PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2020

PACKAGING / PALLETISING PET planet Insider Vol. 21 No. 01+02/20 www.petpla.net 26 Secondary film packaging for multipacks French design packaging First-class natural mineral water and an exclusive bottle design are the trademarks of the French Badoit spring. From the bottled water to the packaging the premium brand makes the highest demands of the quality of its products. KHS has supported the company, part of Danone, since 1986. With its new Innopack Kisters SP A-H shrink packer Badoit is again benefiting from KHS. France is heralded as a para- dise for gourmets. The land of haute cuisine is renowned the world over for its award-winning wines, outstand- ing cheeses and high-class natural mineral waters. One brand which has established itself as a leader among carbonated natural spring waters is Badoit. The bottler from Saint-Galm- ier in the Département de la Loire, southwest of Lyon, has been working closely with the country’s top restau- rants for many years. “Our custom- ers make the highest demands of our products – and not just regarding our water. The perfect quality of the packaging also plays a decisive role,” says Etienne Marie, plant manager at Badoit. “As a premium brand our products not only have to differ from those of the competition in quality but also in appearance. The exclusive standard of our water must also be reflected in the packaging,” states Marie. The mineral water plant has therefore opted for bottles with a long, elegant neck, a unique feature on the French market. Badoit requires better packaging quality While the unusual bottle shape is a blessing when it comes to brand recog- nition, it has proved quite a challenge for the shrink packers used by the water bottler. “The long-necked bottle makes it extremely difficult to produce a packaging quality which is out- standing in all respects,” Marie says. “The multipacks often had creases in the film, the print was distorted or the packs weren’t stable enough to withstand the logistics.” In addition, the outmoded packaging machines were no longer state of the industrial art when it came to efficiency and sustainability and were increasingly limited in their technological capacity. Badoit received support from its parent company. Danone Waters launched a competition between its individual brands and their production plants who then turned to their respective suppliers. “Danone Waters wanted a packaging machine which, thanks to significant further developments in the shrink tunnel segment in particular, considerably improves the standard of the shrink film processing available to date,” emphasises Stuhlmann. Here, it was especially important that the letter- ing and brand logo on the packs was neither distorted nor creased. Intensive optimisation process The expert team’s first task was to develop new components for Badoit’s packaging machines. The packag- ing specialists in Kleve subjected all system parts to thorough testing. After several optimisation loops the improved components were integrated into the latest generation of the KHS shrink packer. “We then performed a series of further tests to make sure that our new developments satisfy Badoit’s high demands,” says Stuhl- From left: Christopher Stuhlmann, head of the Line Product Division at KHS, and Etienne Marie, plant manager at Badoit With its shrink packer Badoit can process films of a significantly reduced thickness. The machine also uses an optimum width of film per pack.