On 1st September 2008, SIPA acquired 100% of Parma’s Berchi Group, a manufacturer of complete bottling and packaging lines. With this action the company has reinforced its position as a supplier of complete lines, from the manufacturing of PET bottles through to final packaging.
The first step of this integration of competences is Sincro-Bloc one of the most state-of-the-art solutions available in today’s bottling market, having advantages of overall dimensions, efficiency, hygiene and effectiveness, both in purchasing and maintenance stages.
One of the latest installations in Norway is c/o Hansa Borg Bryggerier, the most important Norwegian beer bottler. It was established in 1997 after the merger of Hansa Bryggeri and Borg Bryggerier. Initially focused in the beer sector, in 2005 Hansa Borg acquired Olden Brevatn, a company which produces water from a Norwegian glacier.
For this last brand, SIPA supplied a new line from blow moulding machine to labelling machine (the external packaging with shrink wrapping machine and palletizer were already on customer’s site).
The heart of the line is the Sincro-Bloc, an integrated blowing, filling and capping system, born by SIPA-Berchi know-how. The equipment is composed of a rotary blow moulding machine SFR 12 put side by side with an isobaric filler Isofill P and a rotary capping turret.
The integrated system Sincro-Bloc, thanks to the integration of 3 machines in one, is the ideal solution to be placed in a small space. The two main blocks composing the system, blow moulding machine and filler/capper, are synchronized electronically and a very simple way of running allows the control of the whole system with only one operator.
The blowing of the bottles is made with a rotary blow moulding machine SFR type. The model with 12 cavities used for Olden Brevatn has all the advantages and the features of SFR range, joining a high machine output and an optimized bottle quality with high energy saving.
The ovens ventilation efficiency allows to manage the cold part of the preforms (neck) and the hot part (body) making easy the transferring of preforms having very light necks, without any risk of deformation.
The exclusive project of SFR ovens allows moreover to work with a lower temperature in comparison with the machines available today on the market, enabling the customer to have a real energy saving. In terms of energy saving we can underline the efficiency of the Air Recovery System (ARS) with which it is possible to save 50% of the blowing air.
Thanks to this system installed on all SIPA’s blow moulding machines, a part of the recovered air may be reused for the pre-blow stage, and the other part may be used inside the factory for other utilities.
The bottles produced with the blow moulding machine are subsequently transferred to the filler by means of a first loading star with special “flexible” grippers” which avoid eventual bottle jamming in this delicate stage. A series of transferring stars lead the bottles to the filling bloc.
This direct connection makes the Sincro-bloc suitable to handle necks and bottles with light weight, thanks to the complete elimination of conveyors that favour jammings, in particular with small necks and light bottles.
Sincro-Bloc is moreover provided with a special buffer to feed the caps, avoiding the blow moulding machine stop in case of eventual stops due to some cap jamming.
A fast change-over system allows changing from a cap type to another one, for example from caps used for still water to “sport caps”.
Sincro-Bloc is available in different versions and coupled with various fillers: isobaric, gravity or volumetric fillers, to fill still or carbonated mineral water, carbonated soft drinks, hot filled products (juices, tea, isotonic).
This line will produce still, carbonated, flavoured and mineral salts addicted water, with an hourly output up to 21,600 b/h/c.
SIPA managed the supply of the complete line, the design and the engineering of the bottles, and designed 6 containers of 330 ml, 500 ml, 600 ml, 1 lt and 1, 75 lt.