PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2016

CHINA EDITOUR 9 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 07+08/16 www.petpla.net SPONSORS The China Road Show Stretch blow moulding and filling machines Assembly line production May 19, 2016, Sidel, Beijing We met: (f.l.t.r.): Laurent Bousselet, Industrial Operations Director; Alexander Büchler, PETplanet; Tammy Li Vice President of Sales, Greater China and Marilyn Chua, Communications Director. Sidel owns two production sites in China. Shanghai is the home of the mould shop together with the packaging design team (see PETplanet Insider 5/2007) whilst Beijing is the group’s China headquarters with the machine production halls. In addition, there are other sales offices throughout China. We visited the facilities in Beijing. Sidel’s buildings are located directly next to its sister company Tetrapak. 40.000 m² halls have been in operation since 2008 to produce the product range for PET machines by Sidel and Gebo Cermex. In China, Sidel constructs machines and sys- tems exclusively in accordance with European standards. The company deliberately does not use specialist Chinese machines that have an infe- rior design. Industrial Operations Direc- tor Laurent Bousselet shows us the most advanced stretch blow mould- ing production line in the world. Here, the machines are constructed on an assembly line. As the machine base moves through the production line on the sliding platform in stages, more leaving the plant are Combi machines. Occasionally single machines are pro- duced. In total, there are more than 300 Sidel complete lines in China, ⅔ of which bottle water. In recent years, Sidel has installed a few noteworthy systems in China, such as for example a CSD com- plete line for Coca Cola capable of 55,000 bph. In addition, over 70 aseptic lines by Sidel are running in the region. In the hot-fill sector, in addition to its usual 20,000bph capac- ity, the company is now also offering 48,000 bph. As the hot-fill bottles have over time also become lighter, hot-fill is becoming competitive once more to aseptic processing. One of the biggest problems in China is food safety. Thus, Sidel is anticipating a decisive market advan- tage for the coming years with Predis, the dry sterilisation of preforms for aseptic machines. Using no water and almost no chemicals, the technol- ogy not only protects the integrity and safety of the end beverage product, it generates substantial cost savings as well. The usual wet sterilisation areas with their high water consumption will no longer be needed. The company also wants to enter the market in the next year with a technology for edible-oil bottles of 1 to 3l, for which the handle will be inte- grated and the expensive manual grip attachments will no longer be needed. Sidel too is coming to terms with the stagnating beverage market in China. Its strategy is a strong local service team aimed at providing good customer care and helping the cus- tomer to continue to bring in innova- tions to counter the increasingly tough market conditions. www.sidel.com components arrive from the right and left until the machine is completed. In 2012 Sidel invested in a heavy parts centre, in order to be able to produce large formatted parts in- house. Thus machine frames and car- ousels up to 6 m in diameter are now produced in the factory. Previously, these components had been delivered from France or ordered from suppliers in the region. A few key components are still produced in France. Relatively new for Sidel in China is the retrofitting of machines. Laurent has allocated a separate area in the hall for this purpose, in which older machines of the first or second gen- eration are refurbished. Tammy Li told us that around 99% of the machines