WORLD'S FIRST COMBI FOR PACKAGING DAIRY PRODUCTS WITH FRUIT PIECES RUNNING IN RUSSIA Danone in Russia is running a new PET bottling line for the Activia brand equipped with Combi Predis™

World’s first for dairy products with fruit pieces At the Danone plant in Chekhov, about 40 kilometres (or 25 miles) south of Moscow, a bottling line equipped with the world’s first Combi Predis™ for dairy products with fruit pieces is running 24 hours each day, seven days a week, at a speed of 36,000 bph for the Activia brand. Guy de Saint-Méloir, Danone project manager, explains: “Because of the integrated manufacture of our bottles as well as the switch from HDPE to PET, we have secured major savings in both production and the cost of raw materials.”

Adapting global products to local cultures The French group has recently enjoyed growth of between 20 - 25% per year on the Russian market. The recipe for this success was adapting global products: Danissimo, Activia, Actimel and Danacol yogurts - to local cultures changing them each time to meet Russian expectations. Danone makes its probiotic foods in flavours that appeal to local tastes, using such fruits as pomegranate, blackberry, blueberry and prickly pear. Activia Kefirnaya, which is made at the Togliati plant, is based on the traditional fermented-milk drink, kefir.

Groupe Danone is a French food-products multinational corporation. Besides various brands of yogurts, the company also owns several internationally known brands of water

SOLUTIONS FOR FRUIT YOGHURT

sidel.com/LDP

Combi Predis™ (Hema GWm 20/48/20K)

for dairy products with fruit

Design of bottle by Sidel team including

process tests, validation and logistics tests

Significant savings and a quick return on

investment when switching to PET

From HDPE to PET with the Combi Predis™To benefit from the growth of the dairy products market (+14% per year), Danone has made substantial investments. The group expanded its capacity enlarging the Chekhov site and installing lines to increase dairy products - the objective being to carry on increasing market share. Danone then switched from HDPE to PET for its key product, Activia. “This led to significant savings and therefore to a quick return on investment,” states Guy de Saint-Méloir. The set-up includes a line equipped with the Combi Predis™ Hema GWm 20/48/20K. Danone’s Beverage Division knows Sidel well and found its Predis™ technology particularly appealing.

Four to five product changeovers per day“Disinfecting preforms with hydrogen peroxide reduces our water use and helps save space,” says Guy de Saint-Méloir. Another feature is the dosing precision offered by the GWm net weight filler: the difficulty arises because of the size of the fruit cubes (about 7 mm) being added to a viscous product. “We would like to use larger fruit pieces, but the goal is to avoid plugging the nozzles and to ensure consistent bottle weight.” Another challenge was ensuring the flexibility of the machines, which twice a week have to package each of the 15 products that Danone markets in the country. The products have different viscosities, bottle sizes and compositions and switching often requires a change of mould and end-of-line equipment - as well as cleaning. The required flexibility is provided by the Combi, without loss of productivity. The bottle was created by the Sidel design department: design, marketing mould, process tests and validation, logistics tests and creation of a sleeker, more “feminine” shape with a narrow “waist” for easier gripping. The HDPE bottle will also adopt this new shape, which is the product’s new identity.

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Bottling line equipped with the world’s first

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