PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2013

EDITOUR REPORTS 16 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 11/13 www.petpla.net from 0.5 to 20l are already being supplied, blow-moulded and labelled, from Córdoba which is 400km away. “It may be a long way but it’s still cheaper than purchasing our own blow moulding machine for bottles“. Investing in new machines is not an easy matter for Dru- etta. Andrés Druetta explains: “In actual fact we do need new machines. However, taxes here in Argentina are quite high and we would need to borrow a lot of money from the bank. Because of the political uncertainty it is, however, very difficult to get credit for such large amounts from the bank. In addition, we would like to source the machines from abroad. The fact that the dollar is riding high is not doing us any favours”. Nev- ertheless, the fact that the bottler is able to shine even without any new machines is shown by the fact that the company obtained certification to ISO 9001 in 2011. Of the 20 min- eral waters producers in Venado Tuerto, Druetta is the only company with a certificate of this kind. “And we are constantly aiming for further improvements. Currently we are running a trial with our bottles supplier before introducing short neck bottles. This would make us unique in Venado Tuerto, plus we would be able to reduce our costs in the long term“. After an interesting tour of the plant, we squeeze our- selves past the massed ranks of schoolchildren, still talking at the tops of their voices as they explore the factory, Andrés Druetta leads me to a remote corner of the warehouse. Wide- eyed, I find myself gazing at the wooden barrels stored half way up on a shelf. “This is our little secret. My brother, who manages the company with me, has been storing whisky here for the past year. We would like to launch it on the market in five years’ time. Even now we are penetrating this niche market with a very special product”. The beaming entrepre- neur presses an attractive glass bottle into my hand. “This is water without salt that you can mix with whisky. It is only when mixed with this that the whisky develops its characteristic aroma“. I wonder whether it can also be packaged in PET bot- tles. “In theory, yes, but the 180 day shelf life of our bottles is still a bit too short for that”. Nevertheless, I am impressed by the farsightedness and diversity of Druetta. Once the schoolchildren have disappeared, I drive the Editourmobil into the yard again at the request of the work- force. “Thank you for visiting us. Maybe we shall meet again someday“, says Andrés Druetta in farewell. “If Druetta carries on like this, we shall definitely be seeing each other more fre- quently“, I think to myself. www.druetta.com Editour team 2 team bows out …(by Kay Barton) We are on our way to Andina Empaques in Buenos Aires. Andina produces exclusively preforms and returnable bottles for Coca -Cola. Back at the hotel, I am really too shattered to make big plans for the eve- ning, so Chiraz and I take ourselves off to a little restaurant nearby which not only offers tasty food, but also a TV showing the World Cup qualifying match between Argentina and Venezuela, being played in the stadium in Buenos Aires. And so begins the follow- ing week. Chiraz and I have one more meet- ing in Argentina, at the Quilmes brewery. The company, part of the AB InBev Group since 2004, has five breweries in Argentina fill- ing a total of seven different varieties of Quilmes beer, using equipment from Krones KHS and Simonazzi. Tuesday morning finds us crammed onto the ferry back to Uruguay. About six hours later we are in Montevideo, meeting up with Michael from Uruguay-Trip. Michael is an expat German who runs a motorhome sales and hire operation located just outside the city. He takes us first to our hotel, where we empty pockets, bags and briefcases of all the paperwork and product samples we have accumulated from our visits. The plan now is for Florian Roscheck of Team 3 to pick up the (hopefully soon repaired) Editourmo- bil in Santiago and to continue on to Brazil, where he will meet up with colleague Walde- mar Schmitke for the next stage of the jour- ney. On the way, Florian will collect all the reports and product samples from our visits from Michael in Montevideo. On the first floor of our hotel there is a large, airy room which I quickly commandeer for my office for my last few days prior to flying back to Ger- many. It was certainly a trip to remember! ...Editour team 3 makes its appearance (by Florian Roscheck) Behind me is an exciting week. The jour- ney to the first interview with Druetta in the Argentinian province of Santa Fe is straight out of the Boys’ Book of Adventures. After spending a fruitless half hour search- ing for the right road, I realised, with the help of some policemen, that Druetta is indeed located in the province of Santa Fe, but close to the city of Venado Tuerto, some 500km away from where I was. I quickly re- arranged to shift the appointment to the next day. The second interview that day with the company Estambul, in Santa Fe, is more suc- cessful. After a detailed interview with CEO Cesar Jose Sarchi I head off to Druetta in Venado Tuerto the next day before moving on to Uruguay. Crossing the border also means that the unexpectedly high motorway toll has to be paid – hard to do without any Uruguayan cash and no working ATM around. Finally I get round the problem by paying in Euros. Next day I am on my way to Montevideo. CEO Andrés Druetta presenting his Rocio mineral water.