the lightest bottles in the romanian market produced with 47 energy savingsrio bucovina, the romanian producer and distributor of natural mineral waters and soft drinks, recently reduced energy usage by up to 47 by installing a new sidel sbo10 universal 2eco blow moulder at its production facility in vatra dornei. at the same time, it also collaborated with the sidel services&trade packaging team on a stylish new bottle design for its still water. through developing the new design, which included adopting the international 2925 shortneck bottle standard across the range of sizes, the weight of the bottles was reduced by up to 45. rio bucovina is now producing the lightest bottles in the romanian market.longstanding partnership with sidelrio bucovina is a major player in the romanian fast moving consumer goods fmcg market where it figures in the top three producers of natural mineral water. the company produces a wide array of beverages and foodstuffs at its two production sites. this includes the bottling of &lsquobucovina&rsquo still and carbonated natural mineral water, and the production of &lsquola vitta&rsquo branded water. the company also produces soft drinks under the brand names &lsquorio&rsquo, &lsquola vitta&rsquo, &lsquomalibu&rsquo and &lsquobonton&rsquo, and an energy drink with the brand name &lsquogolden horse&rsquo. besides these, rio bucovina distributes a wide range of food and other items.rio bucovina has long been a customer of sidel, the leading global provider of pet solutions for liquid packaging, to whom the company first turned in 1993. that was when it purchased two sidel sbo16 blow moulders. one was installed at the bottling plant in vatra dornei, the wellknown spa and ski resort in the carpathian mountains in northeastern romania, for the production of both still and sparkling water. the second sidel sbo16 blow moulder was purchased for bottling soft drinks at the rio bucovina plant in timisoara in western romania, the third biggest city in the country in terms of population.flexibility, reliability and energy savingsfollowing the success of these projects and the trust built between both companies over more than 20 years, rio bucovina has recently acquired another sidel blow moulder for its vatra dornei plant. on this occasion, the company has selected the sbo10 universal 2eco, choosing it for its flexibility and its reliability coupled with the technical support that the company knew sidel was capable of providing, having experienced it firsthand for the two decades of their working relationship. cristian serban, business development director of rio bucovina, says &ldquohaving worked with the company for over 20 years now, we know the good work we can expect from sidel. the sbo universal 2eco, along with its ecoven, has substantially cut costs for us, reducing the new line&rsquos energy consumption by 47 when compared to other blow moulders we might have chosen.&rdquothe ecoven technology requires fewer heating modules and lamps, with the preformheating time reduced by up to 15. power consumption of the ovens is therefore substantially decreased and the use of installed power lowered. as well as providing a wide process window, the ecoven&39s large heating reserve and fast heating ensures there is no slowdown in production, whatever kind of preform is used. it also delivers excellent heat treatment precision, which ensures identical bottle characteristics and quality. rio bucovina also benefits from the air consumption reduction of the sbo universal 2eco range due to improved efficiency in the air circuits, integrated cylinders, solenoid and flow limiters. this equates to additional savings in production costs.the lightest bottles on the romanian marketrio bucovina also launched redesigned bucovina bottles, characterised by their very modern and elegant approach. compared to the previous bottles, the attractive new designs weigh considerably less &ndash 31.5 grams compared to 43 grams for 2 litre bottles 24 grams compared to 39 grams for 1.5 litre bottles and 12 grams compared to 22 grams for 0.5 litre bottles. cristian continues &ldquothe sidel packaging design team listened to our branding needs for the new bottles and implemented our goals in the final shapes. most importantly, they worked with us to optimise the lightweighting opportunity available to us. as a result, the stylish new bottles that the team optimised for us, which reflects everything we asked of sidel, are the lightest bottles in the romanian market &ndash with a significant weight reduction of some 45. the installation of the sidel sb010 universal 2eco has enabled us to move to the 2925 standard &ndash with the direct result of achieving the lightweighting benefits. this has naturally led to a more environmentally friendly production process, as well as substantial savings.&rdquo &emspbottled water dominates the romanian marketin romania, bottled water is in demand because it is inexpensively priced and is perceived as a &lsquonatural&rsquo soft drink. it is also seen as a much healthier and reliable option in comparison to the quality of tap water generally available throughout the country, especially in bucharest and other large cities. domestic manufacturers, most of whom have been supplying the country with bottled mineral water for decades, dominate the market through tradition, brand recognition and affordable pricing.sales of water have been undergoing an annual growth of around 5 over the past two years, which has mainly seen the consolidation of leading brands. this moderate growth is the result of penetration into households of all income levels. although carbonated or &lsquosparkling&rsquo water has a larger, established consumer base, mostly through the heavy consumption of traditional &lsquospritz&rsquo the combination of carbonated water with wine still bottled water has moved ahead in terms of volume growth over the past couple of years. however, the decrease in romanian consumers&rsquo spending power has led to their growing acceptance of cheaper water.by introducing the sidel blow moulder, rio bucovina is in an excellent position to build on its already strong position in this market with a lightweight, modern and attractive bottle produced through a blowing process which is more environmentally friendly.the sidel sb010 universal 2eco, chosen for its flexibility and reliability, coupled with the technical support that rio bucovina knew sidel was capable of providing.editors note the images within this document are for illustrative purposes only and should not be used for reproduction. if high resolution copies are not attached with the document, please contact chris twigger at shaw & underwood pr for copies &ndash see contact details below.for editorial and advertising enquiries,please contact shaw & underwood prchris twigger,directortel 44 121 454 5584cell 44 7795 423796email christwigger@shawandunderwood.co.uk
