Page 40 - ameft-journal-2022-1

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Sidel’s light-weight rPET for Lesieur
Sidel and Serac Combis machines for edible oil have been installed in the bottling facility of Lesieur in Coudekerque (North of France) between the years 2019 and 2021. The oil, sauce and condiment company can now produce light- weighted bottles and use recycled PET (rPET). Operation- ally, the combination of the two technological experts for edible oil, Sidel for Blowing and Serac for Filling/Capping, has also helped Lesieur rationalize its number of bottle for- mats and reduce its overall changeover times as well as its energy consumption.
Founded in 1908, Lesieur produces and sells a full range of vegetable oils, sauces and condiments, with innovative products focused on several specific areas: taste, quality, nutrition and sustainability. Being part of the Avril Group, the company launched a modernization plan for its produc- tion sites in 2015. The plant in Coudekerque, one of the largest plants in Europe in terms of bottling volumes for ed- ible oil, has benefited from a dedicated investment of 20 million Euros over three years for its bottling centre.
Bottling 170 million litres per year, the historic Lesieur site was looking to improve bottle quality and reduce scheduling constraints due to separate blowing and bottling centres. In addition, the production capacity was organized around seven bottling lines, including several small, low-speed lines.
40 AMEFT 1 2022
A transformation with flexibility in mind
The transformation has been structured around the in- stallation of three Sidel Serac Combis with blowing, filling and capping functions, which can produce 0.5 or 1 L for- mats up to 2 and 3 L at speeds ranging from 15,000 bottles per hour (bph) all the way up to 30,000 bph. “We decided to invest in an on-line blowing solution. Now, we have only five production lines, but we are able to increase our general production capacity thanks to Sidel’s high-speed solutions. There has been a very positive impact on production costs as well,” says Francis Arulraj, Project Manager at Lesieur.
With the new Combis, the heating and blowing technolo- gies ensure consistency in bottle integrity. This technologi- cal change has improved not only quality, but also ergonom- ics. Sidel’s equipment takes up very little floor space; thus, it has helped the company remove conveyors and walkways and make the operators’ daily work easier. When it comes to format changeovers, not only are they easy enough to be done by the entire production team, but they also meet production and adaptability needs. The mould changeover time, for instance, is shorter and easier, which lowers pro- duction downtime. “We have also optimized our line’s avail- ability thanks to the support of the Sidel packaging team. By rationalizing the number of bottle formats from 22 to 14,
(Source: Sidel)
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