Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar has invested CZK110 million (€4.3 million) in a new can-filling hub in order to keep up with a surge in demand for canned beer, according to just-drinks.
After a trial in December, the new centre was officially opened last week at the company's main site in Ceské Budejovice. With a capability of filling 16,800 cans hourly, the system will substantially extend the product range of group packaging of cans as well as decreasing production costs and needs only be attended to by four employees, the company said.
Machinery supplied by German company KHS Dortmund allows the filling of 0.33 litre, 0.44 litre and 0.5 litre cans, allowing for packaging in many varieties. The new hub also features a filling mono-block using volumetric filling, which operates in an aseptic environment.
The brewer performed well in 2012, increasing volumes by 2 per cent and boosting its exports, canned sales soaring 722 per cent. Sales reached 58 countries, hitting the highest export figures in the brewery’s 117-year history.
It is expected that 75 per cent of production at the new filling hall will be exported. Despite falling consumption, western Europe is a key market for the group and among its biggest can export markets are Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
“Canned beer sales are going to significantly increase and we anticipate a further rise in demand for beer in this type of packaging in the future,” said Jirí Bocek, Budvar CEO. (21 Feb)
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Sadhbh Connor
