Production equipment manufacturer Sidel has helped Lithuanian bottler Birštono Mineraliniai Vandenys (BMV) to achieve a 30% reduction in the weight of its bottles and installed a second complete line solution at its site in the south of the country, less than two years after the implementation of the first.
The reduction has been achieved through the introduction of “product-differentiating” PET bottle shapes to boost sales of the client’s water brands, which include Vytautas, Birutė and Akvilė, Sidel said.
BMV had earlier tasked Sidel with installing a complete packaging line solution for bottling of the Akvilė brand, in order to grow PET water production capacity in line with rising market demand.
BMV CEO Norbertas Pranckus “We were really satisfied with the performance achieved by the first Sidel Combi – a Sidel Combi FMc – in terms of production safety and efficiency. We believe this original complete line solution was the first integrated blow-fill-cap solution ever in the Baltic states. We had no doubts when considering enlarging our production volume again: the Sidel Combi was the obvious choice.
“We were particularly satisfied with the entire experience of dealing with Sidel and witnessing the benefits of the company’s engineering support experience was key in the success of this Greenfield project and complete line solution.”
As well as ensuring hygiene and safety in the filling environment, the Combi solution offers efficiency levels that are up to 4% higher than standalone machines, Sidel said. The magnetic flow meters, which control the filling volume, ensure an accurate dosing while the filling parameters of each filling valve are controlled directly from the operator panel. The automatic dummy bottles to close the filling circuit during the internal and external cleaning of the filling valves contribute to fast and safe product changeover, it added.
Valentinas Lukosevicius, BMV’s production director at the Birštonas site, added: “Installation of the second line was a big challenge – both for us and Sidel. This new Sidel line was substituting the old existing line and the constraints of the limited plant floor space were therefore an important consideration when designing the line layout. Sidel’s considerable project experience was therefore very important in achieving our goals.”
The new complete line solution comprises a Sidel Combi 8 FMc; a cap air rinser; UV lamps on the infeed rail of the preform feeding rail; a Sidel Rollquattro Evolution labeller; a cap feeder for sport and flat caps, coder, packer, handle applicator twin pack, bottle conveyor, pack conveyor, and palletiser.
Lukosevicius continued: “We particularly appreciated the comprehensive customer service, the excellent collaboration and engineering support we received from Sidel, in terms of the chosen equipment to meet our needs, the complete line design and the rapid installation. All this resulted in what can only be described as a very successful installation, particularly when taking into account the fact we needed to keep production stoppages to an absolute minimum by installing the new line as quickly as possible. The first sellable bottles coming off the line one month ahead of the planned schedule allowed us to be ready and to have preparations in place for our high season with plenty of time to spare.”
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