SMI

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  Bottle making.

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  Filling.

SMI S.p.A.
Founded	1987
Headquarters	San Giovanni Bianco (BG), Italy
Number of employees	703 (2016)
Website	www.smigroup.it

Company Profile

The SMI Group is a global supplier of bottling plants and packaging machines and is composed of the parent company SMIGROUP, the subsidiary companies SMI (the first and largest business in the Group), SMIPACK, SMIMEC, SMITEC, ENOBERG, SMIENERGIA, SMILAB, SARCO.RE and of a network of branches, providing support for sales, after sales service and spare parts supply.

The SMI Group’s companies employ a quality, environment and safety management system that is UNI EN ISO 9001:2015 and UNI EN ISO 14001:2015 certified and is compliant with the BS OHSAS 18001:2007 international standard.

SMI designs and manufactures a wide range of bottling systems & packaging machines for the industry of food & beverage, household cleaning and personal hygiene products and chemical and pharmaceutical products, able to meet production requirements up to 50,000 bottles per hour (according to the machine model and to the type of container)

The major corporations of the food & beverage sector are among the most important customers of the SMI Group: Nestlè, Danone, Unilever, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Diageo, Heinz, Heineken, SABMiller, AB-Inbev and Carlsberg.

Products / Technology

SMI is a worldwide renowned provider of PET-bottling systems for liquid products, committed to providing the most innovative and sustainable solutions either as single machines and complete lines.

SMI rotary stretch-blow moulders, available both in "stand alone" version and in "combi" version, ensure high performances in the stretch blow-moulding of PET, rPET and PP bottles, mainly used for the food, beverage and detergent industries. Thanks to high-tech components, low maintenance and running costs and great quality/price ratio, SMI machines are the best solution for producing plastic containers with different capacities and shapes, both simple and complex.

More in details, the range includes:

- EBS K ERGON Series - Rotary SBM models, from 2 to 4 cavities, ideal for the production of PET/rPET/PP bottles with a maximum output of 2,500 bph/cavity*;

- EBS KL ERGON Series - Rotary SBM models, from 4 to 10 cavities, ideal for the production of PET/rPET/PP bottles with a maximum output of 2,500 bph/cavity*;

- EBS E ERGON Series - Rotary SBM models, from 12 to 20 cavities, ideal for the production of PET/rPET/PP bottles with a maximum output of 2,500 bph/cavity*;

- EBS KL HC (High Capacity) ERGON Series - Rotary SBM models, with 3, 4 and 6 cavities, specifically designed for the production of PET/rPET/PP high-capacity containers with a maximum output of 1,200 bph/cavity*

* according to the selected machine model and to the type of container

SMI compact systems from ECOBLOC® range integrate in a single block the functions of a rotary stretch-blow moulder, a rotary electronic filler and a rotary capper. These solutions are ideal for producing, filling and capping containers in PET, rPET and PP with different capacities and shapes, from the simplest to the most innovative and complex.

ECOBLOC® range can be used in several sectors: flat and carbonated water, fresh milk, juices, edible oil, vinegar, CSD and detergents.

Bottle design

• Advanced 3D CAD Department for the design and graphic processing of the bottles;
• Accurate analysis of the customer’s requests;
• Design of different containers, featuring various shapes, from the simplest to the most sophisticated

Mould production

• special laboratory for the production of moulds and mechanical components;
• moulds made of a special aluminium alloy;
• more than 15,000 moulds produced per year;
• a top-quality level of the moulds fabricated;
• company equipped with an FMS line consisting of 12 CNC machining centers: highly automated machines, running 7 days a week round the clock;

History

SMI’s origins date back to the mid-70s, when Luigi Nava set up the mechanical workshop bearing his name in San Pellegrino Terme (Bergamo).

Besides the founder, even his four sons joined his small-scale enterprise as soon as each one came of age. Initially, the workshop business consisted in machining for third parties but then the maintenance of machinery and systems used in beverage bottling lines was added later on. Hence the idea of entering the packaging machine production sector; in 1987 the first SMI film-packer without sealing bar saw the light(called “shrinkwrapper”) which was presented two years later to the international market at the SIMEI trade fair in Milan.

