Page 51 - Packaging News Mar-Apr 2020

March-April 2020 | www.packagingnews.com.au | BEVERAGE PACKAGING
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Bickford’s
straight body panels with simplified ribbing at the sides to allow the appli- cation of either sleeve labels or PSL; the biggest format (1l) engraved with the iconic Bickford’s brand name.
“To streamline our decision pro- cess, Sidel provided many bottle design alternatives and conceptual designs with current labels as well as new prototypes,” Reeves says.
Bickford’s has also installed a low- speed aseptic line as part of its move towards premium products and small-batch beverage production.
To accommodate the new equip- ment, the company reorganised its production and raw material setup. Bickford’s removed two of three hot-fill lines. The challenge for Sidel was completing installation without disrupting the production routines, while also securing the hygienic requirements needed in aseptic production.
The new PET line includes Tetra
Pak Processing Systems technologies, guaranteeing full product safety and maximising uptime starting from the process step. Additionally, the Aseptic Combi Predis is completed by the Capdis system for dry cap decon- tamination, while the CSD Combi fea- tures the compact and hygienic BlendFILL configuration, combining carbonator and filler in a single sys- tem for reduced consumption of car- bon dioxide. Gebo OptiDry, a fully washable, stainless steel drying sys- tem with a proven efficiency of over 99 per cent is integrated. As part of the line, Bickford’s opted for Sidel’s proven roll adhesive labeller, plus a sleever intended to handle PSL.
Bickford’s line manages both asep- tic and regular PET packaging on two different Combis, thus dealing with products featuring two different bot- tle necks, namely 28ml for carbon- ated soft drinks and 38ml for the aseptically-bottled products.
The line is now running at 12,000 bottles per hour (bph) for the asepti- cally filled drinks and up to 18,000 bph for the carbonated soft drink products, thus contributing to a pro- duction capacity reaching approxi- mately 60 million bottles per year.
With its new PET line, Bickford’s can now handle a diverse range bev- erages, adding to its already varied offer of carbonated soft drink, cor- dials, water, juices, dairy drinks, and alcoholic beverages. ■
Asahi installs new KHS stretch blow moulder
ASAHI Soft Drinks has fired up a new KHS InnoPET Blomax Series V stretch blow moulder at its mineral water bottling plant in Rokko, Japan.
The company was looking for a machine that could fill PET bottles to meet customer demand for a sim- ple, safe, and sustainable container.
The Blomax Series V can cut energy consumption by up to 40%, says KHS.
KHS has supplemented its Air- back Plus air recycling system with a new air management system. This, the company claims, can make for an up to 40 per cent savings in com- pressed air. The system uses the residual air from the blowing and recycling process to replace a sepa- rate air drier in the base mould area and in the blow wheel, which can also yield energy savings.
Matthias Gernhuber, head of area sales and product management for Asia-Pacific at KHS, said it was a great honour that a company such as Asahi trusts the reliability of KHS machines. “For saving energy in the interest of the environment and the demand for product quality are of especial importance to the Japanese,” he said.
Asahi recently announced plans to order a second stretch blow moulder from the new series. ■
We decided to partially shift to aseptic PET bottling because we wanted to optimise our production set-up.”
— Angelo Kotses