Following a significant investment in the biggest-ever Sidel Combi for carbonated soft drinks in 2011, Refres Now, the Argentinian producer of the Manaos brand of beverages, has recently installed a further blow-fill-cap solution.
With the new Sidel Matrix Combi, Refres Now can expect comparable savings of 45% in its energy consumption.
It also anticipates a significant decrease in water consumption and an improvement of 40% in the plant’s total production output.
The Sidel Matrix Combi is part of a new line, installed as an extension of the company’s production facility in La Matanza.
This expansion of the Manaos plant is the result of a US$12 million investment, which covers also the opening of a new warehouse for finished product storage.
The Sidel Matrix Combi is a flexible and hygienic solution offering an extensive range of configurations.
It is an integrated blow-fill-cap solution within a small controlled production environment in which intermediate conveyors and equipment are eliminated to deliver outstanding hygiene performance while simultaneously cutting costs.
With efficiency levels up to 4% higher than standalone machines, the Combi cuts operating costs by up to 12%, offering faster format changeovers, lower energy consumption and savings in labor, raw materials, maintenance time and spare parts.
Furthermore, it uses up to 30% less floor space, compared with traditional standalone equipment.
Refres Now has the largest bottling plant in Latin America and one of the largest soft drinks production sites in the world.
The company manufactures the Manaos brand in five flavors: cola, orange, lemon-lime, apple, and grapefruit.
In a daily production output of over 3.5 million liters, it also produces many more other leading products, which include sodas, waters and flavored waters.
