PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2013

BOTTLING / FILLING 33 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 06/13 www.petpla.net “The aphrodisiacal effect, by the way, is not just psychological, but actu- ally does work”, emphasises Managing Director Martyn Mensah. “Until 2010, we had been advertising the product with the slogan ‘It’s a great tonic espe- cially for men’. But since then we’ve stopped making this sort of claim on the label and in our advertising.” Success bred imitators: today, there are more than 200 relatively small herbal bitters producers in Ghana. But Kasapreko remains the front-runner on the spirits market, with a share of almost 50%, four times as much as the next-biggest producer. “By 2013, we aim to have doubled the output to ten million car- tons”, says a confident Martyn Mensah. PET line for spirits In order to reach this target, Kasap- reko commissioned two new Krones lines in December 2012. Hitherto, the bottling operation fea- tured a relatively small glass line rated at 8,000bph, a Chinese PET line dating from 2004 for 12,000bph, a pre-owned 10,000bph PET line, plus an English line installed in 2011 as an interim measure in rapid response to rising demand and rated at around 9,000 round bph. “For all these lines, it wasn’t always easy to plan the spares and the service, which was a bit of a handicap”, comments Martyn Mensah. Kasapreko had been planning a major expan- sion thrust ever since 2007, because it was at this time that exports to Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia and Sierra Leone began to take off. The company first had a new cantilever hall built for the new lines, measuring 100 x 44m. Here, Krones has installed a returnable-glass line rated at 30,000bph, and a non-returna- ble PET line for 40,000bph – the fastest PET spirits line Krones has installed so far. Both lines are mainly used to bottle Alomo Bitters, plus Dry Gin, Kasapreko Brandy and other herbal bitters. The PET line also bottles the Lime Cordial soft drink in 0.75l containers. In 2013, moreover, Kasapreko intends to launch further alcoholic ready-to-drink bever- ages. Container: convex at the front, concave at the back The PET container is concave at the front and convex at the back, which means it can be packed with particu- lar space-economy. The design had previously won an award for success- ful packaging. Since the front and back are different in design, the bottles have to be appropriately orientated so as to ensure that in actual fact only their fronts are labelled. Installation of the line finally began on uly 15, 2012. Both lines started operation early in Decem- ber 2012. The high-speed PET line is supplied with containers by a Contiform S24 blow-moulding machine, which is set up for transparent, flat 0.2l, blue 0.5l, plus round 0.75l containers made of green and blue material. An AirCo conveyor feeds them to the rinser-filler monobloc, which features a gravimetric filler in the shape of a Sensometic VP-GW-PET to ensure accurate fill levels. The fill level is additionally verified by a Checkmat F-G. A Solomatic labeller dresses the bottles at the shoulder using a cold- glue station. A Linaglide then distributes the containers among up to six lanes. At the same time, two Variocart carton erectors unfold the carton blanks. In a Linapac II, the cartons and the bottles are then brought together, whereupon the cartons are sealed by a Variocol, and palletised by a Modulpal 2AC. The same type of palletiser is directly adja- cent, and is tasked with palletising the bottles from the glass line. The return- able glass is fed into the line by hand in the basement. Global market ahead The company had already begun exporting to South Africa and Tanzania in 2012. In 2013 Kasapreko aims to be selling its products in East Africa as well, with Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ruanda and Burundi, a market with 210 million people. “Our most impor- tant sales market at present remains West Africa, where we still have a lot to do. Besides tapping into the mar kets of South Africa and West Africa, we’ve long since had a presence among the Ghanaian and Nigerian communities in the global diaspora, not only in Europe, but also in the USA and in Asia”, explains Martyn Mensah, “In five years’ time, we aim to be an internationally respected spirits producer on the global market.” The first step has been taken. Nigeria is the second-biggest market for Kasapreko, with almost 40% of its sales finding their way over the borders. This, too, is why Kasap- reko is planning to build a production facility of its own in Nigeria. But for the time being the herbal bitters continue to trundle over the trans-African high- ways. www.krones.com www.kasaprekogh.com Precise fill levels are obtained by the weighing-cell filler with neck-handling Kasapreko commissioned two new Krones lines in December 2012. The company first had a new cantilever hall built.