PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2015

BOTTLING / FILLING 24 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 07+08/15 www.petpla.net BOTTLING / FILLING 24 Five times AirbackPlus for Japanese Asahi Group Providing the best product quality while acting sustainably is the motto of the Asahi Group from Japan and one that is substantiated by KHS Corpoplast stretch blow moulding equipment and the new AirbackPlus development. Tatsuya Inoue, Corporate Officer and General Manager of the Technology department at Asahi Soft Drinks Co., Ltd., says, “We’ve been relying on KHS Corpoplast in our soft drinks seg- ment since 2000 and have invested in twelve stretch blow moulders to date. Ten of them are in operation and we only recently had five of these retrofitted with the newly developed AirbackPlus system. As predicted by KHS Corpo- plast, through this investment we’re profiting from savings in compressed air of up to 40%”. In Japan the Asahi Group currently holds a market share of approximately 40% for beer and around 15% for soft drinks. It is also active on a national and inter- national scale in the food sector and various other areas of business, such as logistics and restaurant management. The group realises an annual total turnover of 1.7 trillion yen (about €14 billion). With a share of approximately 55% of total sales alcoholic