Bottled mineral water is becoming increasingly popular - also in the Caucasian state of Armenia. The country's largest mineral spring, Jermuk Group CJSC, relies entirely on systems from Dortmund-based KHS GmbH for its bottling technology. Even a labelling system has been retrofitted to ensure the company's own quality standards.
Armenia has just under three million inhabitants. It is therefore a comparatively small market and the Jermouk Group fills up to 25,000 litres on its systems. Glass bottles per hour and up to 20,000 PET bottles from. The company, based in the Armenian capital Yerevan, is the country's largest bottler. The company also sells the mineral water of the same name in Europe, the USA and the Middle East.
Jermuk has been a KHS customer since 2010
Since 2010, when new production facilities were built, Jermuk has relied on Filling plants the KHS GmbH. Further expansion was necessary in 2017. This time too, Jermuk opted for KHS technology. In addition to filling and stretch blow moulding technology, Jermuk also purchased the Palletising technology, CIP and mixing systems and the Shrink packer from the Dortmund-based system provider.
„We aim to offer the best quality, bottled under optimum conditions using state-of-the-art technology.“
Ashot Arsenyan, President of the Jermuk Group
Filling systems for glass and PET bottles
A glass filling line was installed Innofill DPG. It processes up to 25,000 bottles with a volume of 330 or 500 millilitres per hour. On the PET line, a Stretch blow moulding machine InnoPET Blomax is used. The Filling machine Innofill DRV PET fills up to 20,000 bottles per hour. In addition to the one-third and half-litre sizes, this system also fills bottles with a volume of one and 1.5 litres.
As part of the investment programme, Jermuk even went one step further and optimised the bottle designs. The KHS consulting programme „Bottles and Shapes“ in claim.
Labelling did not meet the company's own quality standards
A particular challenge was subsequently posed by the question of Labelling represented. While almost the entire line came from KHS, Jermuk had initially opted for labelling technology from another manufacturer - and was dissatisfied with the quality achieved. Although both the labels themselves and the bottles were flawless, there were repeated instances of damage during labelling. Together with KHS, those responsible quickly realised that the Labelling technology of the other manufacturer was neither reliable nor precise enough for the paper labels used.
The solution was found in a KHS Innoket Neo labeller. It was put into operation on both the glass and PET filling lines at the beginning of 2018. „Since these machines have been running, the problem has been solved. The quality of the packaging now matches our product 100 per cent again,“ says Jermuk President Ashot Arsenyan.
The plant at Jermuk is comparatively small, says Oliver Schneider, Vice President Sales for the Eastern Europe region, about the project. Nevertheless, it was highly interesting for KHS because of the complete scope of services. „When we realise the entire line, all components are optimally coordinated with each other.“ The availability and efficiency of the system is correspondingly high.
About KHS GmbH
KHS GmbH is one of the leading manufacturers of filling and packaging systems for the beverage, food and non-food industries. In addition to the parent company, the group of companies also includes KHS Corpoplast GmbH, NMP Systems GmbH and numerous subsidiaries abroad.
KHS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Salzgitter AG. According to its own figures, the Group realised sales of around €1.161 billion in 2018 with 5,081 employees.
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