PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net 24 New product launch The fact that the beverage pro- ducer is making so many different types of beverage so soon after commissioning is also down to both partners’ fast reaction times. The Butsifal Group actually wanted to start out by merely filling its min- eral waters on the new KHS line. A seasonal characteristic of the Uzbek beverage market precipitated the launch of several completely new products, however. In this country in Central Asia there is practically a fixed season for mineral water, with the remainder of the year set aside for carbonated beverages. Whereas March to September are the best- selling months for mineral water, iced tea and CSDs have their high season at the end of the year. As the KHS line went into opera- tion in June 2016 in the middle of the water season, Khalilov decided to immediately create more variety in his portfolio. Besides the quality mineral water segment, which But- sifal has been serving right from the start with its Sayhun water brand, the company also developed a low price range by introducing its new Gazalkent mineral water brand and iced tea products and CSDs under the name of SIFA-T. “Despite the huge time pressure this was exactly the right decision to make. We immediately found a very successful niche for our new products,” Khalilov resumes. KHS developed the new bottle designs for the additional products within its Bottles & Shapes program in Hamburg, Germany. Development centered on both lightweighting and handling rigidity. “The design tech- nologists’ expertise enabled us to come up with the required high-qual- ity design very quickly,” says Khal- ilov. The round bottle formats now weigh 12.1g for the 0.5-litre bottle, 21g for the 1.0-litre receptacle and 25g for the 1.5-litre container. KHS had optimised the design of the available square PET bottles in advance. The engineers in Ham- burg were able to reduce the bottle weight here, too: the square 0.5-litre PET bottle for Sayhun mineral water now weighs 17g instead of the previ- ous 20g. ReDiS remote diagnostics system for fast troubleshooting The two partners are still working closely together with a local service engineer giving the Butsifal team sup- port whenever needed. He advises the company on line control and pays the site a visit on an ad hoc basis. Using the ReDiS remote diagnostics tool, which is free of charge during the warranty phase, on request KHS can access the plant equipment externally through a safe VPN connection. The Butsifal Group logs the KHS engi- neers into its system as and when required. “With this we solve possible operating problems or errors within the shortest possible time and can upload new software updates to the system,” explains Oliver Schneider, vice president for Eastern Europe at KHS GmbH. “This does away with the necessity for elaborate, costly and above all lengthy on-site installation assignments.” The Butsifal Group is achieving its goals thanks to the new line, states Khalilov. He stresses that “The new line technology enables us to produce a wide range of high-quality bever- ages.” The company now already has an approximately 10% share of the Uzbek water market and is also forcing its international expansion. Following commissioning, a number of export agreements were signed with business partners in bordering coun- tries. It has been decided to further expand production. KHS will continue this working progress with Butsifal Group with further investments. “Our After visiting the customer’s site KHS engineers planned the production layout for the Butsifal Group, taking all local conditions into account. The Butsifal Group saves on resources and energy costs by using the KHS Innopack Kisters SP. Affirmation of a long-term partnership: the Butsifal Group advertises KHS on some of its bottle labels – an usual ploy for a beverage producer.

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