New Sidel Turnkey Bottling Line for filling
of Highland Spring Pure Natural Mineral Water, the inventor of Looney Tunes!
To bottle and package its still and sparkling
range of natural mineral water, the UK's no 1 producer of bottled water,
Highland Spring, has just expanded its machine fleet with a new turnkey line
delivered by Sidel. Highland spring is bottling the pure natural mineral water
from scotland. The company pioneered the UK's first bottled water for children
in 2001 called Looney Tunes Water.
In the wilds of Perthshire, Scotland, amidst
beautiful landscapes, Highland Spring produces natural mineral water from
several protected underground sources. The company is wholly committed to
preserving the quality and purity of its unique water resource and has a
stringent system of quality assurance in place to achieve just that.
This helped the company achieve 28% growth during
2003. Now, in addition, to its three packaging lines equipped with Sidel SBO
blowing machines, Highland Spring is shifting into high gear, acquiring a
turnkey line from Sidel that includes blowing, filling and conveying equipment
all with the Sidel name. Output rate is 32,000 bottles/hour.
"The full range of package formats in a
single week."
In 1979, Highland Spring Ltd purchased bottles
-glass and later PVC for still water and PET for sparkling water- to package its
water. After purchasing Sidel extrusion blow-molding machines for PVC bottles,
Highland Spring made the switch to PET in 2001. "Extrusion blow-molding
technology limited out ability to increase output rates," explains Wyllie
Woodburn, director of operations at the plant. Highland Spring invested in a
Sidel blowing machine (SBO 20 then SBO 14). The plant's production rose from 50
to 233 million bottles between 1996 and 2003. Highland Spring has continued to
invest in its production capabilities. This includes an expansion of the plant
to install a fourth bottling line for still water in PET bottles.
Highland Spring decided to purchase a line
designed entirely by Sidel : SBO 20 Series2+ blowing equipment, volumetric
filling equipment, conveyors, and a cap feeder all manufactured by Sidel.
"We must be able to change package formats several times a week, depending
on consumer demand," states Wyllie Woodburn. Thus the line was designed
with a very fast bottle format changeover time (only 40 mn). Every week, the
plant will package 6 different formats of PET bottles (33cl, 2 x 50cl, 75cl,
1.5L and 2L) and a 1L bottle on the glass line.
New Products
Highland Spring wants to increase its brand share
of the UK Market, where mineral water sales are soaring by 10 to 12% annually.
That means Highland Spring must effectively anticipate market need and
concentrate on diversification in its packages (with glass, plastic and 4, 6 and
12 bottle multipacks) and in its market.
The company pioneered the UK's first bottled
water for children in 2001 (Looney Tunes Water). Since then, has launched
Highland Spring Natural Mineral Water for Kids (12 packs of 0.33L bottles),
targeted at the parents of primary school children, and a 0.75 l sports bottle
to support its 0.5L sports bottle. Today, Highland Spring is proud to offer a
product portfolio featuring 36 different combinations and exports to about 50
countries to quench the thirst of consumers who are convinced that this unique
Scottish brand of natural mineral water is as good as it gets.
