeline from order to first commercial production at a Korean customer’s facility includes: machine and mould production (14–16 weeks for ZQ80 with mould) + sea freight Korea to customer site (2–3 weeks) + installation and commissioning at customer’s Korean facility (1–2 weeks) + pre-delivery production trial at Korea Ever-Power (included in the 14–16 week machine lead time) + Korean application qualification (4–8 weeks for food contact, 16–28 weeks for pharmaceutical). For Korean pharmaceutical IBM projects, the timeline from machine order to commercial production is therefore: 16 weeks machine + 3 weeks freight + 2 weeks installation + 16–28 weeks Korean KFDA compatibility study = 37–49 weeks minimum from machine order to first commercial pharmaceutical production. Korean pharmaceutical IBM project planners should work backwards from their Korean commercial launch date to confirm that the machine order date provides sufficient lead time for the full qualification sequence — machine purchase is almost never the critical path activity in Korean pharmaceutical IBM projects; the Korean KFDA compatibility study duration is.

The number of mould sets a single ZQ machine can productively run in a year is limited by available machine hours and format change time — not by any mechanical constraint of the ZQ machine itself. A ZQ80 running Korean 2-shift (3,500 hr/year at 88% efficiency = 3,080 productive hours/year) with 2-hour format changes and 5 mould sets can accommodate: 5 mould sets × 2 hours changeover = 10 hours changeover (negligible vs 3,080 productive hours). In practice, Korean IBM contract packaging factories typically run 3–8 mould sets per machine per year, planned in blocks of 2–6 weeks per mould set aligned with Korean brand production scheduling. The practical limit on mould set quantity per machine is production scheduling complexity and mould storage/maintenance logistics rather than machine capacity. For Korean pharmaceutical IBM, each mould set requires a separate Korean KFDA pharmaceutical container technical file — a separate documentation and qualification exercise per mould set — which adds regulatory overhead to running multiple pharmaceutical mould sets on one machine. For food and personal care IBM, no such regulatory mould set limitation applies; the machine can run as many mould sets as the Korean producer’s scheduling and storage infrastructure can manage. Korea Ever-Power recommends that Korean IBM producers plan their annual mould set schedule at the time of machine purchase to confirm that the ZQ model’s annual capacity (at each format’s cycle time) covers the planned annual volume across all mould sets in the production calendar.

Korea Ever-Power EP-ZQ80 utility requirements: electrical power supply 3-phase 380V/50Hz or 460V/60Hz (confirm local Korean standard at order), total connected load 45–55 KW including injection unit barrel heaters (15 KW), dual hydraulic motors (11+11 KW), mould temperature controller units (4–8 KW, separate supply), compressed air 0.6–0.95 MPa at 5–15 Nm³/hour (for blow air — requires dedicated compressor or plant air at sufficient capacity for the cavity count), cooling water supply 10–25°C at 10–25 L/min for injection mould circuit + separate 15–30°C at 15–30 L/min for blow mould circuit (separate temperature control circuits are standard on ZQ80+). Floor space: ZQ80 machine footprint is approximately 2,800 × 1,600 mm (L × W), with a recommended working clearance of 1,200 mm on all sides for mould change access (total floor area including working space: approximately 5,200 × 4,000 mm). For Korean pharmaceutical GMP production, the ZQ80 production cell additionally requires: HEPA-filtered positive-pressure enclosure around the machine output conveyor (typically 3,000 × 1,000 mm tunnel), separate inlet and outlet access for production operators and material flow, and temperature/humidity monitoring in the GMP production zone. Korean food IBM does not require special environmental controls beyond Korean food hygiene facility standards.

Korea Ever-Power provides a standard operator training programme as part of every ZQ machine delivery: the training is conducted at Korea Ever-Power’s Ansan-si facility during the pre-delivery production trial, where the customer’s operator team (typically 1–3 operators) trains on the specific ZQ model and mould set that will be delivered. Training covers: ZQ machine control panel operation and production recipe management; mould set installation, alignment and removal; injection unit maintenance (barrel cleaning, screw inspection, hot runner purging); blow mould cavity cleaning and polishing; core rod inspection and replacement procedure; troubleshooting of the most common production defects (Section 5 of this guide’s source material covers station-specific defect identification); and Korean GMP production protocol documentation for pharmaceutical IBM producers. Training duration: 3–5 days at Korea Ever-Power’s facility for standard applications, 5–7 days for pharmaceutical IBM applications where Korean GMP documentation training is included. The training programme is conducted in English and Korean; Korean-language operation manuals and process parameter record templates are provided at delivery. For Korean IBM producers adding a second ZQ machine model (e.g. adding ZQ110 to existing ZQ80 fleet), the training focuses on model-specific differences only — the shared ZQ architecture means operators already familiar with ZQ80 operation require approximately 1–2 days of model-specific training for ZQ110 operation, not a full 5-day programme.