Bottled water leader receives 200,000th Sidel blow mold

The new blow mold for Nestle bottled water group will be making ultralight half liter bottles produced at high speed on Sidel blow molding machines.

Sidel’s 200,000th mold is symbolic in two ways. First, Sidel just delivered the mold to Nestle Waters, a partner of historic significance with its French brands Vittel and Contrex. Furthermore, this mold exemplifies the focus on innovation that has always characterized both companies. In 2006, Nestle Waters launched its Eco-shape* bottle project in the United States aimed at reducing environmental impact by decreasing bottle weight.

Sidel contributed its know-how in lightweighting to the project to develop a special bottle using its Flex* technology. Flex technology is based on flexibility, which offers total shape design freedom even for bottles that are 30 percent lighter. In addition, Flex features shape memory that allows bottles to spring back to their original shape. The 200,000th mold completes the series of molds used to produce Eco-shape bottles on Sidel blow molding machines. Those bottles are sold under the Ozarka and Arrowhead brand names.

The 200,000th mold was honored at a celebration held in Octeville, France attended by two Nestlé Waters representatives: Steve Bendix, VP of Operations, and Laurent Kuboj, Global Purchasing Manager.

Tooling operations diversify
In 1990, Sidel produced 1,700 molds. By 2006, that number had grown to 18,000 molds. Several years ago, Sidel primarily supplied molds for its new blow molding machines delivered to customers. Today, about 70 percent of all molds produced are aftermarket molds. They replace molds on already installed machines. The market’s growing demand for diversification in bottle shapes and formats has prompted this trend.

To satisfy this need, Sidel’s Tooling operations, with a current staff of 270, have now reorganized to be closer to Sidel’s customers. Today, Sidel has established a network of five mold manufacturing facilities strategically located in markets worldwide including Octeville and Paris (France), Atlanta (U.S.), Shanghai (China) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). Each of these tooling centers has bottle development capabilities so that teams can work together in the same place to get bottles to market quickly. Innovation is a priority here as well. In fact, Sidel is constantly expanding its range of molds and technical solutions to bring customers competitive solutions that enhance productivity and accelerate delivery times.

Sidel, a division of Tetra Laval, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of beverage packaging equipment.

* Eco-shape is a registered or applied trademark of Nestle and Flex is a registered or applied trademark of Sidel.

Read a recent press release about - Equinox, the first automatic plastics blow molding regulation system from Sidel, monitors and corrects beverage bottle packaging quality during production.

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