‘The market is demanding diversification’

Cans are predicted to keep growing in popularity over the coming years: but as they do so, manufacturers will want to create increasingly diverse portfolios to stand out in the market place. For manufacturers, this brings additional demands and a need for highly flexible machinery.

Manufacturers need to produce and increasingly broad range of SKUs and sizes. This requires a high level of flexibility in filling machinery: allowing swift changes from still to carbonated or hot to ambient to cold-filled beverages.

Sidel was displaying its EvoFILL Can at Brau Beviale in Germany last month. With 54 to 182 filling valves on EvoFILL Can’s carousel, manufacturers are able to accommodate a wide range of speeds and can sizes ranging from 150ml up to 1L.

A new valve centring bell design eliminates the need for changeovers of all possible can-end types in the beverage industry – from 200 to 209 – for maximised uptime. Meanwhile, the varying height of cans can be easily accommodated.

The EvoFILL Can has the capacity to fill CSD at ambient temperature and still drinks in hot-fill, accommodation of a wide range of beverages by a single piece of equipment.

Hygiene

An improved CO2 pre-flushing system results in utmost food safety as there is no residue and a cleaner zone, says Sidel.

“Consuming less CO2 in total, this feature improves beverage quality and leads to greater performance. For beer producers, this means lower O2 pick-up, down to 30 ppb, nonetheless saving resources.

“With a single or double can infeed available EvoFILL Can allows for a flexible upstream line configuration. With the solution operating at high speeds of over 130.000 cans per hour (cph), the double infeed allows for the best can quality as containers suffer much less stress and no damages.

“It requires no mechanical transmission between the filler and the seamer, thus eliminating any need for lubrication and any moving parts in the filling area.

“The new drive system also leads to better accessibility, which speaks to the greater ergonomics of the solution, and minimises TCO through savings on maintenance and energy.”

“What sets EvoFILL Can apart from other solutions on the market is its external beverage tank and integrated small chamber. This concept ensures a better and more effective cleaning of all parts that come in contact with the beverage.”

Reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

“With an efficiency of 98.5%, the new EvoFILL Can significantly reduces TCO: the solution has the best filling accuracy – 1ml standard deviation (≤500ml cans) – thanks to the new valve design, which generates less product waste.

“For higher overall line availability, star wheels and guides are built in light-weight sectors for easy and quick replacement, with changeovers possible in less than 30 minutes.”