PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2014

BOTTLING / FILLING 26 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 05/14 www.petpla.net Crossroads Beverage Group runs three KHS turnkey lines for US water market Wetting the US appetite for water Based on an article by Georg Zuzok, Head of Market Zone Americas, KHS GmbH, Bad Kreuznach, Germany / Jon Elward, Head of Stretch Blow Molders, KHS USA, Inc., USA Crossroads Beverage Group shares the same lineage as the founders of Silver Springs. The Richmond family established the Silver Springs Bot- tled Water Company in 1991 at a time when the bottled water business was still in its infancy in the United States of America. Kirk Richmond’s parents Karl and Margaret saw great potential for this segment of the beverage indus- try and were to prove correct in their assumptions. They began bottling with just six employees, filling 5l gallons with spring water. The company started its operations with two KHS PET systems, one a multifunctional line outputting 36,000bph and the second solely reserved for the processing of 0.5l bot- tles at a rate of 72,000bph. Silver Springs in Florida is now a permanent fixture on the bottled water market, filling an ever smaller percent- age of its total output into 5l gallons and dealing chiefly in water in PET bottles. The President and CEO of Silver Springs and Crossroads Bever- age Group is Kane Richmond, the founders’ son and Kirk’s brother. Keith Richmond, another brother, acts as CIO of Silver Springs. Kirk Richmond smiles, “We assumed that these two lines would initially do us for one or two years. However, as the market wants much more of our quality water than first expected and as our two KHS lines were running at almost maxi- mum capacity only six months after they were commissioned, in 2012 we ordered a second 72,000bph, KHS turnkey line to fill 0.5l bottles. This now operates 24/7 and is already running at half of its full capacity.” The idea of setting up a second bottled water company alongside Silver Springs arose about three years ago. Kirk Richmond tells us more. “We’d known for quite a while that the market in the northeast of the US was undersupplied with bottled water, especially as far as distribu- tion through the retail trade was concerned. We had lots of enquiries at Silver Springs from this region and when this number became consider- able we decided to open a second bottling plant in the Northeast.” Core businesses Crossroads’ core area of busi- ness is to supply retailers and casino operations with their own private label bottled water. If required, the company also assists in the creation of bottle designs, labels and shrink packs. At present Crossroads distributes the majority of its product within a radius In 2012 a new bottled water company was opened in the US state of Pennsylva- nia: the Crossroads Bever- age Group. The first bottle of water rolled off the con- veyor belt on April 16, 2012. Today, the company runs three KHS bottling lines. Approximately 130 trucks loaded up with freshly bottled water currently leave the company every day.