FDBusiness.com

To meet the growing demand of its customers, family-run business Montgomery Waters has acquired an additional complete line solution from Sidel, the leading provider of production equipment and services for liquids in PET.  The line, bottling still and sparkling water with the latest generation of Sidel Matrix™ equipment, is enabling Montgomery Waters to increase capacity, flexibility and ensure high quality beverage products.

The company, based in Wales, has several spring and mineral water sources dedicated to the supply of still, sparkling, flavoured and vitamin-enriched water under its Aquaroma, Celtic Spring and Aquavit brands, along with a successful operation bottling brands for other manufacturers.  Among Montgomery Waters’ customers in the competitive Euro 2 billion UK bottled water market are several leading nationwide retailers, sports club chains and hotels.

“In 2012 we moved to in-house blowing and updated our labelling by upgrading our existing high speed line, increasing production capacity by 50%, with a Sidel Matrix Combi, labeller and conveyors from Sidel. Now increased demand from both consumers and our customers meant we needed to invest in an additional line – one that offered maximum flexibility and could be integrated with the solutions we had already installed to provide operator flexibility across our lines, reduce training needs and maintenance costs.  These are the two main reasons we chose Sidel Matrix equipment – along with the fact that we are very satisfied with Sidel’s on-site service,” commented Paul Delves, Managing Director of Montgomery Waters.

The choice of a complete PET line solution involves much more than its individual parts. It embraces everything, from the packaging concept through the equipment process, the line design and supply, productivity management analysis and a continuous focus on line performance improvement. The whole solution needs to be planned to meet the challenges of the supply chain, with the underlying objective always being to achieve the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO).

The new complete line solution includes the latest generation of technologically advanced Sidel Matrix equipment: the compact blow-fill-cap Combi solution featuring a Sidel Matrix blower SBO14 and a Sidel Matrix filler SF300 FM, along with a Sidel Matrix rollfed labeller SL70 and conveying,
shrink wrapping and palletisation equipment. The Sidel Matrix Combi features a blendfill version of the Sidel Matrix Carbonator, meaning that it uses only one buffer tank, reducing the CO2 consumption as well as the equipment footprint. The 70 filling valves are equipped with magnetic flow meters, electronically controlled to ensure accurate volume filling into the PET bottle and therefore avoiding spillage and beverage waste. The Sidel Matrix labeller is a highly modular rollfed labeller which can be installed in various different layouts and easily reconfigured.  Changeover times are 30% faster than previous labeller generations, with 40% less downtime required for maintenance.

With the addition of the new complete line, Montgomery Waters will be able to produce PET water bottles in four formats, from 330 ml to 2 L, at speeds of up to 31,000 bottles per hour (bph).

“We’re thrilled to see Montgomery Water’s growth. The company continues to go from strength to strength, yet it needs to remain flexible in a very competitive market. By selecting Sidel Matrix equipment this enables them to add value from the very start,” commented David May, Account Manager for Sidel UK.

Sales of bottled water continue to grow globally.  Sales increased by 28% over the five year period 2007 to 2012, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% from 2014 to 2018 . This growth is attributed to healthier lifestyle choices and consumers seeking more natural sources of hydration.

A technologically advanced PET production line

Based on the latest proven modular generation of PET bottling equipment, the Sidel Matrix system offers a higher level of performance, very fast changeover times, greater oven efficiency and improved uptime.

Bringing together all the benefits of Sidel’s Matrix blowing and filling innovation into one high-impact solution, the fully integrated, Sidel Matrix Combi blow-fill-cap solution improves hygiene while simultaneously cutting costs to bottle still or carbonated beverages.  Its overall efficiency, ergonomic and hygienic design, compact size, easy maintenance and lower energy consumption, along with the speed and maintenance advances of the Sidel Matrix rollfed labeller, will all contribute to a complete PET line solution to deliver real productivity benefits for Montgomery Waters.