Extrusion International 6-2023

41 Extrusion International 6/2023 BLOWMOLDING Blow Molding Machine by PET Technologies to Follow the Triple Utility Strategy T he “land of lakes and volcanoes” with the “land of steel and grains”. New World with Old World. Wa- ter brought these two extremes together in the project implemented by Compañía Cervecera de Nicaragua and PET Technologies. It is about the blow molding of the 5 US gallon PET bottles for water. Compañía Cervecera de Nicaragua S.A (CCN) was founded in 1926 in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Industrial Cervecera, S.A. (ICSA) was founded in 1976. After the merge of the two companies in 1996, CCN became the largest brewery in Nicaragua. In 2002, the company acquired the mineral water producer Fuente Pura and entered the market of juices, soft drinks and isotonic drinks. Today, CCN, majority owned by Central American in- vestors, is the market leader for beer and beverages in Nicaragua. Total beer production in this country with the population of 6.6 million is around 1.4 million hl (2020). CCN produces various types of beer lager and pilsner for the domestic market under the umbrella brands Victoria, Toña and Mytos. Some of them are ad- ditionally exported to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, USA, Canada, Panama, Australia, Cuba and Spain. CCN's headquarters with the brewery are still locat- ed in Managua, two additional mineral water bottling plants are operated in the cities of Rivas and León. The total number of employees is 1,135 and the total an- nual production volume of beer, water and soft drinks in 2020 was 2.89 million hl. CCN sees itself as a company that operates sustainably. It is characterized by its com- mitment to quality, safety, the environ- ment and health, which are firmly an - chored in its corporate guidelines and in its comprehensive Sustainability Report. Water is the main resource for Compañía Cervecera de Nicaragua, the renowned world-class company. To protect water, the CCN developed the first initiative of Payment for Environmental Services in southern Mana- gua, implementing the Neutral Water Program. The ob- jective is to offset the water footprint generated by its production. It was the water where the paths of Compañía Cer- vecera de Nicaragua and PET Technologies crossed. The decision to have its own manufacturing of water con- tainers is part of CCN's triple profit strategy. It gener - ates value in 3 dimensions: economic, social and envi- ronmental. The machinery used to manufacture the containers plays an important role. It is about the consumption of energy and reuse of resources, the materials that can be processed and the weight of manufactured containers, their maintenance costs and downtime. Thus, Compañía Cervecera de Nicaragua installed the blow-molding machine of the European brand PET Technologies to produce 5US gallon PET bottles. It is APF-30 model with the output 250 bph. Now CCN man- ufactures water bottles within its facilities, switching from polycarbonate to PET. Why do 5 US gallon PET bottles look attractive? - Lower bottle cost - BPA-free (the chemical bisphenol A, detected in cer- tain plastics, is likely to affect health, according to re- search) - It can be returnable or one-way, with or without in- serted handle. - PET material is more flexible and better resists exter - nal impacts