Beer in plastic bottles? Use adhesive instead of shrink film to create a multi-piece package? That's right, this is the result of the collaboration between the world's leading packaging and filling supplier KHS Group and the Belgian beer brand Martens Brewery!
Karlskrone Belgian wheat beer under Martens Brewery is sold in KHS’s six-piece Nature MultiPack™ filmless packaging. The beer bottle is a 0.5-liter PET bottle that has been redesigned and made entirely from recycled materials. The beer bottle uses KHS Plasmax's patented coating process, FreshSafePET, which provides ideal product protection and a long shelf life for beer bottles.
The packaging module is extended to the existing PET production line
Martens Brewery uses multiple KHS bottling machines for filling packaging and glass bottle filling. Now, the cooperation is also extended to the field of PET bottling. Based on the many years of cooperation between the two companies, the new packaging cooperation project has achieved rapid listing.
Martens Brewery purchased an InnoPET Blomax stretch blow molding machine and an InnoPET Plasmax coating machine, the latter is responsible for coating a thin layer of pure chemical glass film inside the PET bottle. In addition, the Innopack Nature MultiPack machine was extended to the existing production line.
The new multi-piece package uses a few drops of adhesive to connect multiple bottles together without the need to use shrink film outer packaging, and can make the beer bottles firmly connected and easy to separate. The new packaging can save up to 90% of packaging materials. Compared with the multi-piece package with a weight of 7.5 grams that uses a film outer package on the market, the new package only needs 1.5 grams of adhesive.
Compared with shrink film packaging, the new packaging allows Martens Brewery to save up to 67% in the production process because the new packaging system does not require heating materials. After adopting the new packaging, Martens Brewery can also eliminate the need for pallets, thus saving paper and cardboard and other raw materials without affecting the stability of the packaging. However, pallets can also be easily integrated into the process if requested by bottlers and retailers.
New packaging brings increased production capacity
Currently, Martens Brewery uses Nature MultiPacks machines to process up to 40,000 PET bottles per hour. Due to the expansion of production capacity, KHS is able to meet the increase in demand. KHS will also launch a new generation of NMP ultra-high-capacity machines this year. The new machines will achieve a production capacity of up to 108,000 containers per hour.
In addition to using Nature MultiPack and FreshSafePET machines, the company also chose recyclable bottles made of 100% rPET material. "With these advantages, our position on environmental protection is more clear." Martens concluded.
Help the industry move towards a sustainable product portfolio
As part of its sustainable development strategy, one of Martens Brewery's goals is to reduce the use of private label packaging materials by 30% by 2025.
The KHS Group and Martens Brewery have played an important role in helping the industry take the first step towards a sustainable product portfolio. Jan Martens, the owner of the winery, said: "We enjoy a lasting strategic partnership based on mutual trust, and the current project is delivering important sustainability messages."
"The successful research and development of this kind of environmentally friendly packaging shows that with the joint efforts of the value chain, we can establish a sustainable system in the market." added Edgar-George Petsche, head of KHS European market.
