German soft drinks company Thuringer Waldquell (TWQ) is hoping that a new PET bottling line will help it increase sales of its popular Vita Cola brand.
The new line turns out 20,000 half-litre PET bottles per hour and cost the German company some €13 million.
"This is an investment for the future," said TWQ's marketing director Sven-Olaf Jensen. PET containers are increasingly replacing traditional glass bottles, which are much heavier and more fragile. The new line can bottle not only TWQ's Vita Cola in 0.5 and 1.5 litre bottles, but also the company's mineral water and energy drink brands.
TWQ's total production capacity has increased by 30 per cent following the installation of the new line.
More than 600,000 hectolitres of Vita Cola are bottled each year, and PET bottles represent the fastest growth segment for the brand, which is also produced in returnable glass bottles and cans.
But the new line has also enabled the company to launch three new drink brands : Thuringer Waldquell Aquapur, a still mineral water; Thuringer Waldquell ACE Jovital, a vitamin-enriched prebiotic drink; and Thuringer Waldquell Relax Mix, a vitamin B-enriched fruit drink. "The new PET line has enabled us to produce more quality products in a wider variety of packaging, adding value to our product line," said Jensen.
Prior to the installation of the new line, TWQ was forced to bottle Vita Cola at a separate plant run by its subsidiary, Apollinaris/Schweppes.
Swiss company SIG Beverages supplied part of the line which makes the PET bottles. "We chose SIG because of the company's good reputation and the speed of its service," said Jensen. The SIG BLOWMAX 16 machine produces 22,400 bottles an hour.
"We had no experience of producing PET bottles, and so we wanted a machine which was entirely automatic which could be used safely and easily by simply pressing a button."
The PET bottles are created by the BLOWMAX from pre-formed plastic shapes created by Wiegand-Plast, based in Grossbreitenbach, Germany. The SIG plant turns the pre-formed shapes, which are no wider than a finger, into a variety of different PET bottle sizes.
The pre-formed plastic is heated to a temperature of 110°C and then blown into bottle shape using one of 16 different moulds. A 130 metre conveyor belt then carries the newly-formed bottles towards the filling line.
The bottles are automatically rinsed and pressurised before filling so as to avoid the formation of foam when they are filled with sparkling drinks. The caps are subjected to UV treatment before being fitted to the bottles to ensure perfect sterility.
The SIG machinery allows TWQ to form differnet shaped bottles for its various brands. The Vita Cola bottle has an embossed lemon insignia while the mineral water brand has a fern pattern.
"The SIG line means we can create any number of bottle designs, almost without limitation," said Jensen. "The PET bottles are unbreakable and do not affect the taste of the drink. They are lighter and easier for the consumer to use, as well as being easier to transport and 100 per cent recyclable."