PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2015

CAPPING / CLOSURES 32 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 12/15 www.petpla.net Tour Sponsors: Balancing act between special and volume closures by Alexander Büchler Bericap’s expertise extends beyond just special closures. Bericap in North America shows by example that the com- pany is also welcomed as a supplier by the OEMs in the mass beverage closure sector. We talked with David Watson, Business Development Manager North America. The introduction of the Double Seal closure 15 years ago was, for David Watson, the point when the company created a big advantage for beverage closures. Although Double Seal technology has now been on the US market for more than 12 years, it still continues to meet and overcome new challenges. By way of example he points to an 11oz Smoothie bottle from a leading US based High Pres- sure Beverage Processor which is having its beverage shelf life extended by means of newly utilised HPP technology which is enhanced and achieved via the performance pro- vided by Bericap’s Double Seal. The idea in so doing is to expose the filled bottle, and thus the filled product, to such high pressure that all the bacte- ria virtually implode. The filled bottle goes into pressure chambers that are flooded with water. Then a pressure of 6,000bar is applied for approximately 3min. This leads during the course of processing to reversible distortion phenomena that affects the bottle and the closure. This is where the Double Seal comes in. During the process the closures’s task is not only to ensure that the filled material stays inside the bottle but also to make sure that the pressurised process water does not get into the bottle. Many leading HPP processors are satisfied with the Double Seal 38mm closure and so is David Watson. Bericap is famous all over the world for its special solutions, but is less well known for volume closures for water or CSD. In North America things are different. Here Bericap has become a big name with its volume closures and has consistently contin- ued to service its customers, the Big Cs and leading water packagers. Par- ticipation is so extensive it has come to a point where the Bericap plant near Los Angeles is situated next door to one their largest water clients. Proximity simplifies the logistics chain and strengthens the supplier – cus- tomer relationship. For David Watson the fact that the major brands do not produce caps on their own premises David Watson in front of big totes each filled with 140,000 closures.