Niagara bottling – the leading supplier of private-label bottled water in the us – welcomed guests to a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house on july 9, 2013 to celebrate the grand opening of its new

The facility features the two fastest and mosttechnologically advanced bottled water production lines in theworld supplied by Sidel - a leading global supplier of liquidpackaging solutions.  The Gahanna lines will produce at a rateof 108,000 bottles per hour and distribute small format bottledwater to consumers in the Midwest United States. 

12/08/2013

Visitors to the Open House were able to see the Sidel Matrix™lines first-hand and had the opportunity to take guided tours ofthe 12th and latest addition to Niagara's facilities.

Niagara (celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) has enjoyedannual sales growth averaging 32% over the past five years. Duringthis time Sidel has supplied the company nine high-speed turnkeybottling lines, helping Niagara to achieve its current position asthe one of the industry's lowest-cost producer. Niagara invested inthese latest lines to increase its annual production capability tomore than 10 billion bottles in order to sustain itsindustry-leading position. To this end, Niagara chose Sidel Matrix- the radical, new modular generation of PET bottling equipment -for its cost-effective, sustainable, environmentally friendlysolutions, with the aim of lowering energy and material usage, anddriving down its total costs of ownership (TCO).

Understanding that Niagara drives the marketplace with itsinnovative packaging strategies, Sidel collaborated with Niagara todevelop the equipment for the new lines to achieve these TCO goals.Sidel engineered and optimized the layout of the lines resulting ina 108,000 bph line compressed into the floor space typicallyoccupied by a 72,000 bph line. Each of the two new lines comprisesa dual 24-cavity Sidel Matrix Combi; a single high-speedVersaFilmTM packer capable of 90 packs per minute; three SidelMatrix Rollfed labelers; new-generation layer-formatting; ahigh-speed, upgraded palletizer; conveyors; and line-automation tohandle the record-breaking production speeds.

Sidel's commercial and project management teams worked withNiagara's Engineering Group over several months to tailor the linesolutions for the bottler. "We proposed the innovative approach oftwo Combis integrated into a single production line in order toachieve Niagara's target of 100,000 bottles per hour," explainsGeorge Kotzeff, Sidel's Key Account Manager for Niagara. "Thecompetitive TCO of Sidel Matrix gave us a significant advantage andultimately won us the order. We also collaborated on a fast-trackbasis incorporating the new, lightweight bottle - developed afterthe order was taken.

Another factor contributing to Niagara's selection of the Sidellines was the efficiency level achieved during the acceptancetesting on two previous Sidel lines installed at Niagara'sAllentown plant, which surpassed guaranteed line efficiency valuesby an average of 6.5%. Keith Boss, North America Vice-President forSidel, commented, "The success of this order was made possible bythe team efforts executing the latest projects and supporting theexisting lines. The line efficiencies achieved definitely helpedSidel's case and proved the reliability of our equipment andexpertise of our people."

Press release to download