PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2020

BOTTLING / FILLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 11/20 www.petpla.net 29 adds: “This was important, because we had a fixed deadline for market-launch- ing the 0.5l bottle. I was very happy with Krones’ punctuality. This could be achieved only because we had chosen Krones as our single-source vendor. I was also very impressed by the training our staff received from Krones during the commissioning phase,” he says. This short erection time was like- wise favoured by the fact that the new line was being installed in an emptied storage area, while the older lines next to it were able to continue operating until the new line was up and running. So now the new Krones non-returnable- PET line is the sole bottling line at the facility in Quézac. It is rated at 27,000 containers per hour, referenced to the 1.15l container, and runs in three-shift operation, round the clock from Monday to Friday. Carbonated water only At this facility, Ogeu bottles only car- bonated water, and thus – despite the focus on regional roots – ranks fifth for this market segment in France. Carbon- ated mineral water is more of a niche product there, with a market share of around 15 per cent; the French mostly consume still water. The mineral water bubbles up from a spring 200m away, with a natural carbon dioxide content of 2g per litre. Before being bottled, it is carbonated in the Carboflow to 5.5g per litre. As with the filling operation, the vari- ants are manageable in terms of pack- aging as well. Both container types are each formed into six-bottle shrink-packs by a Variopac Pro FS. Afterwards, the 0.5l containers are then grouped together to form 24-bottle trays in a second Variopac Pro TFS. “One weak point in many lines is layer preparation upstream of the palletiser,” comments Jean-Hervé Chassaigne. “The elegant solution with the Robobox was another important criterion that tipped the scales in favour of Krones.” High OEE Three staff suffice for operating the entire line: one for the wet end, one for the dry end, and a fork-lift- truck driver. “The line achieves a high OEE of 86 per cent,” says the Ogeu Group’s Technical Director Lilian Oyhenard. With a retrofitted Ready- The mineral water bottler’s plant is located in the heart of the French Cevennes National Park.