Caribbean Bottling chooses Sidel PET line

Caribbean Bottling Company has invested in a Sidel PET complete line to cater to the increased demand for water and juice drinks in the Caribbean market. This choice gives the Haitian bottler both the flexibility to tackle future production requirements and the possibility to develop an optimised packaging solution, while saving on raw material and equipment footprint.

Caribbean Bottling Company (CBC) SA is the benchmark for quality water and juices with more than 400 employees in Haiti and a large distribution network[1]. The company is the local partner of choice for bottling Culligan water, subject to rigorous testing for hygiene and quality as it meets the most stringent legal requirements, including those of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). Furthermore, CBC produces and distributes a wide portfolio of juice drinks and teas.

The PET line features a Sidel Matrix™ Combi, a Sidel RollQUATTRO Evo labeller, and an end-of-line solution, including shrink-wrapping and palletising systems. (Photo: Sidel)

Gaetan Barrau, CEO of CBC, explains: “Delivering a safe and high-quality product, whilst enabling consumer- and price-friendly packaging, can easily present a challenge. This is why we decided to renew our trust in Sidel and their longstanding expertise in PET packaging design and equipment.”

Saving space and resources while expanding production capacity

The partnership between the two companies started a few years ago, when the Haitian bottler installed a Sidel standalone blower, intended to serve a complete line of Culligan water. Marcel Ndoumna, Sales Manager Caribbean & FHPC at Sidel, comments, “Through this initial collaboration, we were able to accompany CBC through a learning journey, particularly in terms of their line’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).”

Appreciating the performance offered by the blower and understanding the savings the Sidel technologies can ensure – energy- and raw material-wise – CBC turned to Sidel once more in 2018. Due to a positive growth trajectory in the local beverage market, the company needed to increase its production capacity and decided to install a new PET complete line. “We were originally thinking about enlarging our plant and building an additional area to accommodate the new line. However, partnering with Sidel, we have been able to leverage a very compact layout and to locate the new line in an existing area of the factory,” says Gaetan.

The new PET complete line also had to handle new lightweighted bottles in various formats while optimising energy consumption. Gaetan adds, “The support we received from Sidel proved instrumental to cater to the specific conditions experienced by our bottles throughout the value chain from production to distribution. Thanks to this partnership, CBC shifted from ‘just making a bottle’ to ‘efficiently and effectively making a bottle’.”

The new PET line can handle new lightweighted bottles. (Photo: Sidel)

Anticipating future needs

Installation of the new PET line started at the end of 2018 and has been completed in March. Processing Frooty juice drink and Brizz iced tea in a 20oz format, the line features a Sidel Matrix™ Combi – able to deliver 30% less maintenance downtime and up to 12% reduction in total cost of operation – complemented by a Sidel RollQUATTRO Evo labeller plus an end-of-line solution, including shrink-wrapping and palletising systems.

The Combi installed at the facility features Sidel’s BlendFILL system. By combining mixer and filler in a single system, it allows for top quality drinks while reducing floor space and the environmental footprint of the company. Moreover, by choosing this configuration, CBC is gaining flexibility and anticipating future production requirements.

The entire line’s efficiency will be tracked and optimised with Sidel’s EIT® (Efficiency Improvement Tool) system, helping enhance productivity through real-time access to relevant and actionable information on performance, quality, efficiency, losses, and other production-related possible failures.

Packaging design for efficiency and stability

Developing a bottle which is able to withstand challenging distribution conditions while protecting the product, improving the consumer experience and securing an affordable price was a key requirement for CBC. Gaetan highlights, “Typically, those drinks are sold frozen along the streets by local retailers. So the bottle is intended to resist below zero temperatures, yet without compromising on stability and attractiveness.” This is where the proven Sidel RightWeight™ bottle concept came into play, as Marcel explains, “At Sidel, we are increasingly concentrating our innovation efforts around the RightWeight approach, making sure that the packaging is fit for purpose. This means making sure that the bottle is robust enough to withstand transportation and distribution challenges and deliver performance from the onset of its production right to the moment it reaches the consumer. The way we branded this concept is quite powerful because it clearly reflects the need to match a great performance level while reducing the TCO.”

By partnering with the customer’s marketing team and embedding their understanding of the local market, Sidel packaging experts re-designed the existing CBC bottle’s look and feel, strengthening the competitiveness and productivity of the Haitian bottler without jeopardising the high quality of the product. What is most important, they did that while achieving a distinct container’s shape and great savings on PET material: a real win-win for Caribbean Bottling Company.