The FreshSafe PET success story
With its Plasmax blanket engineering and the FreshSafe PET packaging system, which has evolved from information technology, KHS offers the food and beverage industries a sustainable, environmentally-friendly system with the best possible product protection. Today'due south coating organization for PET bottles dates back to the 1990s when it was used in the pharmaceutical industry. How has this extraordinary story of success come about?
When Bernd-Thomas Kempa, who has been in accuse of sales and service since 2012 and is now head of Plasmax Bulwark Technology Global Account Management, and Joachim Konrad, who has been responsible for engineering equally managing director of Plasmax Barrier Engineering science since 2014 and is now head of the Big Machine Production Division at KHS, talk about the history of FreshSafe PET. Together with their squad, the two are the trailblazers backside the transformation of KHS Plasmax bulwark coating technology from a niche product to a market-proven, tried-and-tested packaging system for the food and beverage industries.
The story of FreshSafe PET, too known as Plasmax, began in the 2000s. This was when Schott AG and SIG Corpoplast launched a joint-venture for the plasma coating of PET bottles to cater to changing packaging preferences in the manufacture. They pooled the expertise of an international manufacturer of glass and glass-ceramics with that of a packaging producer and engineering company for the processing of plastics. Schott AG's portfolio also included a drinking glass coating that was applied to the insides of drinking glass containers equally a supplemental layer. "This protected highly sensitive pharmaceutical products from substance migration," explains Kempa.
Challenges for customers and KHS
During the joint venture, a epitome of the first generation of Plasmax machines was developed and in 2002, the kickoff Plasmax machine was tested in Switzerland with an output of x,000 bottles every hr. Plasmax was also granted regulatory approving for use in the food manufacture in Europe, the The states, and Japan. Two Plasmax 12D machines were then shipped to Japan for the protective packaging of sensitive, top-quality products. In 2006 Eckes-Granini was the starting time European fruit juice company to go to marketplace using this technology. "The constant aim of the development was and still is to integrate just one car which satisfies bottling plant conditions and meets customer expectations," says Kempa. System availability in particular had to be at an established level typical of the manufacture from the very beginning. "Looking at our success at present and at the growing demand for this auto, nosotros can say that information technology was worth it. We still nurture a certain outset-up mentality in the team, though," adds Konrad.
"With the dissolution of the articulation venture and the takeover of Plasmax technology past KHS in 2008 nosotros were given enough of bankroll. However, as function of a global enterprise our small team was too required to prove that this engineering science could exist just every bit sustainable in the beverage manufacture environment," Kempa states. "Without the support of KHS and our parent company Salzgitter AG information technology wouldn't have been possible to successfully transform this applied science and break even. Success would accept been as lacking had we not had the special way of working together nosotros still foster, with plenty of team spirit and great willingness shown by all members of the team," he adds.
This support and sense of trust also increased among the company's customers – alongside other machine sales in 2010, the prototype of the larger 2nd generation of Plasmax coating machines went to Eckes with a capacity of up to 27,500 one.0-liter bottles an hour. In 2014 the company procured the globe'southward start FreshSafe block for its plant in Fallingbostel, a organization blocked with a KHS stretch blow molder which produces a maximum of 32,000 0.75-liter bottles every threescore minutes. "KHS enjoys a trusting partnership with Eckes-Granini, which goes back several decades where systems can exist implemented to the benefit of both parties. This enabled Eckes to recognize the potential offered by a more sophisticated manner of PET packaging very early on on, for example, giving them optimum protection for their sensitive beverages," says Kempa.
Plasmax portfolio continuously expanded
"Eckes-Granini saw the opportunities rather than the possible snags and was open to new developments and processes. We mustn't forget that to starting time with, this was new territory for all involved," Konrad explains. Both parties profited from what was learned during the intensive partnership, helping to optimize innovative processes about applied use and come up with totally new solutions. In this way, Plasmax has steadily expanded its range of products over the years. The machine manufacturer now supplies not just its standard coating machine and the InnoPET FreshSafe block merely also a Plasmax 2Q/4Q for the low-operation range and an InnoPET FreshSafe TriBlock with a stretch blow molder and filler/capper combination which can produce up to 48,000 bottles an hour. "FreshSafe PET combines perfect product protection with sustainable recyclability. At the same time, costs tin be cut by saving on PET material. This gives us unbeatable arguments for this mode of food and drink packaging," smiles Kempa.
The company's success corroborates this – the interest shown by the beverage industry in FreshSafe PET and other KHS PET technologies is on the increase because they are sustainable, believes Konrad. To perfectly see the growing demand from the market, in 2022, production capacities at the Hamburg production site were increased. 1 major global soft drinks producer, among other clients, is now relying on FreshSafe PET for its bottling operations at its plants in Asia and North America. "Together with this beverage bottler, we've managed to utilize all of the advantages of our Plasmax system. We've been able to achieve this positive result because all of the main issues – from preform and canteen pattern to the client's production options – were integrated into our search for the optimum solution. This was the quantum for us in the drink sector," Konrad exclaims.
Key factor for ecology protection
Several factors play a function when a client makes his or her decision to buy. With FreshSafe PET, no unwanted substances enter the production from the exterior, for instance – and valuable ingredients such as vitamins cannot escape. Thank you to Plasmax barrier engineering, sensitive and carbonated beverages also keep upward to 10 times longer than in the conventional PET bottle. This is a key cistron, specially for bottlers whose products accept to travel long distances.
Furthermore, the wafer-thin layer of drinking glass reliably protects sensitive products against loss of freshness and quality, thus making a considerable contribution to the protection of the environment. "The more than reliable the product protection, the lower the amount of food wasted," says Konrad. This bulwark technology is also suitable for coating PET bottles made of recyclate (rPET) and for biodegradable containers.
Kempa and Konrad believe that the key factor for environmental protection is not just weight reduction only besides the full recyclability of FreshSafe PET. Past avoiding the use of unlike textile components, this coating technology enables the PET material to be collected by blazon and thus containers to exist fully recycled. This has been confirmed by several contained international experts and trade associations such as the APR and EBPB, among others. In the face of the growing demand across the earth for clean recycling systems, this is a crucial aspect, claims Kempa.
"Customers and the public are increasingly calling for environmentally-friendly packaging systems; a product is only successful when it solves a relevant problem. With FreshSafe PET, nosotros've created an environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient system which combines sustainability with the best possible product protection."
Less use of materials cuts costs
In addition to environmental aspects and the protection of the product, the economy is also essential. Past using KHS engineering, bottles weigh less than those which contain additives, in turn cutting down on the corporeality of material required and thus saving on costs. Moreover, bottlers can also switch to using less expensive standard PET preforms, again reducing the cost per bottle.
"All of these factors have helped FreshSafe PET evolve from a mere vision to a pop and sustainable form of packaging," enthuses Kempa. "And we're convinced that the success of this product is set to go on for some fourth dimension yet. Nosotros expect that in the future, environmentally-friendly packaging volition be inextricably linked to our responsibleness to reduce our carbon footprint further. KHS is contributing by having less food go to waste equally it's packaged in an optimized blazon of container."
Source: https://packagingsouthasia.com/packaging-production/the-freshsafe-pet-success-story/
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