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01/2018

LITTLE GREEN BEVERAGE GETS BIGGER WITH SIPA

South African carbonated drinks company Little Green Beverages has once again put its faith in SIPA for bottle production and filling systems at its expanding plant in East London.

Back in 2013, we reported in SIPA MAGAZINE on the company’s rapid growth and its investment in two SIPA lines based on SFR Sincro Bloc integrated bottle blowing and filling systems. That was soon after Little Green Beverages had come to SIPA for the first time, when it decided to take a step up in quality and replace some ageing Asian equipment.
Once again, Little Green Beverages purchased further three new SIPA lines, equipped with the very latest technologies to satisfy its needs for high-quality, energy-efficient production – and the needs of its customers for its top-tasting drinks. Both lines are based on EVO3 SFR rotary stretch-blow molding systems.

The first line uses an SFR EVO3 blower with 16 blowing cavities fitted with GreenOven™ and ARS™ Plus air recovery system to minimize power consumption and the need for high pressure compressed air. The need for blowing air is further reduced through the incorporation of XVENT™ design on the blowing moulds.

XVENT™ makes possible to use blowing air at much lower pressure lower than with standard technology, without affecting productivity and bottles specifications. In this case, Little Green Beverages can blow two-liter bottles using air at 24 bar, instead of up to 30 bar.

A Flextronic C electronic volumetric filling monobloc with 140 heads then fills the bottles at 18°C. Little Green Beverages saves big on energy here, since there is no need to cool its product down to possibly as low as 10°C, as happens with other systems.

The second new line, based on an SFR EVO3 blower with 20 cavities, is fitted with a Flextronic C monobloc that has no fewer than 160 filling heads. This is one of the largest Flextronics ever built by SIPA.
Both lines also use SIPA palletizing systems with Fanuk robots.

What has brought on this new need for premium equipment from SIPA? Little Green Beverages has in recent months begun bottling for some of South Africa’s top supermarket chains. The new business called for output not only to increase substantially, but also to broaden in product type. The company needed new lines that run at high speeds and which can quickly and efficiently change from one drink to another as well as from one bottle size to another. It also needed an equipment supplier that was on-hand at all times to provide technical support
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“Little Green Beverages is making fully use of our local operations,” says Giovanni De Rosa, South Africa Branch General Manager. “Our growing team based in Johannesburg is perfectly placed to respond quickly and professionally to this important customer’s requirements.”
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