Headquartered in Germany, where the greatest percentage of beverage packaging equipment is sold and exported globally, beverage industry equipment manufacturer Krones AG, says its customers are reducing operating costs, saving space, upgrading line efficiency levels, implementing state-of-the-art technologies and meeting ultra-stringent hygiene and safety stipulations.
“In a word, they’re creating fit-for-purpose solutions,” says Krones AG Executive Board member sales and marketing, Rainulf Diepold.
“These are the essential aspects of ongoing developments. One excellent option for meeting these requirements is to BLOC-synchronise the machines concerned. Krones has done this.”
“For the first time, there’s a BLOC-synchronised solution for the dry end. This was showcased by Krones AG at drinktec 2009.
"The ErgoBloc D combines field-proven standard machines to form a coherently harmonised system for end-of-the-line packaging and palletising. In conjunction with the Ergobloc L, this means a complete PET bottling line can now be configured from just two BLOC-synchronised units.”
According to Sidel Group president Mart Tiismann, the race towards lighter PET bottles is heating up. “Each gram trimmed off leads to millions of euros in savings each year,” he says.
“The challenge lies in making sure that the package remains attractive for consumers by retaining a seductive design as well as undeniable functional qualities.
"We must also guarantee industrial feasibility through the adoption of packaging machines, the modification of secondary packaging and testing of the entire supply chain.”
Rainulf Diepold says Krones clients attach great importance to maximised flexibility of their machines. “They want to be able to use them for handling different formats in the future,” he says.
“They’re also keen to have a compactly dimensioned machine concept with versatile technology, plus space-saving footprints.
"The time factor, too, plays a crucial role when it comes to changing over to different tools and packaging programs. All the steps involved have to permit fast and accurate manipulation.”
Beverage industry equipment suppliers have been hit quite hard by the crisis. “This is because bottlers and canners almost the whole world over have adopted a wait-and-see policy for their investment projects, simply because they didn’t know how things are going to develop,” Rainulf Diepold says.
“This resulted in substantially reduced order bookings for all equipment suppliers, in some cases by the end of 2008, in others only since early 2009.”
Sidel executive vice president Engineering & Conveying Marc Aury agrees. “In the current economic climate our guiding principle is that you have to invest less to invest better,” he says.
“That’s why we created the Engineering & Conveying division in early 2009, which offers a service aimed at addressing overcapacity and helping customers make their investments more profitable and improve existing performance.”
“We offer a methodical approach that includes mapping of all line costs including materials, energy labour, maintenance and depreciation and equipment performance studies to offer optimised solution proposals.”
In the long term, however, Krones' Rainulf Diepold expects growth to resume. “The recession is not as severe in the beverage industry as in other sectors, and will probably be over more quickly too,” he says.
“With its products and services for the food and drink sector, Krones is positioned very close to the consumer interface, and benefits indirectly from global population growth and increasing affluence worldwide.
"We anticipate that once the economic crisis has been overcome, the company will be very swiftly restored to its familiar strength.”
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