Last year Heil- und Mineralquellen Germete GmbH, a mineral water bottling plant in Warburg, Germany, purchased the 400th InnoPET Blomax stretch blow molder. The planned commissioning date in March 2016 thus marks a further milestone for this successful series.
Germete and KHS enjoy a partnership which goes back many years. The bottler increases its output and the efficiency of production by making regular investments, with over 340 million liters of mineral water and soft drinks filled in and sold from Warburg by 150 employees every year. The brands marketed by the medium-sized operation include Germeta, Warburger Waldquell and Antonius Quelle. The mineral water bottler now operates a total of three turnkey PET lines and two glass lines from system manufacturer KHS, with the new InnoPET Blomax the fifth stretch blow molder the traditional company has procured for the production of its PET bottles.
Based in the Warburg suburb of Germete, the company attaches great value to sustainable production, a policy which chiefly entails efficient use of resources, such as energy and packaging materials. New, lower weight bottles have now been designed and produced for this purpose. Furthermore, the new InnoPET Blomax is equipped with both an optimized NIR (near infrared) heater and an air recycling system (AirbackPlus), enabling only around 65% of the energy required to date to blow the PET bottles having to be used for the same production quantities. The stretch blow molders already in production at the plant have also been fitted with the AirbackPlus air recycling system.
Managing director Thomas Grah talks about the strong competition Germete faces. "A company of our size must operate efficiently in order to be competitive on the hotly contested market for mineral water. As an environmentally-conscious business we also believe in acting sustainably to save on natural resources. We're greatly supported in this by the innovative and environmentally-friendly machines produced by the KHS Group."
Björn von Lengerke, global product account manager at KHS, emphasizes how good the cooperation between the two companies is. "A long and good relationship between a bottling plant and machine supplier greatly helps both parties to find the right solution for special production requirements together. What's technically feasible, as regards reduced bottle weights, for example, must be implemented holistically – from production to delivery at the central warehouse."
Photo KHS:
Commissioning of the 400th Blomax
In between KHS employees Simon Sonnenwald (Project Manager, left) and Björn von Lengerke (Global Product Account Manager, right) is the Germete-Team (from left) Wolf-Rüdiger Mutter (Marketing Director), Martin Strauch (Maintenance Manager), Franz-Josef Hügel (Operations Manager) and Artur Löwen (Production Manager).
