PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2021

BOTTLING / FILLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 03/21 www.petpla.net 31 On-site implementation time  In late August 2019, the first machines were ingressed.  In early November 2019, the first filled bottles came off the conveyor.  In December 2019, the line was successfully validated.  In early January 2020, the line was fully operational. Installed on a small footprint, the new aseptic low-output line is rated at 13,000 containers per hour. It enables Eckes-Granini to flexibly fill even rela- tively small batches of still juices with the requisite degree of microbiological safety. The line fills about 50 different products, all of them still beverages, in two bottle formats, both with a 38mm wide-neck cap. “One goal pursued with this new line was to reduce the complexity in the existing bigger line, thus rendering it more efficient,” to quote Hermann Naumann. Changing over between the two bottle formats, he continues, takes only about an hour, product change-overs are com- pleted in 20 minutes – non-productive times are altogether short. BEYOND THE HORIZON PROCESS SOLUTIONS FOR POLYMER RECYCLING AND SOLID STATE POLYMER UPGRADING Polymetrix, a Sanlian Buhler Company, provides process technology including EPC M services for the polymer recycling and manufacturing industry. Leading supplier of rPET systems and intergated rPET plants for single line capacities up to 70’000 tons per year. www.polymetrix.com www.slhpcn.com “What’s more, we were able to bring the filling volumes we’d previously outsourced back into our own produc- tion hall. Since there is a general trend towards a more and more diversified range of articles coupled with decreas- ing batch sizes, this smaller-output line definitely makes sense,” says Nau- mann. “And last but not least, we just didn’t have more space available here in our plant,” adds Henning Hanisch. “That was why we needed an ultra-compact line layout, something that was neatly solved by Krones. The new line mini- mises legwork, and it’s very easy to access and oper- ate.” Both lines are meanwhile utilised to full capacity in three-shift operation. As far as coro- navirus restrictions are concerned, the Bad Fallingbostel facility has so far got away “more or less unscathed,” as plant manager Hermann Naumann explains, “because we hardly serve the out-of- home segment from this plant, apart from bag-in-box packs. Sales of PET containers, on the other hand, have rather increased because consumers in the first six months of 2020 compen- sated for the lockdown of the hospitality industry by buying their drinks at food and beverage retailers.” Non-returnable PET containers are the most important type of package for the family-owned company. They account for 83% of sales in Germany alone. With an eye toward improved sustainability, Eckes- Granini therefore aims to reduce the containers’ weight still further while simultaneously substantially increasing the containers’ content of rPET, which already averages 25 per cent today. www.krones.com www.eckes-granini.com Plant manager Hermann Naumann (left) and Henning Hanisch, project and process manager. The Granini brand accounts for roughly a quarter of total group sales.