Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
April 07, 2016 02:00 AM

Better drying saves Nestlé Waters more than $1 million

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Sidel Group
    The energy-saving Sidel blow molding machine.

    This month, we take a drink of Best Practices knowledge from the ubiquitous PET water bottle. Consumers take them for granted, but they are a miracle of technology, downsized nearly to the point of being a “bag of water” as machinery manufacturers and consumer products companies have waged a relentless effort to reduce the amount of resin used.

    Behind the scenes, a high-volume PET bottle factory uses a lot of energy, for drying the massive amounts of material needed for preforms, and to blow mold the containers; for chilled water to cool the molds and compressed air for forming all those bottles.

    Drying is especially critical. PET is a hygroscopic resin, meaning that it absorbs water. Improperly dried PET can cause defects in preforms and bottles.

    And so is heating, since the injection molded preforms have to be heated up before they can be blow molded. That's the subject of this month's Best Practices report.

    In a beverage bottling operation, officials of machinery maker Sidel Group and Nestlé Waters were already well aware the blow molding machines generally account for as much as 70 percent of the total energy consumption of a complete bottling line, according to a case study released by Sidel.

    Sidel is the blow molding equipment unit of Tetra Laval Group.

    Nestlé Waters and Sidel worked together to cut energy use by more than 1 million euros a year ($1.12 million) — equal to more than 20 ovens in the blow molding machines.

    Nestlé Waters launched its energy conservation program in 2010, when it challenged Sidel to rationalize energy consumption for all of its production equipment. Nestlé is a huge player in bottled water, with more than 96 production facilities in 35 countries.

    For a company like Nestlé Waters, cutting energy improves its environmental performance — boosting the “green” credentials of plastic water bottles as they face criticism by environmentalists — and keeping the company's operating costs to an absolute minimum. That's the “green” as in money saved.

    Sidel has a 50-year relationship with the brands of Nestlé Waters.

    Jessica Jordan

    When Sidel leaders got the word that Nestlé Waters wanted to reduce energy use, the machinery manufacturer started out by conducting one of the company's eco audits on two of the blow molding machines at the bottled water giant. Then Sidel identified some recommendations.

    One major one: Install oven-top reflector lamps to maintain energy in the ovens that heat PET preforms in the blow molding presses. According to the Sidel case study, that change resulted in a reduction in electrical power required for preform heating equivalent to turning off 20 perform ovens.

    Stephane Bosshart, Nestlé Waters' corporate chief engineer, said that based on the good results of up to 20 percent energy savings from the two test machines, the company decided to implement a full eco-program, sharing those best practices with all of its blow molding machines around the world.

    By the end of 2015, nearly 130 Sidel blow molding machines were converted with the oven-top reflector lamps. The return on investment? Between six and 24 months.

    “The upgrades of oven-top reflector lamps have achieved real improvements,” said Eric Baronnet, blow molding specialist at Nestlé Waters. “For example, they have delivered a reduction in the use of blower energy in U.S. plants of up to 25 percent.”

    Multiply that by the Nestlé Waters plants worldwide and you get the over 1 million euros savings amount.

    Sidel also has collaborated with Nestlé Waters to develop an energy-savings simulator that can rate the energy consumption of blow molding machines and come up with more solutions to improve performance.

    Something to think about the next time you take a sip from a bottle of Nestlé-brand water.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Tooling focus gives Berry another avenue for growth
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    PVC feedstock in train derailment prompts evacuation in Ohio
    2
    Material Insights: Resin prices rise, nonmarket correction for PE
    3
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    4
    Prices on the rise for PP, PVC
    5
    This is the year the reality of plastics EPR arrives in the US
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified