Mexico City — Pepsi bottler Grupo GEPP SAPI de CV is installing its own shrink and stretch film production lines in Mexico using technology supplied by Italy's Amut SpA.
According to Gerónimo Rotundo, director of GEPP bottling operation Procesos Plásticos SA de CV (Proplasa), the aim is to produce in excess of 14,000 tons of shrink film and 4,500 tons of stretch film a year.
The project has been in the works for the past two years and will "optimize packaging costs for all of [GEPP's] dedicated plants around Mexico," Rotundo added in a news release from Amut.
Riccardo Castello, Amut Dolci Extrusion's sales director, said Amut is supplying three coextrusion lines for blown polyethylene shrink film, one cast line for stretch film, one slitting machine, a system for the recovery of flawed rolls, a chiller, piping for water distribution and an intensive training program for GEPP technicians.
According to Amut, the three blown extrusion lines are identical and each has a 3-layer shrink PE film configuration, net width of 2.4 meters (7.87 feet) and a capacity of 800 kg/h with 50 μ of thickness.
The cast line will produce 5-layer stretch film with a net width of 1.5 meters (4.92 feet). The line is based on four extruders with water-cooled drives and a Prowind 4.0 super-fast winder.
GEPP's headquarters is in Mexico City and the Proplasa plant is in Tultitlán. Amut is based in Novara, Italy.
Apart from being PepsiCo Inc.'s exclusive bottler in Mexico, GEPP has its own water brand, Epura, and works with other brands including Gatorade, Lipton, 7Up, Cosecha Pura, Squirt and Garci Crespo.