Case histories

02/11/2020

Five SIPA XFORM in operation at PARLE AGRO

Parle Agro, India’s largest beverage company has chosen SIPA for high-volume production of PET preforms for fruit drink bottles.


Parle Agro has five SIPA XFORM injection molding systems hard at work producing 5.7 million PET preforms every day to make bottles for fruit drinks. There are two 500-tonne systems and three 350-tonners. Between them, they make preforms for 160mL, 250mL and 300mL bottles for Parle Agro’s famous Appy Fizz sparkling apple drink and Frooti mango drink. The preforms range in weight from 8.5 to 13.5g.


The company, headquartered in Mumbai, has many reasons for opting for the SIPA machines. First off, it says the XFORM units provide the flexibility it needs when introducing new designs and concepts; for example, not long ago, Parle Agro developed a customized bottle neck for the Appy Fizz 160-mL bottle.


The Company takes pride in being one of few companies manufacturing PET preforms derived from the bottle design with the best stretch ratio specifications. Parle Agro’s latest development with the best bottle stretch ratios has been for Appy Fizz 160mL bottle, at the best-optimized grammage of 9.6g.


Then there is the issue of output: XFORM injection molding machines can take molds with more cavities than most other competitors, and they also have the shortest dry cycle times.


Parle Agro is one of the first companies in the Asia Pacific Region to install a machine – an XFORM 500 – running with a 180-cavity mold – from SIPA, obviously. SIPA has also supplied two 128-cavity molds. The XFORM units are equally capable of operating with molds from other suppliers.


“But it’s not just about quantity. Preform product quality is high and consistent”, says Jitendra Kulkarni, Senior Manager Technical at Parle Agro. “All this, while using less energy than competitors.” Adds Mr.Kulkarni.


Parle Agro claims to be the only beverage company in India making its own PET preforms. What started as a relatively modest consumption of 2100 tonnes per year back in 1996 has since risen to well over 53,000 tonnes. The company takes great care to ensure the standard of quality delivered including timely supply and uniformity in the weight of preforms.


Parle Agro has three manufacturing hubs, producing preforms both for internal and external conversion.