Saving money and increasing efficiency are primary goals for many businesses. Most recognise the importance of environmental responsibility. For Midwest Coca-Cola, an operating unit of Coca-Cola Refreshments, the world's third?largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, Sidel Services™ has demonstrated just how simple it can be to achieve these goals.
By implementing its ECO Booster™ service on four of Midwest Coca-Cola’s SBO14/14 blow moulding machines, encompassing various bottle formats, Sidel has helped the bottler to make significant reductions in both the blowing pressure and the blowing ovens’ use of electricity. Across ten different bottle formats, the average reduction in blowing pressure was 45.9% (the lowest being 19.4% and the highest 50.7%). The average reduction in the ovens’ energy consumption was 22.3% (with the lowest saving being 15.7% and the highest being 38.1%).
Improved efficiency and reduced footprint
The Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Company is located in Eagan, Minnesota. The company manufactures bottles and distributes Coca-Cola products throughout much of the Midwestern area of the United States. The company naturally wanted to maximise its profitability by increasing its production efficiency and minimising its operational costs. Yet, at the same time, the company was also looking to reduce the environmental impact of its processes and that of its resource use. Midwest called in Sidel, the leading provider of PET solutions for liquid packaging, in the hope of achieving tangible cost and energy savings through a detailed overview of existing line conditions during full production.
Mr. Jim Tierney, Maintenance Manager of The Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Company, explains: "Reduced resource use means reduced costs, which is a sustainability win-win for us. For this reason we are always looking to speak with our partners about new innovations that can help us achieve this goal. The Sidel ECO Booster is a great example of this, resulting in a significant reduction of our blowing air pressure and oven electricity use across four of our lines."
Complete range of ECO Services
To maximise energy savings for customers, Sidel has developed a complete range of line improvement options and upgrades with a focus on quantifiable savings and quick return on investment (ROI), calling heavily upon its vast experience in PET packaging production technology. Its ECO Booster service analyses a line to identify potential opportunities for savings using these technologies. Efficiency measurement tools can be installed that automatically record the consumption of all utilities (air, water, electricity and carbon dioxide) by individual machines, lines, production zones or even an entire plant. As well as measuring consumption and calculating energy costs per bottle produced, the service and tools provide the ability to facilitate correlation between consumption levels and different production procedures (start-up, shut-down, changeover and cleaning). This information can then be used by beverage producers to effectively support initiatives for reducing waste.
Comprehensive service of measurement, advice and improvement
At the outset of the ECO Booster service, on-site production conditions are fully measured and analysed by a Sidel Services specialist carefully gauging the use of electricity and air pressure. For Midwest Coca-Cola the next step was a mechanical testing of the blow moulders’ sub-assemblies. Because when it comes to the use of energy within busy production lines, the blow moulder is usually the main cause, often accounting for as much as 70% of overall energy consumption. Furthermore, a sizable portion of that consumption can be attributed to the provision of compressed air during the blowing process.
The process and technical qualities of the package, the quality of the air and cooling water, and the overall production environment of the machine were then carefully checked. Based on the findings of the tests, an action plan and servicing schedule specific to the customer was then proposed. These were accompanied by an estimate for energy and cost savings and anticipated the ROI forecast.
With the proposals agreed by Midwest Coca-Cola, a plan of action was implemented. In addition to the servicing itself, Sidel can also put in place consumption monitoring and process control tools as well as additional laboratory or production-control equipment.
Maintenance Manager Jim Tierney commented: "Having the Sidel experts work with our own guys to adapt our equipment brought peace of mind that the intervention would be quick and easy, and ultimately led to a short return to production and faster ROI."
