The glass and metal packaging company was again rewarded for pushing the boundaries of metal packaging with a series of awards at the prestigious annual Canmaker Cans of the Year event.

The packaging line engineering and material handling solutions specialist Gebo Cermex, part of the Sidel Group, has recently signed a supply agreement with Kuka AG. The contract was finalised in Munich at drinktec 2017. Putting pen to paper for the agreement were signatories Mr. Marc Aury, President and Managing Director of Gebo Cermex and Mr. Joachim Melis, VP Division Consumer Industries & Handling of Kuka, representing the German manufacturer.

For over 60 years, beer has been filled into cylindrical beer barrels – kegs – and is dispensed in the catering industry, at events and other occasions. As kegs are designed for frequent re-use and longevity, only specific forms of damage can render a keg completely useless. In almost all instances, damage can be repaired, maintaining product quality, customer satisfaction and filling line efficiency at a high level.

The plastic packaging supplier has launched a stand-alone business in Brazil as part of its growth strategy for the Latin American region. The company is targeting the rapidly growing craft brewing sector in Brazil and large regional brewers with its one-way PET kegs.

As breweries grow and build their brands, many seek to expand their outlets and exploit new markets with an export strategy. However, taking beer from one market to another often presents breweries – large and small – with a number of marketing and supply chain challenges. Nevertheless, by following some simple guidelines, breweries can avoid common pitfalls and make exporting a success.

Sidel is helping beverage producers to maximise cost efficiency while simultaneously improving sustainability with Eco Booster, a service suitably developed for customers already operating Sidel blowers. Eco Booster, part of the Sidel Services portfolio, can provide measurable savings by reducing the consumption of materials, electricity and compressed air.

Key performance metrics for efficiency are established tools for quantifying bottling line performance. They provide a comparison of ideal volume and actual production volume. Expressed as a ratio, this figure can be used to quantify production losses. However, as is frequently the case, the devil is in the details; therefore, selecting the correct metric is essential.

The new Sidel StarLite^TM Tropical base is enlarging the family of StarLite bottle solutions. This latest addition is designed to offer a flexible solution for carbonated soft drinks (CSD), in all packaging sizes from 0.25 to 3 litres. Additionally, it is applicable to the different standard levels of carbonation. It is specifically designed for CSD bottles undergoing harsh conditions – for instance when produced and distributed in the supply chain at very high temperatures or in environments which are particularly humid. The end result is a PET bottle that offers improved resistance in terms of stress cracking and creeping, as well as better stability throughout the supply chain.

Logoplaste, Cascais, Portugal – a leading global manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging in the food and beverage sector – is benefiting from Sidel Services Online. This new, user-friendly web interface maximises line uptime by providing fast, easy and reliable online searching for Sidel original spare parts. The interface also gives customers a comprehensive online view of their existing Sidel equipment with access to technical documents and e-catalogues.

The Varioline packaging system by Krones has proved highly successful in establishing itself within the beverage industry. As evidenced by more than 30 machines commissioned within a period of just two years. For the brewing and beverage industries, flexibility in end-of-the-line packaging is an increasingly important consideration. The basic idea involved is that a single machine replaces up to six conventional individual machines linked by conveyors. With the Varioline combination conjuror, packaging processes involving up to three stages can be handled by just a single machine. The modularised Varioline kit consists of three modules, which can be combined to form a customised packaging system. These three units, the cartoning, feed and basic modules, feature an identical basic construction, to create a modularised design concept that ensures flexibility for the future.