published on 06/03/09
This family-run ale firm watched its new bottles fly off shelves after a bespoke kit spend which was installed by a team of contract engineers.
Dorset brewery Hall & Woodhouse has created some of the most recognisable names in the bottled ale market, such as Badger First Gold, Fursty Ferret and Tanglefoot. The family-run business wanted to update its bottles to keep up with changing drinking demands and attitudes.
Bottled ale consumption has grown by 160% since 2000 and the brewery wanted to take advantage of this growth and create the capacity to do so. 'We wanted to come up with a more contemporary bottle, taking into account consumer, environmental and procurement considerations,' says Toby Heasman, Hall & Woodhouse’s brewery manager.
As a result, the bottle was made lighter and given a new shape. However, redesigning the bottle meant that the company had to rethink how it applied the labels; Hall & Woodhouse needed new labelling machinery that was accurate and fast. So they turned to Kosme and their team of contract engineers.
Hall and Woodhouse says it’s been extremely pleased with the whole process, both the collaboration with Kosme UK and further support from the firm’s head office in Italy. 'The bottles were changed over seamlessly and the project completed on time and in budget,the contract engineers were extremally efficient and the contract engineers are also carrying out pro-active and re-active maintenance' says Heasman.
Since the new bottles were launched, the firm has gone from strength to strength and Hall & Woodhouse beers are among the fastest growing in the bottled ale category.

Read the full article at Packagingnews.co.uk