Britvic PET Stretch/Blow Moulding Facility Upgrade, Norwich, United Kingdom

Britvic, one of the UK's leading soft drinks manufacturers, updated its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) lines at the Norwich facility in 2003. The company took delivery of two BLOMAX 12 Series III stretch-blow moulding machines in April 2003 that were supplied and installed by SIG Corpoplast of Hamburg. The Norwich facility packs the majority of the Robinsons Squash and the ready to drink range. The company as a whole processes around 30,000 tons of PET per year.

BLOMAX 12 Series III

The BLOMAX 12 Series III machines are equipped with 12 cavity moulds, custom-designed by SIG Moldtec, and have been used at Norwich almost exclusively for the manufacture of PET bottles (five different coloured PET materials) for the Robinsons Fruit Shoot brand, which is retailed in 200ml and 300ml bottles with a pull up sports cap. The success of the Fruit Shoot brand has been attributed to the innovative brand-specific PET bottle. The line can produce PET bottles at a rate of more than 32,000 bottles per hour for both machines. There are now two more BLOMAX 12 Series III machines at the Norwich facility (installed in 2004) serving yet another production line for the successful Fruit Shoot brand.

BLOMAX 16 Series III

In August 2003, Britvic ordered two new stretch blow moulding machines, BLOMAX 16 Series III, to increase its PET bottle production capacity and efficiency at the Norwich facility. The two new machines are used to produce bottles for Robinsons fruit-squash-type drinks, including its barley water products in the one litre PET bottle. The machines were supplied and installed by SIG Corpoplast in November 2003.

This installation enabled Britvic to meet the inevitably increased product demand for the end-of-year festivities. The new machines were dedicated to the production of 1l bottles of Robinsons fruit squash. The two BLOMAX machines supplied to Britvic was a milestone for SIG Corpoplast as this was the hundredth Series III machine it had supplied since the launch of the series in 2001.

BLOMAX 10 Series III

In September 2006 the Norwich facility installed a further PET moulding machine on one of its production lines to produce bottles for new ranges of Fruit Shoot drinks called Robinsons Fruit Shoot H2O (fruit flavoured water) and Fruit Shoot 100% juice drinks. The machine installed was a BLOMAX 10 to produce crystal clear PET bottles in the well known Robinsons Fruit Shoot shape.

Air compressors and air conveyers

Britvic is extremely pleased with its relationship with SIG Corpoplast, the supplier and installer of the BLOMAX stretch blow moulders. Chris Spray, project manager of Britvic (now based at the Widford facility), praised the service/support and project management provided by SIG Corpoplast.

The original installation also included air compressors and air conveyors to complete the production line. The original two BLOMAX 12 Series IIIs have shown low energy consumption and very low maintenance costs. The maintenance requires daily lubrication and a once-per-year service from SIG Corpoplast.

Lighter bottles

In July 2008 Britvic announced that the one litre bottles for the Robinsons squash brand had been redesigned and would now be 2 grams lighter at 36 grams (had already been reduced in weight by 1.5 grams in a pack redesign in April 2007). The new lighter design will save 330 tons of plastic per year (saving the equivalent of 9 million bottles) and will also reduce the energy requirements of the Norwich production facility by around 5%.

The new light weight preform for the new one litre bottle is supplied by Artenius PET Packaging based in Wrexham. Britvic have instigated a number of waste reduction measures over the last two years (investing £5 million in the Robinsons Light weighting Programme) including reducing the weight of cardboard in retail displays by 5% (will save 50 tons or cardboard per year). Robinsons squash large packs (2-4 litre PET bottles) were also redesigned in 2006 allowing a saving of between 8 and 63 grams of PET per bottle (800 tons of PET saved per year).

Britvic

Britvic is a leading producer of soft drinks in the UK and Europe. It sells 1.1 billion litres of ready-to-drink soft drinks per year and 200 million bottles of squash and barley water. The company provides drinks in 400 different flavours, shapes and sizes and supplies more than 250,000 retailers. Some of the brands it is responsible for are Ame, Aqua Libre, Idris, Purdey's, R Whites, Shandy Bass, Tango, 7UP and Pepsi (franchise holders since 1987).