Single-end bottle washers

Niehoffs-Vaihinger Fruchtsaft GmbH remains unperturbed by the ongoing plastics debate: the company fills more than 80 per cent of its production volume in returnable glass bottles – this is a matter of principle, as Plant Manager Dr. Rainer Kressmann emphasises: “Deep down in our hearts, we’re a returnables company.” His colleague, Marketing Manager Sven Frisch, even goes one step further, by vigorously affirming: “We want nothing to do with plastic!”

“The secret behind our success is that we’re tightly focussed,” says Heiner Wolters, Managing Director at Fachingen. And there’s a variety of priorities that the company focuses on: three sorts of water, glass bottles, 100 per cent returnables, and the premium segment.

For years now, there has been above-average growth in the sales figures for Salvus products in glass bottles. Whereas the PET-to-glass ratio was still at 70:30 a few years ago, the shares are meanwhile evenly split.

The Kulmbacher Brewery has a new line for swing-stopper bottles, which is rated at 50,000 containers an hour and thus sets the world speed record for this type of bottle. The line was installed in five erection stages and without interrupting production – a rather special kind of challenge.