06/10/14
Part of the company's recently announced Sidel Services business
unit, the Line Improvement team is dedicated to improving existing
lines using advanced line analysis tools and methodologies, a range
of new innovations and technologies that are easily retrofitted,
and engineering experts with years of industry experience. The
team's solutions can be applied to all Sidel PET complete lines and
standalone blowers, fillers and labellers, regardless of
configuration or line layout formats. They also work for all
beverage products including water, carbonated soft drinks, liquid
dairy products, juices, nectars, soft drinks, isotonics, teas and
beer.
The team's results certainly speak for themselves: A Coca-Cola
bottler in the US achieved reductions in blowing pressure of up to
50%, while another Coca-Cola bottler in the United Arab Emirates
reduced energy by 20%. PepsiCo in Germany achieve a similar energy
saving of 19%, while Nestlé Waters achieved a productivity boost of
15% in France and Mineral Quantum in Romania achieved savings of
45%.
"Ensuring older production equipment continues to deliver
efficiently with a reduced total cost of ownership is a goal shared
by many beverage producers around the world," explains Dag
Gronevik, Vice President of Sidel Services. "Often there is a
desire to avoid investing in a new line or equipment, and instead
getting more from existing production setups. The reasons may vary
in each case, from capital expenditure constraints, economic
volatility, a need to invest elsewhere, or regulatory
considerations. Yet there remains the need to ensure existing
installed lines remain efficient and drive down costs."
This is why Sidel has created its Line Improvement
team as one of the six areas within its new Sidel Services
business. Line productivity audits by specialised engineers can
assess the installed equipment, production layout and surrounding
environment to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies along the
line in order to make strategic performance improvements, reduce
energy or water consumption and optimise investments. The team can
also use local and remote access technology to compile critical
data points across the line from process and manufacturing
databases in order to become predicative about line conditions. New
technologies can then be added to equipment on the line. At Sidel
these retrofitted new innovations and technologies are split into
options, which are new functionalities to optimise flexibility and
costs, and upgrades, which improve performance, safety,
functionality, hygiene and energy consumption levels. "Our
line improvement services can help expand the lifecycle of a line
by foreseeing issues in advance, improving efficiency and
implementing the latest available technologies," says Dag. "In
response to requests from our customers, we constantly strive to
reduce the time for return on investment. Currently it usually
ranges between just 12-24 months." With several options and
upgrades released every year, Sidel is constantly investing to
bring the benefits of new technology to existing installed
equipment. Examples of new technologies for older blowers include
speed-up kits for faster output rates, eco-solutions for less
electricity usage, stronger spindle chains for a longer life, and
air-recovery kits for less air consumption. For fillers examples
include stronger valves for longer life, ultra-sonic functionality
for less foaming, and product recovery kits for less liquid
wastage. For labellers, there are label detectors for less jamming,
quick changeover kits for reduced changeover times, label reduction
kits for less material costs and automatic splicers for increased
daily production. "Whatever the beverage product, whatever
the line and whatever the production output, we firmly believe that
every line can be improved a little bit more," adds
Dag.
To find out more about the new service and to read about real-life
case studies from around the world please visit
sidel.com/improvement.
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