published on 24/10/08
Local bottled water supplier and contract packer Inhle Beverages has begun a campaign to increase its capacity with the installation of a new carbonated product filling line that includes a counter pressure filling machine, a carbonator, a pre-mixer, conveyors and an automatic shrink-wrapper. All the equipment is easily maintained by skilled mechanical personnel doing either proactrive or reactive maintenance.
The flavoured, plain carbonated and still bottled water industry is growing at a rapid rate in southern Africa, forcing suppliers such as Inhle beverages to expand their facilities.
Inhle Beverages has experienced sustained growth of over 50% year-on-year and many highly regarded and well established brands in the market place are packed by the company.
Prior to the expansion of the current facility, production was at 7 000 bottles an hour. The new equipment has taken the company's capacity up to 14 000 bottles an hour to accommodate the demand from the customer base. Botha says Inhle has invested an excess of R3-million in the new facility.
The expansion project of building a completely new bottling plant started in June 2007. The entire project was self-managed and seven different suppliers were used to complete the project all bringing their own teams of contract engineers with full engineering support.
The bottling facility consists of some 850 m2 of purpose built factory space, which was built to meet the stringent standards of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS). The new production line was commissioned in October 2007 and subsequently passed the SABS audit.
All the new bottling, labelling and shrink-wrap equipment has been supplied and installed by Unique Filling and Labelling. One of these lines is a versatile inline filling facility that has been designed to cope with the demand for speciality bottles and sports-cap products.
Unique Filling and Labelling, which is based in Gauteng, has reengineered the pre-mixer and carbonator that it previously imported, and incorporated it in its newly-designed flavoured carbonation line. The unit offers the choice to instantly change product mixes and carbonation level with more then 99% accuracy. This installation is the first order that the company has been awarded for the newly designed equipment, and was installed by skilled mechanical engineers.
Further advantages of the locally manufactured pre-mixer and carbonator are that it is fitted with a PLC which provides the least possible operator intervention, as well as quick adjustment on mixing ratios.
Inhle Beverages was established in 2003 and is based in Heidelberg, Gauteng. The company also distributes to most neighbouring countries.

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