PETpla.net Insider 08 / 2017

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 08/17 www.petpla.net 43 Five years of solid growth for Twellium Industrial in Africa The award-winning company produces a wide variety of drinks, including Verna Natural Mineral Water, Rasta Choco Malt, Dr. Malt and the Easy range of products. Other products such as Rush Energy Drink, American Cola, Planet and Bubble Up are all produced by Twellium as a franchise of Monarch Beverage Com- pany, a global company headquar- tered in Atlanta, USA. Over the years Sidel and Twellium have forged a close working relation- ship based on continual improvement and cooperation. As well as supply- ing new lines as Twellium has grown, Sidel – with more than 40 years of experience in complete lines for CSD – has also worked on optimising the existing lines and solutions in terms of energy savings and through mainte- nance support. A wide product range requires flexibility As African consumers increas- ingly enjoy a variety of beverages, Twellium needed to increase pro- duction capacity while still securing high flexibility. Hassan Kesserwani and Hussein Kesserwani, Chair- men of Twellium Industrial Company, explain: “Flexibility is imperative for the company because of the variety of drinks we produce – from carbon- ated soft drinks to juice drinks with preservatives and the non-alcoholic malt drinks that are popular in the region. In Ghana, our recent invest- ment in a Sidel Matrix PET complete line has fulfilled these needs by offering faster changeovers and the ability to handle many different bottle formats.” In terms of equipment life cycle, the Sidel Matrix range can be adapted to meet future production needs and its upgradeable platform allows Twellium to take advantage of any technological developments. The Matrix equipment is said to offer high levels of performance with minimal downtime and easy maintenance. This results in a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), which, for a fast- growing company like Twellium, was important. Cutting energy costs while expanding design options The Sidel Matrix blower consumes less compressed air and electrical power, resulting in energy savings of up to 45%. The Eco Oven technol- ogy – patented by Sidel – can be used to upgrade existing blowers and cut energy costs because it uses fewer lamps for heating the preforms. This reduction in energy consumption was particularly welcome because Ghana has faced considerable rises in energy costs. In addition, Twellium trusted Sidel’s PET packaging expertise and decided to adopt the StarLite base design. This base enables bottle weight to be reduced by 20% for 0.5l bottles, while improving stability and protecting against stress damage during produc- tion and transport. “This was an important considera- tion for Twellium as logistics in the Afri- can region can be a challenge. With the StarLite base, the company saves on raw materials and also on energy as the container can be blown using less air pressure,” says Dominique Martin, Sidel Africa & Maghreb Sales Director. The importance of service Throughout the past five years, Sidel has delivered the service necessary to keep all the lines running optimally: from delivering spare parts promptly in order to avoid expensive downtime to ensuring Twellium could take full advantage of options and upgrades that improve the lines. Consumers in the African region con- tinue to enjoy greater spending power and the Twellium brands have become firmly established in the market. This puts the company in the best position to achieve greater success. www.twelliumind.com www.sidel.com Twellium brings beverages - such as still water, carbonated soft drinks (CSD) and sensitive products which have proven popular among European and American consumers - to the African region. They meet the certification and safety stand- ards of the Food and Drugs Authority in Ghana.