PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2012

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 19 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 01+02/12 www.petpla.net ately, and by pressing a button he has every bit of infor- mation at his fingertips, accurate down to the last minute. “In the old days we used to sit down together and discuss production planning; today we make use of meetings to optimise our production” is how he describes the advan- tages of the new system. There is still only one database for the whole of the factory, the interface problems between the individual items of software are yesterday’s news. Preform capacity amounts to more than 800 million preforms/a In total six Netstal and one Husky systems are in opera- tion on the factory floor. Capacity amounts to a total of more than 800 million preforms a year altogether although, in reality, they actually manage 500 to 600 million. The reason for this is the constant changes of colour. How to ensure that the right colours from light to dark run one after the other on the right machine in each case so that the colour change operation can proceed as quickly as possible is, so to speak, Energo PET’s corporate secret. In this way the company has made a name for itself, even outside Serbia, as a specialist in coloured preforms. “However, despite the multitude of colours, the future is not looking rosy“ says Miroslav. He goes on: “These are not good times for adventurers“. Nevertheless, they are plan- ning a further production facility for the future as well as an extension to the warehouse. Everything is in place for the economic upturn which all hope is coming soon. www.energopet.net Coca Cola HBC Serbia We met: Martin Schacht, Plant Manager Moving from 1818 to 1881 With four Sidel filler plants for PET bottles, Coca Cola Hel- lenic is one of the market leaders in Serbia. The plant has a maximum capacity of 60,000 filling operations per hour. The company has been bottling the classic Coca Cola CSDs at its plant near Belgrade since 1968. Initially, of course, they used glass, but over the years they have increasingly come to use PET. In the meantime, alongside the filling operations, there is their own preform production. Coca Cola Hellenic has been performing injection moulding of the big, clear preforms on their own Husky installation since 2007. The Canadian machine produces 100 million preforms in a 3-shift operation through- out the year. This is around 60% of all the preforms required. They purchase coloured preforms and the nozzles on the free market during the season. There is space in the preform bay for a second installation, but Plant Manager Martin Schacht is taking a guarded approach - ”If we had two machines, it is unlikely that we would be able to utilise them to full capacity so it’s better at the moment if we buy in from outside” he tells us. It has been a year now since he switched his filling opera- tions for the large 2l bottle to the weight-saving 1881 neck finish. Initially, the closures did not function as they should have done. “The closure applicators are arranged for the old 1810 tolerances; here you need a degree of patience to set them up for the narrower tolerances of the new closure“, says Martin. There were no problems with the new closure once it had passed out through the plant gates. Its sealing properties were of the same or higher quality as was the old closure. “You need to be more precise about closing the 1881, this has a positive effect as a better understanding of the cap application process results. At lower torques more bottles remain open than with 1810 cap“, Martin goes on. Customer feedback was that the 1881 was difficult to open. This can, however, only be subjec- tive because the measured values for the old and the new clo- sure are the same, could be associated also with the reduced surface area a customer has available. Martin has been able to reduce the weight of the 2l bottle from 47 to 45.7g. In the meantime he has also switched the remaining size 0.5l and 1.25l (planned Q1 2012) over to the lightweight ver- sion. Yes, you have read it right, 1.25l is a promotional cam- paign by Coca Cola Hellenic to mark the 125 th anniversary of Coca Cola. The new format has been so well received by con- sumers that it has ousted the 1l bottle and it is anticipated that it will continue to be available into the company’s 126th year. www.coca-colahellenic.rs Minaqua We met: Zora Dankova, Marketing Manager Vinka Vujinović, Production Manager. A healing water In 1897, at a depth of 193m mineral water with a high level of naturally dissolved iodine was found in Novi Sad. The mineral water possessed significant healing proper- ties. In 1911, it was was awarded “GRAND PRIX” prizes in to be continued on page 25