Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology

Design and fabrication of a cost effective four cavity plastic injection mould for production of bottled water handle with locally available materials has been achieved. This research is appropriate considering the impact on sales of a sampled company that used handles for their bottled water before the scarcity of handles as a result of monopoly in importation. The clamping force which is a function of cavity pressure, cavity force and projected area was obtained as 243.2239N. The maximum deflection and the maximum bending stress were calculated to be 2.3282 x 10^-3 mm and 4.4677 x 10⁵ N/m² respectively. The impact of the handle on the rate of return of the sampled company was tested. It was observed that before the introduction of handle, the Return on Investment (ROI) was approaching 30% and when handle was introduced, the ROI increased to 46.34% and 46.05% for the locally and foreign made handles respectively. However, the ROI declined to 34.41% when the handle was removed in both cases. This clearly shows that the handle has a great impact on the bottled water sales and that the market share for bottled water industries is expected to increase due to public acceptability. Also, the introduction of handle allowed for better convenience in carrying bottled water especially the 1.5 litre sizes.