New packaging calculator to enable beverage producers to see potential cost savings
1 December 2014
01/12/14
Sidel, the leading global provider of PET solutions forliquid packaging, has announced a new initiative aimed at reducingthe amount of PET used in beverage bottles worldwide, therebyhelping producers to save money and improve their environmentalfootprint at the same time. To allow beverage producers andbottlers to calculate for themselves what savings could be achievedbased on their own production parameters, Sidel has introduced anonline PET savings calculator.
"The benefits of lightweighting PET bottles are well knownin the beverage industry. However many producers are still nottaking advantage of innovative new bottle designs that could helpthem make substantial cost savings," says Vincent Le Guen,Vice President of Packaging at Sidel. "According to ourcalculations there remains a great opportunity for the beverageindustry to reduce raw material usage, save costs and improveenvironmental footprints by adopting new bottle designs, especiallyfor water and carbonated soft drinks (CSD). Furthermore, thesemodern designs are often only subtle appearance variations ofexisting designs that can easily be applied to existing productionlines with no difference to the end consumer experience."
Vincent heads a team that delivers a number of packagingservices to Sidel customers worldwide, including packaging andpreform design, packaging optimisation, packaging qualification forindustrial production, and liquid-package interaction analysis. Inthe past 18 months the team has launched several bottle designinnovations, including its RightWeight™ bottle concept, which canbe applied across categories, and its range of Sidel StarLite™bottle bases for water and CSD. RightWeight is the proprietarybottle design process that Sidel uses to ensure a bottle is bothlight while also strong enough to survive global supply chains,look good at the point of sale and offer a great consumerexperience.
Calculated savings
Modern bottle designs can lead to substantial savings forbeverage producers worldwide. To make it as easy as possible to seethe actual savings that can be achieved, Sidel has now launched aPET savings calculator, available at www.sidel.com/PET-savings-calculator.This enables water and CSD producers to easily calculate how muchthey could save by utilising a Sidel StarLite base and a shorterneck. The calculator allows producers to enter their currentproduction conditions for water or CSD products, such as currentbottle neck format, raw material costs, annual production hours andblower speed etc. for a range of bottle formats. It thenimmediately calculates how much money could be saved per line bysimply adapting the bottle design to use the Sidel StarLite baseand shorter neck.
According to Sidel data, the average line can save between250,000 euros and 850,000 euros, with faster lines or larger bottleformats capable of saving even more. This leads to an approximateaverage saving per bottle of up to 0.004 euros per 0.5 litre bottleor 0.006 euros per 2 litre bottle for still water, and 0.004 eurosper 0.5 litre bottle or 0.005 euros per 2 litre bottle for CSD.
According to Euromonitor forecasts for 2014-2018, released inMarch 2014, 216 billion PET bottles for still water and 116 billionPET bottles for CSD will have been produced by the end of the year.Assuming a minimum saving of 0.004 euros for all those bottles, thebeverage industry as a whole could save 864 million euros for waterand 464 million euros for CSD.
In total this equates to over 1.3 billion euros potential costsavings for the beverage industry from water and CSD alone. Thisdoes not include other categories such as juices, liquid dairyproducts and even beer. Sidel launched an innovative beer bottleearlier this year suitable for all types of beer, includingpasteurised, yet weighs only 28 grams, which is up to 86% less thanan average equivalent glass bottle, according to Sidel data.
Vincent continues - "We did the calculation exercise to showthe potential that RightWeighting provides globally. However,we also recognised the value of producers being able to find outthe specific savings that they can achieve and have thereforeintroduced the packaging calculator to enable them to doso."
Cost savings and a great consumerexperience
"When it comes to lightweighting, a balance must always bereached between cost savings and desired end consumer experience,"says Vincent. "We have seen in the past some examples wherelightweighting has perhaps been too extreme, and risked damagingthe brand. That is why at Sidel we prefer to focus onRightWeighting, which is the optimum weight and PET distribution inthe bottle to achieve both cost savings and a high-performingbottle. A RightWeighting approach therefore is critical tounlocking value while protecting beverage brands."
To achieve this optimum balance between reducing weight andensuring an excellent consumer experience requires extensiveknowledge and experience, along with the capabilities andfacilities, to take a product from concept to consumer. Sidelemploys more than 300 packaging experts, engineers and designers atits five packaging centres and four scientific laboratoriesworldwide. The company also works extensively in partnershipprogrammes with universities and other laboratories globally.
Through its packaging qualification services, Sidel uses virtualbottle modelling to evaluate bottle stability, rigidity and quality- all important elements in achieving the RightWeight approach tobottle design. Sidel's database of over 70,000 bottle drawings,with some 8,000 new bottle designs and drawings produced everyyear, demonstrates the wide-ranging experience that the company canbring to any bottle design initiative, turning initial conceptsinto an industrial reality.
Reducing waste across the supply chain
The substantial decrease in PET bottle weight over more thanthree decades is principally due to technology developments in theareas of PET resin, preforms, bottle design and productionequipment, especially on the blower. Sidel has also worked withother industry players and associations to introduce new shorterneck standards. Sidel labellers, manufactured in the company'sproduction facilities in Mantova, northern Italy, are also capableof applying labels that are as thin as just 18 microns, while stillbeing clear and engaging for consumers.
"The end result of such initiatives is to further reduce rawmaterial use in modern PET bottles, which brings environmentalbenefits, lowers costs and reduces waste, while still providingfunctional and attractive packages," adds Vincent.
To find out more please visit www.sidel.com/PET-savings-calculator.
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