CAPS & CLOSURES 38 PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 10/21 www.petpla.net Swing-top PET bottle by Kay Barton In the small town of Personico in the Ticino region just under an hour’s drive north of Lugano, the Gazzose Ticinesi company produces the Gazzosa, a typical soft drink from the Italian region of Switzerland. The bottler, whose history goes back as far as 1890, is now fi lling PET as well as glass bottles as a result of increased demand from promotors and retailers. The PET bottles have a special feature which is a fi tted resealable swing-top, previously only found on glass bottles. With this innovative and contemporary plastic design, the fi rm is bringing the original glass bottle into the 21st century. We spoke to the company’s Director, Luca Bianda, about his “Fizzy” product. From 1890 until the late 1960s, the factory operated under the name “Gazzosa Cantoni” and was based in the nearby town of Bodio. It then moved to Personico following a takeover that resulted in a change of company name to “Gazzosa Sassi Grossi”, a reference to the Battle of Giornico in which a heroic force of 600 Swiss routed an invading 10,000 strong Milanese army in 1478. In 1972, the fi rm was taken over again and was renamed “Gazzosa Ambra”. Signifi cant expansion and renovation work was carried out which enabled the current company to vastly increase its production capacity for the fi rst time. Finally in 2008, the Ticino entrepreneur and pharmacist Luca Bianda took over the company and formed what is now Gazzose Ticinesi SA, with plans to establish the Ticino-based business on a supra-regional and national scale. In addition to extensive refurbishment and upgrading of the production facilities, ISO 9001 certifi - cation, HACCP and IFS Food Standard systems were also incorporated. The company has grown from 3 to 22 employees. “We promote and develop our Gazzosa mainly through food stores, distributors and caterers. By relaunching our carbonated soft drinks under the “Fizzy” brand, the aim is to connect with our cultural food heritage. The idea is for Fizzy to become a kind of synonym for Gazzosas so that in future, people will order Fizzy when they really mean Gazzosa. We have already achieved this in Ticino and are now intent on doing the same in the rest of Switzerland and beyond”, Mr Bianda explained in an interview. All the latest sizes are produced on a 4,000 bph production line with machinery from various manufacturers. The line is equipped with a bottle washer for glass bottles from Akomag, a bottle rinser for PET bottles from Enopoggio, an inspection unit for empty and full bottles from Digital Controls, a C.E.M. fi lling machine customised by Gazzose Ticinesi. Capping machines for the various formats are from AMS Getränketechnik and Kompass, labelling machines from Kosme and Simac, a Fipal case packer customised by the company, a Giemme Thermo shrinkwrapper and a Twinpack handle applicator. “We have made modifi cations to each machine in-house where necessary”, outlined Mr Bianda. The Fizzy Fizzy PET bottles with screw cap Director Luca Bianda Fizzy PET bottle with swing-top closure
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