PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2014

Editour report 12 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 11/14 www.petpla.net restaurants and to households by an efficient door to door distribution organization. The supply radius for the compa- ny’s products is approximately 200 km, but in the last few years the distribution has reached Sicily and Sardinia, and the North and South of Italy. 53 to 65 people are employed here on site, depending on the season. Bottling takes place under two brand names – the historic and well known Acqua di Nepi and the new Fonte Vivia that is mainly distributed to hard-discount and/ or private labels. In 2013 turnover was around €18m. 2013 saw the filling operation rise to 125 million bottles - that is 95 million more than in 2002, when the company was purchased by the Zoppas family and PET investment was launched. The bottle sizes on the glass line are 0.5/0.75/1.0 and 2.0 litres. Running on the PET line are 0.5/1.0 and 1.5 litre PET bottles. The PET line is, as already mentioned, obtained from Sipa whilst everything else downstream is sourced mainly from Acmi Italy. The goods are packed in 6, 12 and 24 shrink film packs. Recycled PET is currently not used in Acqua di Nepi, but San Benedetto has the neces- sary know-how and capabilities. We extend our thanks for the interview and continue our journey (not without having imbibed a powerful slug of Acqua di Nepi to strengthen us for the road ahead). www.acquadinepi.it Own brands only by Waldemar Schmitke Ferrarelle Ferrarelle is a familiar brand name in Italy. The naturally carbonated mineral water comes from 13 springs on the company’s premises, which overall cover a total of 145 ha. Featuring some- what fewer minerals is the Santagata brand of water distributed by Ferrarelle on the Italian market. In the still water sector, the company operates under the Natia brand name. For Giuseppe Cerbone, the General Manager, the private label route is not the way to go. “If we are forced to do that, we won’t earn any money any more“, is his view. As far as he is concerned, strong brands represent the guarantee for a future on the difficult Italian water market. He goes on: “We need to cultivate trends within society“. For him, one trend in society is the tendency towards health and anti-ageing. Bearing this in mind, he is trying to pinpoint additional niches through the medium of mineral water. One water with more minerals scored well in trial promotions. It is said to be healthy and to help eliminate waste products from the body. He is hoping for similar results in terms of a subsequent successful market launch. At the main plant in Riardo there are 4 PET lines and one glass bottling line for the main brands. The most recent installation dates back to 2013 and has a capacity of 40,000 1.5 litre bottles/hr. Responsible for palletising this volume is an impressive drying line from Acmi. Depending on their age, the stretch blow moulders are from Sidel and Krones. In total, Ferrarelle bottles 810 million litres (or 600 million bottles) a year. The proportion of glass is infinitesi- mally small. Although it says "fill volume: 0.92 litres" on the label on the glass bottle, the bottle in fact contains 1 litre. Giuseppe explains the reason for this as follows: “Previ- ously the returnable bottles had a volume of 0.92 litres, today all bottles are 1 litre. Nevertheless, now and then vin- tage 0.92 litre bottles tend to find their way into the bottling plant. This is why we say 0.92 litres instead of 1 litre”. Weight reduction and energy savings are important goals for Giuseppe. Ferrarelle have reduced the weight of the 1.5 litre bottle from 37g in 2006 to 30g today and the energy consumption per cubic meter of water bottled from 51kW to 35kW. A characteristic feature of this significant level of progress is the fact that “these statistics are backed by investments amounting to a total of 15 million euros“. As regards energy consumption, they are anxious to make further strides. This year will see the compressors arriving on the test bench and they are looking forward to further efficiencies with these. At the moment they blow mould the bottles at 30 bar. Generally, Ferrarelle give the impression of being very environmentally aware. They have their own 1 megawatt solar plant which produces much of the factory’s electri- city. 100,000 bees are producing honey on the gigantic site, and they also cultivate several varieties of organic wheat for pasta production and olives for oil. Also on the company premises is a farm dating back to the 18th cen- tury which the company has refurbished and restored to its original state. We thank our hosts for their friendly welcome and, with a couple of bottles of mineral water safely tucked away in our luggage, we leave Ferrarelle and head in the direction of Sicily. www.ferrarelle.it F.r.t.l.: Giuseppe Cerbone and Waldemar Schmitke in front of the Ferrarelle bottling plant in Riardo (CE) Italy