As part of the European Strategic Partnership between Danone and Krones, five ErgoBloc L wet-end blocks are to be installed at various locations in France and Spain by the end of 2023. The first block is already in operation and the second ErgoBloc L is now set to start production.
Volvic's parent company Danone sees the introduction of the innovative ErgoBloc technology as a turning point in Europe, as it reflects an investment plan that aims to, maintain competitiveness in the bottled water market.
"We decided in favour of the Krones ErgoBloc L in order to anticipate the expected challenges in terms of energy and space savings, bottle lightness and the use of recycled materials. Danone has been using it at several sites in South-East Asia for eight years now, and we know from our experience that it is the best solution: The ErgoBloc L is the most sustainable solution for us."
Bruno Perrier, Technical Manager at Volvic
Specifically, the order involves a package of five Krones wet end blocks - four of them in France and one in Spain. With them, Danone is driving forward its vision of upgrading the company's entire water production in Europe thanks to improved technology, while at the same time deepening its successful partnership with Krones.
The first ErgoBloc L in Volvic, France is already in use. He fills 56,000 square 1.5-litre rPET containers there every hour of the Volvic Eau minérale naturelle brand. Krones' second wet-end block is also due to go into operation soon: This will fill the natural mineral water into square 0.5-litre bottles made of 100 per cent rPET - at a record output of 75,000 containers per hour. A format changeover to a bottle size of 1.5 litres is also possible at an output of 56,000 containers per hour.
Volvic decided in favour of the wet end block from Krones because the Combination of Contiform 3 Speed blow-moulding machine, Modulfill VFJ filler and Ergomodul labeller enables labels to be applied at high output. This was tested in advance specifically for Volvic bottles. Unlike most square bottles, the labelling area of these bottles is not cylindrical, but also square, which poses a particular challenge when applying the labels.
SourceKrones
