Packaging manufacturing company – Sidel has helped Niche Cocoa Industry LTD, install the country’s first-ever aseptic line, which enables the company to venture into milk-based products in PET.
The 16,000 bottles per hour aseptic PET line integrates Tetra Pak processing systems technologies and the Sidel Aseptic Combi Predis with dry preform and cap sterilization systems, a sleeve labeler, a shrink-wrapping system and a stretch wrapper.
Sidel also supplied its efficiency improvement tool data acquisition and plant intelligence system. This aims to help its beverage company customers by decreasing unplanned downtime, reducing waste and costs and increasing factory output. Sidel Vice President of Sales for Middle East and Africa Bassam Oussaifi said: “We are delighted that this project is helping our customer move a further step towards its vision of becoming Africa’s leading producer of cocoa products.”
Commenting on the new line, Edmund A. Poku, Niche Cocoa Industry LTD’s Chief Executive Officer said: “We selected Sidel because of its leadership in aseptic beverage production and packaging design. Our expectations were fully satisfied. Aseptic Liquid Dairy Products (LDPs) are complex to produce, and this was a new area for us.”
Known for its ease of operation, Predis also reduces water usage and chemical consumption. Since its launch, it has successfully decontaminated more than 120 billion bottles globally.
Sidel, one of three industry groups of Tetra Laval, said its Aseptic Combi Predis has now been installed in over 200 solutions worldwide, making it a global leader in aseptic production, a position that was confirmed by its validation by the US FDA in 2017. With the installation, Sidel aims to continue its expansion of operations in Africa, with the opening of a new regional office in Nairobi, Kenya, to serve customers across East Africa in 2022.
It would be recalled that in January this year, the packaging company installed its 1000th EvoBlow blow molder as part of a high-speed PET water line at StrongPack in Nigeria. The new 86,000 bottles per hour (bph) high-speed line will be the fastest in Africa, the company said in a statement. It marks StrongPack’s entry into the still-water co-packing market.
StrongPack is one of the biggest producers by volume of Royal Crown (RC) Cola worldwide and is also the biggest and the most diversified co-packer in Nigeria. The company is co-packing products such as malt drinks, teas, regular carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices, juice nectar, and fruit-flavored drinks, including some nitrogen-pressurized packaging for major global brands.
