Sidel has undertaken a program of line improvement at Kirin Distillery’s facility in Japan, carrying out a modular upgrade of the production line and fitting its Eco lamps to the blow moulder on the water line to enhance the plant’s sustainability and cost-effectiveness credentials.
The whisky-producing facility at the foot of Mount Fuji produces 12m litres of whisky every year, and covers an area of more than 500,000 square metres. The upgrade has been implemented on the existing Sidel polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle blowing line that was installed at the distillery in 1999.
The improvements include the addition of Eco lamps, which have been developed to reduce the amount of energy consumed used by blow moulders to produce preforms. The Eco lamps generally result in energy savings of around 15%, Sidel said, and have an average life expectancy of about 5,000 hours.
According to Kirin Distillery’s project manager, the Japanese beverage manufacturer “selected Sidel’s Eco lamps to be fitted to its existing PET water line in its continuous search for greater sustainability and cost effectiveness. The lamps have generated substantial energy savings and have also brought the benefits of improved process stability and optimised production output.”
Sidel Japan customer service manager Moriyasu Uchibori said: “With electricity costs still rising globally and the growing drive to reduce CO2 emissions, producers around the world are looking to optimise productivity and minimise the total cost of ownership on all their lines. In a typical line, preform heating lamps are clearly an area with potential for greater energy efficiency. Sidel’s Eco lamps represent one way in which both energy and money can be saved.”
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