In the 90s, SMI introduced new technological solutions introduced for rapid output in its range of shrinkwrappers and case packers. At the same time, SMI goes international by opening branches and representative offices in France, the UK, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. In 1999 SMI enters the rotary stretch blowmoulder sector for the production of PET bottles.

In 2002 the annual output of automatic packers reaches the world record of more than 300 units, ranking SMI as the leading manufacturer in this sector. In 2009 SMI launched its own range of automatic palletizers for end of line packaging and the following year it introduced Ecobloc integrated systems, which bring together stretch blow-moulding, filling and capping functions in a single machine.

In 2011 SMI installs the first complete cost saving line for the bottling of mineral water, designed to reduce production costs and save energy. The following year, SMI celebrated its 25th year in business.

In 2013, at the Drinktec exhibition in Munich, SMI presents a new end-of line compact system called Packbloc, which gathers into a single frame the functions of secondary packaging and palletization.

In April 2014 SMI’s employees move to the new headquarters of the Group, which houses offices and manufacturing facilities on a 65,000m² area. The new site, resulting from the renovation of former Cartiera Cima papermill’s historical workshops, boasts modern plants generating electrical power from renewable energy sources such as water and sun. In 2015 SMI launches a new design and manufacturing platform called Ergon, which allows to make the whole product range even more ergonomic and functional.

References

PETplanet Insider Articles

Issue 03 / 2024: Water and CSD bottling in China
Issue 01 / 2024: SMI enhances China presence at CBST
Issue 11 / 2023: Small size PET and rPET containers
Issue 10 / 2023: One case packer - multiple applications
Issue 10 / 2023: Cold pressed juices, safely packed
Issue 09 / 2023: Combined packaging machine
Issue 06 / 2023: The country of the five toasts
Issue 05 / 2023: Keeping natural effervescence
Issue 04 / 2023: Secondary packaging
Issue 04 / 2023: Increased efficiency and sustainability for large-capacity bottles
Issue 11 / 2022: “All the bottles that leave our production plants are 100% recyclable”
Issue 06 / 2022: Compact, efficient and environmentally sustainable solutions
Issue 03 / 2022: Chinaplas 2022 preview - SMI S.p.A., Italy
Issue 12 / 2021: PET and rPET containers design for liquid soap
Issue 11 / 2021: Nature in a bottle
Issue 09 / 2021: Recycle – Regenerate – Reuse
Issue 07 / 2021: Bottles with built-in handles
Issue 05 / 2021: Reusing air
Issue 05 / 2021: Many changes have been made in response to the pandemic
Issue 03 / 2021: A challenging future for competitive market segments
Issue 12 / 2020: SMI Machinery Beijing - Branch of SMI S.p.A.
Issue 10 / 2020: Co-packing at its best
Issue 09 / 2020: The role of light and rPET containers
Issue 07 / 2020: There is a place in Amazonia...
Issue 05 / 2020: Beyond natural water
Issue 03 / 2020: From the source to the table
Issue 11 / 2019: Strategic packaging
Issue 10 / 2019: Solutions for sustainable manufacturing
Issue 10 / 2019: Bottled water from Cappadocia
Issue 06 / 2019: The artistic aspect of the bottle
Issue 03 / 2019: Smart packaging machines
Issue 03 / 2019: Automated filling of "local favorite" fruit blend drink
Issue 01 / 2019: Cool filling
Issue 12 / 2018: Solutions for microbreweries
Issue 11 / 2018: smart packaging machine to be more competitive
Issue 09 / 2017: Inspired by Industry 4.0
Issue 05 / 2017: Starting from sketch
Issue 04 / 2017: New blow-moulder EBS K Ergon: SMI solution devoted to Industry 4.0
Issue 04 / 2017: From pellet to shelf
Issue 11 / 2016: Sturdy packages
Issue 90 / 2016: New series of fully electronic stretch-blow moulders EBS Ergon
Issue 04 / 2016: Bottle Making: High-performance production of PET containers
Issue 03 / 2016: Market survey: Filling Equipment

External links

SMI Group Website
SMI Youtube