High-speed PET water lines

HEALTH Water Bottling Company (HWB) has added two new PET water lines from Sidel, both running at a speed faster than the first ones installed some two years ago, from 134,000 bottles per hour (bph) to a record-breaking output rate of 150,000 bph each, making a total installed output of 300,000 bph.

The first company ever to be awarded the “Quality Mark” by the Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation, HWB has always worked to differentiate itself from the competition by being innovative within the bottled water market. Aside from the premium brand of bottled water Nova, HWB also produces other highly reputable brands, as well as distributing Holsten, a malt drink and Power Horse, an energy drink, throughout the KSA.

The new HWB plant is located at Al-Wase’e, 110 kilometres east of Riyadh, a strategic location with easy access to both the eastern and central provinces, as well as neighbouring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The two lines comprise four Sidel Matrix^™ Combis, six Sidel F35 labellers, two wraparounds and two Sidel palletisers, with the design allowing the two lines to utilise the same end-of-line solution

Pushing performance boundaries

The two lines comprise a total of four Sidel Matrix^™ Combis, six Sidel F35 labellers, two wraparounds and two Sidel palletisers, with the design allowing the two lines to utilise the same end-of-line solution. This approach has allowed HWB to gain a significant reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO), and reduced footprint. Both lines also occupy a zone of the production floor formerly used by a single line. Sidel’s team came up with a solution that maximised the available space by including a mezzanine floor to house part of each line on the upper floor.

HWB Plant Manager, Harry Nowers, comments: “Success in water beverage production requires a focus on maximum output and efficiency, with a commitment to hygiene, food safety and cost optimisation. With everything centred on Sidel as a single supplier, we continue to leverage the company’s knowledge of the entire water bottling process, from minimising waste of resources, to ensuring the bottle is durable and attractive to consumers. Through this additional investment in our high-speed lines and our extensive understanding and experience of the market, we are looking to develop a Centre of Excellence for bottled water in the KSA.”

The four Sidel Matrix Combis – the core of the installation - deliver outstanding hygiene performance while simultaneously cutting costs to package still water and carbonated beverages. Compared to standalone equipment, the Sidel Matrix Combi reduces operating costs by up to 12% depending on the product being packaged, the package itself and production output. Furthermore, it uses up to 30% less floor space, compared with traditional standalone equipment.

Equipped with the Sidel Matrix Filler SF100 FM, it ensures high filling accuracy without product loss and its external tank that holds the beverage is easy to clean, saving time. A double-speed, filling valve is also available to reduce the headspace of the bottle in order to fill greater volumes. To ensure optimum hygiene, all parts of the SF100 FM that come into contact with the beverage are manufactured in stainless steel AISI 316L.

The two recently purchased PET complete lines – in use since June 2017 to produce the company’s Nova brand of water in 330ml format - bring the number of Sidel complete PET production lines installed for the customer up to three.

Overcoming the issues of a challenging supply chain

HWB also changed its old bottle design to adopt the Sidel StarLite^™ bottle base known for base resistance and stability. By featuring two Sidel proprietary design innovations for PET bottles, the StarLite base design improves bottle rigidity whilst enabling a lower package weight and reduced energy consumption during production. The end result is a PET bottle that can cost less to produce, yet offers better pallet stability and higher bottle integrity throughout the supply chain, says Sidel.