Inex 2021

The challenge

Passionate about sustainability and delivering high-quality milk, Inex is a 100% privately owned company in the heart of Belgium. It exports 50% of its production to neighbouring countries and produces a variety of authentic dairy products.
The company wanted to increase its production capacity to meet a growing demand for locally produced milk while also reducing its environmental footprint.

The solution

Inex worked closely with Sidel on the design and installation of the new aseptic packaging line that will package its UHT milk in a safe, sustainable and user-friendly PET bottle. Following suggestions by Sidel experts, the production flow of the new PET line was split between a plant dedicated to bottling and labelling and a warehouse designed for palletising, pallet wrapping and shipment management, with a conveyor system linking the two. The complete PET packaging line is entirely manufactured by Sidel with an optimised End-of-Line solution.

The outcome

The new aseptic PET packaging line is highly efficient, flexible and futureproof, as it offers opportunities for handling a range of formats and an alternative packaging method for other products. The new PET bottle contains a minimum of 25% recycled PET, is 20% lighter than other plastic (PE) bottles and therefore has a 20% lower CO2 footprint.
The white PET bottle also ensures stable light barrier properties for long product life and integrity without any aluminium foil.
Sidel worked closely with the preform supplier to guarantee preform injection quality and validate the bottle neck and cap tightness with its unique B180 test, ensuring no leakages when the bottle is stored horizontally in a fridge. Finally, production with Sidel’s Aseptic Combi Predis™ is much more environmentally friendly, as no water is consumed and very few chemicals are used to sterilise the bottle during production.

"“Fast line ramp-up ahead of schedule meant we could manage an increase in production. This was only possible because of the great support we received from Sidel’s experts either on-site or remotely. We also jointly found a solution to increase the number of shifts from two to three.”"

Steven Dierickx

CEO at Inex

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