Refresco
Water, Carbonated Soft Drinks
Refresco sought to significantly lightweight its 1.5L PET bottle without compromising strength, quality, or line performance – a critical requirement for sustaining high-volume operations across its European footprint. At the same time, the business sought to strengthen sustainability efforts by increasing recycled PET (rPET) usage. Traditional halogen heating limited temperature control and consistency during the blow‑moulding process, especially when using high levels of rPET. To future‑proof operations across its European network, Refresco needed a solution that was highly precise, stable, scalable and resilient enough for high‑volume and multi‑recipe production.
To meet these challenges, Refresco adopted Sidel’s EvoBLOW Laser, a breakthrough heating solution that replaces halogen lamps with highly controlled laser technology. Offering up to 36 pinpoint heating lines along the preform, the laser system enables precision and stability unattainable with conventional ovens. Operators simply load a new recipe, start the blower and achieve first‑time‑right bottle quality, even during frequent material changes.
The solution also removes warm‑up and cool‑down phases, keeping the blower continuously ready and simplifying recipe changes, especially when processing rPET. At Bruchsal, the technology has been validated with bottles produced from up to 100% rPET using the same blowing recipe.
With the EvoBLOW Laser, Refresco successfully reduced material use by up to 15% without sacrificing bottle performance. Operators now benefit from improved ease of use, reduced unplanned stops and consistently stable processing conditions - dramatically enhancing everyday line efficiency. The stability it brings to everyday processes has quickly made the technology an integral part of Refresco’s approach to sustainable yet high‑volume PET production. This successful deployment is the latest innovation to generate real-world results from the long-standing partnership between Refresco and Sidel.
We've been able to lightweight the bottles while keeping them robust and strong. For us, the real value is the level of control and stability this technology brings to everyday production.
Head of Indirect Procurement - Refresco
