PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2018

EDITOUR PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 05/18 www.petpla.net 24 Tour Sponsors: March 2018 Fluid Forms Inc., Colton, California, We met: Robert Mauricio, General Manager Always on the look-out for new markets Penta is at the high end of the premium water market, i.e. costing more than one US Dollar for a half- litre bottle. What makes this product so special is a 11-hour process that removes all minerals from the water which, according to Mauricio, allows the pure taste of the water to come through. Penta has found its place in the American market. Finding niches is a fundamental strategy employed by both companies. United Beverage has other drinks besides the aforemen- tioned Penta brand, e.g. carbonated soft drinks for Cosco, puried water, alkaline water, and many more which all come in PET bottles. Fluid Forms has made its own special contribution to United Bever- age’s success. As well as producing bottles for its sister company, Fluid Forms operates as a bottle supplier on the open market. In so doing, Robert Mauricio is setting his sights on niches in the alcohol industry. “Here the volumes are smaller and the margins better than commodities such as water bottles”, said Mauricio. Pro- jects involving up to one million bot- tles per year or more t best with his idea. His target market is the whole of the south-west. He has also managed to attract a great deal of interest from four bottle llers within an immediate 50-mile radius. He sees himself not as a bottle supplier but more like a partner who is involved from the initial idea to the nished bottle. His company is also prepared to invest in the necessary machin- ery. One of his PET projects is the Kuvée wine packaging system which enables the contents of an opened wine bottle to keep fresh for up to 30 days and more. The idea is to t a PET wine capsule with a high tech dispenser (Smart Bottle) and pour the wine through a special check valve system into the wine glass. There is a microchip in the capsule neck which reads out information to the Smart Bottle, e.g. wine history, reordering, how much has been consumed etc., which is then displayed on an inbuilt screen. The PET capsule and Smart Bottle for wine could one day be as popular as Keurig is to coffee. Fluid Forms machinery is as varied as their projects are diverse. The two lling lines are currently being fed in alternation from a single blow-moulder. The link is made via conveyor belts and an unscrambler at a particular bottling plant. Robert Mauricio, General Manager, Fluid Forms, Colton, California, prior to Editourmobil F.l.t.r.: Maria Salazar, Quality Manager, Sergio Benavides, Injection Supervisor, and Evelyn Soto, POC Fluid Forms Inc. and United Beverage plants are located in Colton California southeast of Los Angeles. The companies operate as separate business units belonging to the same ownership: Fluid Forms produces preforms and bottles while United Beverage lls and manages its own brand- name “Penta”.