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Nestlé taps new blow molder control system for efficient PET bottle production

Blow molder control helps Nestlé Waters align efficient PET bottle production with consistent consumer experience.

Nestle
Nestle

Nestlé Waters’ Sanpellegrino Group produces five brands of mineral water on 12 bottling lines in seven plants spread across Italy. These multiple operations are all guided by an overarching commitment: to deliver a consistent consumer experience associated with each brand.

A major aspect of the consumer experience is bottle performance, from grip and handling to cap removal and pouring. Sanpellegrino goes to great lengths to ensure that every one of the millions of PET bottles it manufactures will conform to brand expectations.

The key is exacting control of blow-molder operations, achieved with Agr’s online thickness measurement technology, the Process Pilot automated blow-molder control system. Process Pilot manages the blow molder to virtually eliminate the effect of process and environmental variables that can impact bottle material distribution, from fluctuations in weather and humidity to the differences between daytime and nighttime plant temperatures.

Not only does the Process Pilot measure every bottle for changes in material distribution, but it also controls the blow molder proactively to make sure the right amount of material winds up in the right place.

Process Pilot proved its utility in an early lightweighting initiative undertaken by Sanpellegrino’s premium Levissima brand and sourced from a mountain village in the Alps. The first bottling operation in Europe to deploy the closed-loop Pilot system, the Levissima plant targeted a 22% weight reduction for its half-liter round bottle blown on a Sidel Series II Combi blow molder.

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