PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2013

BOTTLE MAKING 31 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 05/13 www.petpla.net to educate students as to the benefit of perceived quality, by serving only glass bottles at the table. Even many hotel and restaurant professionals only realize the SEAB bottle is made from PET when handling it for the first time. With its individual shape and its exclu- sive appearance showing only the engraved logo of Aix-les-Bains and the legally required data, the bottle fulfilled all requirements. The triangular shape was not the easiest to produce, although the proportion of the height of the bottle to the area of the base turned out to be the main technical challenge of the whole project. “The bottom of the bottle is extremely small compared to its body. So we needed to stabilise the bottle on this confined area,” explained Sébastien Sergues, Packaging & Tool- ing Sales Manager at Sidel. The PET bottle has a screw cap, the new design is reclosable and break-proof. The design of the new bottle was already nominated for its distinctive packaging at the Sial Innovation Awards in Paris. Promotional activity and consumer advertising began in January 2013. Line conversion For production and filling of the new bottle, SEAB had the choice of installing a completely new, high-output line or modifying its existing bottling line. After careful consideration of the financial implications, the company determined to produce the new bottle in relatively low numbers at first, on the existing equipment. The line, already capable of filling up to 25,000 1l or 1.5l bph, was equipped with a Sidel Combi SEAB- Part of “Les Mousquetaires” SEAB: produces premium spring and natural mineral water. The com- pany also provides the cosmetics industry with the waters in spray bottles and atomisers as skin care products. The overall volume of sales currently amounts to 50 million bpa. The company generates a turnover of 11 million Euros/a. SEAB is part of parent company Les Mousquetaires (The Musket- eers). This is a group of French retail companies and supermarket chains including Intermarché, Ecomarché, Poivre Rouge, Netto, Bricomarché, Brico Cash, and Roady, which constitute the hypermarket sector. The Pole Indus- triel du Groupement des Mousquetaires, a key player in the French agrifood industry, is the industrial division. Founded on the basis of a private initiative in 1969, the group today accounts for more than 3,000 independent entre- preneurs and a total of 130,000 employees. It comprises more than 3,500 points of sale throughout Europe including Portugal, Belgium, Poland and the Balkans as well, of course, as France. www.sidel.com machine. Discussions began between the two parties, with Sidel entrusted with the management of the entire pro- ject, including the design and creation of the new packaging for the premium still mineral water and conversion of the existing line. Sidel converted the whole existing production line without having to modify any of the installed equipment, adapting certain customer- specific parts to accommodate the new shapes and sizes instead. Three main elements of the line were converted: The Combi machine (personalisa- tion of parts), the accumulation table (because the customer had invested in a new labeler) and the end-of-line programming (semi-automatic). The line is able to blow-mould the bottles, fill and cap them in an integrated system that now handles two distinctly different products: the previous commercial mineral water in 50cl,1l,1.5l and 2l sizes as well as the new 75cl triangular format for the pre- mium catering sector. Despite being part of the hyper- market sector of Les Mousquetaires, the new SEAB water will not be sold in supermarkets. Instead, in order to retain its perceived exclusivity, it will be supplied only to hotels and restaurants - initially in establishments such as Poivre Rouge, the French network of hotels and coffee bars. The new size, shape and design of the PET bottle are the first step towards an increase in output from Aix-les-Bains. In future, SEAB, which generates a turnover of 11 million Euros, intends to expand its activities, concentrating on the catering sector and focusing on overseas business in Asia and South America. On the production facility, around 25,000bph can be filled and the company is well prepared to meet the demand. SEAB’s triangular PET water bottle... ...is designed by Sidel and produced and filled on a converted line at SEAB, France