Agr International has partnered with Polish mineral water company Nałęczów Zdrój to produce a 1.5 litre bottle for its Cisowianka water line.
The special shape of the Cisowianka bottle, with its wasp-waist middle designed for consumer comfort and easy pouring, was said to demand a robust manufacturing process to assure both optimum bottle performance and downstream production efficiency.
To meet the challenging material distribution specifications, Nałęczów Zdrój equipped each of its two newly installed KHS Blowmax Series IV blowmolding lines with a process pilot automated process control system from Agr International.
The Agr system incorporates three components: the pilot profiler (PET material distribution measurement), pilot vision (visual defect detection), and the process pilot closed-loop control software, which provides the link between the bottle measurements and blowmolding machine controls.
Pilot vision was instrumental in resolving another challenge to Cisowianka bottle integrity: sealing surface defects. System cameras inspect the sealing surface of every preform, rejecting those with any scratches or damage. The defect detection capability not only prevents disruption to downstream processing, it also eliminates the potential risk of product leakage and a compromised customer experience.
In a statement, Agr said: “The assurance that only commercial-grade bottles reach the filler enables the lines to run at higher speeds, an important advantage in the competitive water market, where costs are optimised based on economies of scale. The line configuration for the Cisowianka wasp-waist bottles has proven to play a key role in Nałęczów Zdrój’s financial strategy as well as market position.
“With the Agr process pilot systems mated to the KHS blowmolders, the company benefits from robust production and higher yields. The consistent quality of the shapely new bottles tells consumers they can enjoy their favourite mineral water with confidence, in keeping with the high repute of the Cisowianka brand.”
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