Cost effective short batch runs informing R&D at Sidel

Ludovic Tanchou, vice president of product management at the French-based firm, noted that the challenge for suppliers to the beverage industry today is to ensure new equipment installations that provide greater flexibility in changeover while minimising any major costs impact on a bottler’s production run.

Short batch runs need to be as cost effective as large ones, continued Tanchou, and this is where the company’s high-tech packaging machinery, line engineering, packaging design and technical training can play a role, he argues.

He flagged up the benefits of its new SP 1000 HS palletizer for short batch runs, claiming the system allows two core functions, layer preparation and palletization, to work together more effectively than ever before.

Sidel said that this new palletizing process is supported by the company’s new software programme - Pallet and Layer Automated Configuration Editor (PLACE).
The software “creates and manages diverse pattern configurations before the layer-formation phase, which is particularly useful for short-batch runs that require constant switching between formats and packaging types.”​​

Tanchou also reported positive industry feedback for its recently developed labelling technology – the Rollsleeve.