Ball expands heat-set PET bottle line
growing demand for both plastic packaging and healthier products.
"Consumer demand for healthier beverages and conversion from glass to PET continue to drive market growth," said Allan Benson, Ball's director, custom PET.
"Our customers are moving in this direction and we will continue to provide them with high-quality packaging to help them succeed."
The European glass container industry has been hard hit since the advent of the PET bottle. With the exception of the German market, where the transition to plastic has been particularly conspicuous only since 1999, PET packaging has firmly established itself in the beverage packaging sector.
Ball believes that its Heat-Tek bottles are therefore in tune with current consumer trends. The packaging is ideal for juices, teas, sports drinks, vitamin-enhanced water and other beverages that are filled at temperatures up to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.
The 8, 10 and 12 oz. bottles offer a 38-millimeter finish and the 16, 20 and 64 oz. sizes have been designed with a 43-millimeter opening for a better pour.
All of Ball's Heat-Tek bottles feature the company's patented Vac-u-Flex vacuum panel technology.
"Vac-U-Flex enables us to produce bottles that can consistently run efficiently on our customers' filling lines and reach the end consumer with the highest possible quality," said Mike Vaughn, vice president, technology, for Ball's plastic container operations.
All Heat-Tek bottles are available as a monolayer package and are recyclable. Sizes 20 oz. and below are also available as multi-layer bottles, using Ball's Amazon barrier technology for extended shelf life.
Ball is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products and innovative packaging solutions to the beverage and food industries. The group employs 13,100 people worldwide and reported 2003 sales of $4.9 billion.
In the UK, PET bottles have recorded significant volume increases in soft drinks in the last few years, gradually replacing metal beverage cans and glass bottles because they are lightweight, shatterproof and transparent. Between 1998 and 2002, PET bottles rose by 34 per cent to achieve volumes of 4.8 billion units.
And even in Germany, container glass manufacturers have been losing market share to plastic packaging producers. At 38 per cent of the market, plastic packaging is currently the strongest segment among German packaging materials.
