Carola 2017

The challenge

Carola Group wanted to focus on the bottling and marketing of natural mineral waters and a varied range of refreshing drinks, completely remodelling its Ribeauvillé PET line facility in Alsace, France.The ageing line was causing problems because of its limited flexibility, restricted accumulation capacity, reduced speed due to the limitations of certain machines within the line, and poor working conditions.The line’s performance was preventing Carola from keeping pace with the fast-changing beverage market and the fluctuations in consumer demand. Sidel was selected to undertake the modernisation work following the success of a project previously executed at Carola.

The solution

The dismantling of the existing line and the assembly of the new equipment took place well within schedule and the restart proved successful for all formats, which now includes packs of six, eight, and 24 bottles. Production speed was quickly ramped up and within a month the whole line was running at 75% line efficiency. All the machines and conveyors were reinstalled as close as possible to the ground so that they were directly accessible with no need to climb up on walkways – unlike the previous line. Line control is one of the major strengths of the new system, not least the advanced management of stoppages and restarts on the conveyors and the accumulation tables between the machines. Format changeovers on the new line are also much more efficient than they used to be.

The outcome

The Sidel installation and ramp-up to full-speed production were achieved in less than three weeks.The world leader in packaging line engineering and material handling answered Carola’s need for an extensive upgrade to meet the company’s industrial, commercial and economic objectives. The new line increased output rates by 3,000 bottles per hour for all pack formats, allowing Carola to produce greater volumes to tighter deadlines and enabling the company to respond to spikes in demand while reducing the stock managed for this purpose by an external storage provider.

"“We have tested Sidel capabilities around a returnable glass line and we have been especially impressed by their expertise in line automation and project management. That positive experience convinced us to trust the company again for this upgrade, because we knew their skills would be priceless for our new PET line.”"

Thierry Klein

Director of Production Maintenance at Carola-Ribeauvillé

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