COVAP 2021

The challenge

COVAP, a Spanish cooperative, is one of the major milk producers in Spain. With a large operating area of 22,650 m2, COVAP can produce 400 million litres of milk per year. Although LDPs are dominated by carton packaging, major supermarket players have now decided to sell them in PET bottles as well to meet market demands.

The solution

COVAP partnered with Sidel for the first time on a complete aseptic PET line based on the Sidel Aseptic Combi Predis™. The line was installed not only for COVAP UHT dairy products, but also for retailer brands from hotel, restaurant and café channels.
Sidel experts worked in close collaboration with COVAP from the bottle design stage to line start-up. The new PET bottles were designed with a sleek shape, providing a similar look and feel to glass bottles.

The outcome

Thanks to 40 years of aseptic packaging expertise, this safe and simple aseptic PET line offers smooth and efficient production with very few operators and operating speeds of up to 13,200 bottles per hour. As a result, COVAP is now producing 30 million PET bottles annually. Sidel also provided intense training for operators to ensure successful production on the line.

"“Since PET packaging is a new territory for us, Sidel is the right long-term partner to advise us in every phase and provide end-to-end solutions. After the launch of our new PET bottles, consumer reaction has been quite positive, especially regarding the sleeve label, which enhances the attractiveness of the LDPs. The retailer brands have also been receiving high acceptance and satisfaction with the new packaging.”"

Vidal Madrid

Director of Operations and Digital Strategy at COVAP

Thanks to Sidel’s assistance, Bickford’s launched two new PET formats for their premium syrup and juice brands, to complement previously designed and commissioned 1 litre formats.

Willowton Group in South Africa has increased its production volumes and revolutionised its sunflower oil brand, Sunfoil, thanks to Sidel’s expertise in PET blowing and packaging design.

In 2019, Master Kong beverages in China opted to sign a two-year fixed price maintenance contract with Sidel for four of its aseptic complete PET lines producing ready-to-drink (RTD) teas at its plants in Langfang and Baotou.