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11/08/2016

KHS develops ultralight 0.5-liter PET beer bottle with Bottles & Shapes™

At the behest of a major German brewery KHS GmbH has now developed the lightest 0.5-liter PET beer bottle in the company's history to date.

• From 22.5 to 20.9 grams per bottle
• Bottle weight for pasteurized beer reduced to 22.5 grams
• Numerous material and energy savings

Dortmund, November 8, 2016 – At the behest of a major German brewery KHS GmbH has now developed the lightest 0.5-liter PET beer bottle in the company's history to date. Thanks to the lightweighting expertise in the KHS Bottles & Shapes™ program, in the future bottles for beer and malt beer can be produced much more cost effectively while saving more resources. Here, the systems supplier of filling and packaging technology successfully kept to its remit of not changing the bottle design. The finished PET bottle is not only of the highest quality but also much lighter than its predecessor. Despite the lower use of resources the lightweight PET bottles boast undiminished high stability. "In order to achieve these optimum weight properties we exploit the concentrated expertise in our Bottles & Shapes™ program. This allows us to save on materials in both the bottle body and thread," explains Christian Rommel, project engineer for Bottles & Shapes™, when talking about the design process. KHS has made the neck ring much smaller and reduced the wall thickness in the neck and thread. Optimizing the thread has not affected the fitting accuracy and sealing properties of the standard PCO 1881 closures – in accordance with customer specifications. The processability on the existing line has also not been impaired. KHS has now cut down the weight of the brewery's previous 0.5-liter PET beer bottle by 1.6 grams to just 20.9 grams. On the malt beer PET bottles for filling, which have to be able to cope with a higher internal pressure as the malt beer is pasteurized, KHS was able to save 1.5 grams. The weight of this bottle thus dropped from 24 to 22.5 grams. The weight-optimized bottles were extensively tested according to the given specifications in comprehensive laboratory and production tests.

Combination of expertise and convincing technology

The network of expertise provided by KHS Bottles & Shapes™ was instrumental in the successful development of the preforms. In close cooperation with the brewery's supplier KHS applied its competence in lightweighting during development and at the same time satisfied the customer's individual requirements. The bottler can now produce more profitably and efficiently while saving more on resources.

About the KHS Group

The KHS Group is one of the leading manufacturers of filling and packaging systems for the beverage, food and non-food industries. The KHS Group includes the following companies, among others: KHS GmbH, KHS Corpoplast GmbH, KHS Plasmax GmbH and NMP Systems GmbH. KHS GmbH manufactures modern filling and packaging systems at its headquarters in Dortmund, Germany, and in Kleve, Bad Kreuznach and Worms. The KHS Group's PET expertise is pooled at KHS Corpoplast and KHS Plasmax in Hamburg, Germany, where light PET packaging and innovative coating systems are developed and produced. NMP Systems GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KHS GmbH based in Düsseldorf in Germany, designs and markets new, resource-saving packaging systems for PET bottles. The group has an international production and service network. In 2015 KHS was awarded the Top 100 seal of approval for exceptional innovative power and outstanding innovative success among German SMEs. In 2015 the KHS Group and its 4,871 employees achieved a turnover of around €1.17 billion within the Salzgitter consolidation. The companies in the KHS Group are 100% subsidiaries of the MDAX-listed Salzgitter AG corporation.