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.
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.
