Refres Now increases its production capacity by 40% with Sidel Matrix Combi

The challenge

The working relationship between Refres Now and Sidel began in 2005 when the Argentinian company was founded, and continued in 2011 when the beverage producer turned to Sidel for what was, at that time, the world's largest Sidel Combi ever built for filling carbonated soft drinks. It was a high-tech solution for bottling family pack sizes, which were in great demand locally. Needing a new line to extend the company production facility in La Matanza, Refres Now contacted Sidel and chose Sidel Matrix Combi as a flexible and hygienic solution offering an extensive range of configurations.

The solution

The Sidel Matrix Combi is an integrated blow-fill-cap solution within a single controlled production environment, eliminating intermediate conveyors and equipment to deliver outstanding hygiene performance while simultaneously cutting costs. It features a Sidel Matrix SF300 FM filler with 162 valves – one of the biggest electronic fillers in the world -- boasting an output speed of 32,000 bph (bottles per hour). The integrated solution also includes Sidel’s Blendfill configuration, combining mixer and filler in a single system for top quality carbonated soft drinks. To answer the customer’s needs for flexibility and efficiency, the Combi can produce multiple bottle sizes, ranging from 0.6 to 3 litres.

The outcome

With the new Sidel Matrix Combi, Refres Now can expect comparable savings in its energy consumption, a significant decrease in water consumption and an improvement of 40% in the plant's total production output. With efficiency levels up to 4% higher than standalone machines, the Combi cuts operating costs by up to 12%, offering faster format changeovers, lower energy consumption and savings in labour, raw materials, maintenance time and spare parts. Furthermore, it uses up to 30% less floor space, compared with traditional standalone equipment.

"“Sidel has an impeccable trajectory in technology for the bottling industry, but above all, the magic ingredient for the equation to work is its people, and for us that is more important than the machine itself. Our next step is line number 10, and the future ... is infinite.""

Walter Canido

Operations Director and one of the company owners of Refres Now

Sidel has supported Coca-Cola to transition to tethered caps and lighter bottles in line with the changes required by the single-use plastic (SUP) law effective from July 2024.

Nestlé recently installed two units of CoboAccess™_Pal, an industrial, safe and easy-to-use cobotic palletising solution from Sidel, at its site in Orbe (Switzerland).