The bottler eeded a new PET production line to capitalise on a growing domestic market for cola carbonates – total annual sales in the country recently reached 1,800 million litres, with further growth expected.
Sidel, global PET provider for liquid packaging, says the Sidel Matrix system offers a higher level of performance, fast changeover times, greater oven efficiency and improved uptime.
Coca-Cola SABCO’s investment in the complete production line for the plant in Polokwane featured a Sidel Matrix Combi, equipped with 20 blowing stations and 165 filling valves, as well as a Starblend mixer, a Sidel Rollquattro roll-fed labeller and a palletiser.
Based on the principles of the standard Sidel Combi introduced in 1997, the Sidel Matrix Combi combines Sidel’s blowing and filling technologies into one integrated blow-fill-cap solution.
It has a single enclosure and requires no intermediate equipment for improved package hygiene, and delivers outstanding hygiene performance while making it possible to achieve significant bottle lightweighting without compromising filled-and-capped performance.
The Combi’s overall efficiency and its compact size, ergonomic design, easy maintenance and lower energy consumption can all contribute to further reductions in producers’ costs, claims Sidel.
Ron Webster, southern division supply chain manager at Coca-Cola SABCO, said: “The line will help us to meet our objectives in the market and achieve operational excellence.”
The order for the equipment was placed with Sidel and the finished system commissioned within 10 months.
The new Polokwane line is used to produce several of the company’s larger formats, including its two-litre version, and is capable of achieving production rates of 32,500 bottles per hour.
The line passed its Customer Acceptance Validation at the first attempt with a score of 95% for production of the two-litre bottle at filling plant output level.
Established in 1940 in Port Elizabeth in South Africa, the South African Bottling Company has 21 production sites throughout nine countries, supplying around 240 million consumers.
