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While known for its ancient history of vine cultivation and wine production, Georgia – located in the heart of the Caucasus region – is one of the richest countries in mineral and thermal waters.

The bottled mineral water industry has made great strides forward in the last decade, as shown by the successes of the company Aqua Geo, which uses increasingly advanced bottling and packaging technologies.

In order to automate its plants, the Georgian company turned to SMI to supply it with several turnkey plants for the production of carbonated water under the Kobi brand and natural water under the Sno brand.

Kobi water plant

The Kobi plant is a recent project, officially launched in 2018. The carbonated water brand Kobi owes its name to the homonymous village – located in the Caucasus Mountains at 2000 metres above sea level – in which the spring is located.

Aqua Geo lies in a picturesque place that fascinates visitors with its natural beauty and countless historical and cultural sites, such as the Georgian Military Road, taken to reach the bottling plant.

This road is an enchanting 200km-long path through the Caucasus Mountains that connects the Georgian capital Tbilisi to the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, and is located in the north, not far from the border between the two countries.

Modern technologies for high-quality products

Kobi spring water is characterised by its unique taste and minerals, and by a healthy, high-quality microbiological composition. The Kobi source is striking for the lack of pipelines above the surface, thanks to a highly technological system that preserves the natural course of the spring water, while fully respecting the surrounding environment.

The production plant for the bottling and packaging of Kobi mineral water glass and PET bottles is equipped with modern fully automated lines that use advanced technologies to fully protect the quality of the natural product.

SMI, which has been collaborating with Aqua Geo since 2011, has been involved in the important development project of the Kobi brand and has designed, built and installed two bottling lines side by side: one for 0.33 litre and 0.5 litre glass bottles and the other for 0.5 litre, 1 litre and 1.5 litre PET bottles.

The logistic configuration of the two bottling lines side by side allows for the optimisation of space and costs, due to the fact that both use the same area for raw materials and the same unloading and storage area for the finished pallets ready for distribution.

About SMI Group

The SMI Group is one of the world’s largest producers of bottling plants and packaging machines, and is composed of parent company SMIGroup, subsidiary companies SMI (the first and largest business in the Group), Smipack, Smimec, Smitec, Enoberg, Smienergia, Smilab, SARCO.RE and of a network of branches providing sales support, after-sales service and spare parts supply.

SMI designs and manufactures bottling plants and packaging machines with an innovative design, equipped with IoT technology, providing thousands of customers from more than 130 countries with smart solutions than can meet their requirements in terms of competitiveness, production efficiency, operational flexibility, energy saving, easy management and monitoring of the whole production process.

The latest developments and the continuous investments in research and development have led to the production of even more compact, economic and eco-friendly machines, able to meet production requirements of up to 36,800 bottles/hour.

For more information on SMI, visit www.smigroup.it.

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