PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2018

MOULD MAKING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 04/18 www.petpla.net 20 Bonaqua Argentina switches from glass to PET for the on-premise water market Less material, more content, lighter weight Bonaqua is the spring water of The Coca-Cola Company in Argentina. Traditionally bottled in a premium glass bottle for the on-premise market the company was keen to create a premium glass-like PET bottle designed to meet the long- haul transportation in this huge country. The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) serves the Argentinian market with a premium spring water from Coca-Cola Andina’s plant in Cordoba. Located at a central province in this huge ter- ritory, Bonaqua has to transport its products more than 700km, and this is what motivated the company to redesign the packaging with the twin aim of cost efficiency and a reduction in the carbon footprint. The development of the new pre- mium packaging was entrusted to the blow mould manufacturer Moldintec. The Moldintec’s industrial design team worked closely with bottler’s engineers and TCCC’s technical, marketing, and operations team to meet its branding requirements and operational effi- ciency of the existing bottling line. With the focus on keeping the premium look of the bottle, the main shape was preserved while also satisfying the mechanical require- ments for a highspeed blowing-filling blocked hybrid glass/PET type line. Many other savings were secured by this master design principle due to the existing bottle tooling being adapted to the novel PET bottle. Even the paper labeller kits work perfectly with the new bottle, according to the Indus- trial Director of Coca-Cola Andina Argentina based in Cordoba. Bonaqua’s drop shape, combined with the water, creates a magnifying effect, intended to make the bottle shine on the table. The same effect was reached using a high gloss pol- ished blow mould, smooth surfaces, and a perfect material distribution during the blowing process. A Mono- Bloc Shell mould type was chosen for this application. The lubrication free concept of MonoBloc Shell contributes to avoiding any contamination of the bottle surface so that it keeps its clear and shining look. A HexaBase was specially devel- oped by Moldintec for a perfect match keeping in mind the water drop shape. The base design accomplishes all physical requirements from TCCC for both CSD and NCB because Bon- aqua has a sparkling version or has a nitrogen headspace for still water. The BaseMAX technology applied to these high-efficiency bases has the capabil- ity to copy a sharper geometry in the container while reducing the blowing pressure. It improves the reliability of the bottle due it six stand planes that support the top load even at the low inner pressure on still. HexaBase delivers a more stable container and less susceptible to falling on the line even at high line speed and reduced stand diameter. Less material, more content, lighter weight Moving from a glass bottle to PET blow-fill process immediately trans- lates into a multiplicity of savings. Starting with a lower bottle weight per unit, 24g on the PET version versus 263g of a glass bottle. The company also took advantage of this weight reduction increasing the bottle capac- ity by 100ml. The result is a lighter pallet with more liquid on it. The total full loaded Bonaqua on-premise truck weight was reduced 18% while the water payload is increased by 20% now, according to Eng. Daniel Rodri- guez, Technical Director of Cola-Cola South Latin Business Unit. The extra 100ml also differences Bonaqua with a new 600ml packag- ing from its competitors which mainly deliver 500ml to consumers. The operation was also a winner during the improvement process. Many of their tasks were eliminated or improved. From no more glass bottle reception from the manufacturer, warehousing space for empty bottles, depalletising at the line inlet and many others savings were captured by bot- tler engineers to cut product cost. www.moldintec.com.ar Lubrication free MonoBloc Shell for a shining look 24g PET version versus 263g glass bottle