Niagara Bottling has announced the opening of its new PET bottled water plant in Gahanna, Ohio, which features two production lines of Sidel, a global liquid packaging solutions supplier.
The Gahanna lines, which have the capacity to produce bottles at a rate of 108,000 per hour, will distribute small format bottled water to midwest US consumers.
Niagara invested in the new lines in a bid to increase its annual bottles production capability to more than ten billion.
The company selected Sidel Matrix PET bottling equipment for its sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions, with the aim of lowering energy and material usage, besides driving down its total costs of ownership.
The lines layout is engineered and optimized by Sidel resulting in a 108,000 bph line compressed into the floor space occupied by a 72,000 bph line.
Each of the two new lines consists of a dual 24-cavity Sidel Matrix Combi; a single VersaFilm packer capable of 90 packs per minute; three Sidel Matrix Rollfed labelers; layer-formatting; an upgraded palletizer; conveyors; and line-automation to handle the production speeds.
Sidel key account manager for Niagara George Kotzeff said the company proposed the approach of two Combis integrated into one production line to achieve Niagara's 100,000 bottles per hour target.
"We also collaborated on a fast-track basis incorporating the new, lightweight bottle - developed after the order was taken," Kotzeff added.
Sidel has supplied nine high-speed turnkey bottling lines to Niagara over the past five years.
