Cider bottler required increased capacities for its glass line

Distell is a beverage and cider producer in South Africa that is claimed to be the second-largest cider producer worldwide. Making wine, spirits, cider and RTDs, the company collaborated with KHS as a result of the growing demand for its Savanna brand.

Of the total of 36 lines the beverage producer now operates in South Africa a third is reserved for Savanna, the majority of which are situated at the plant in Springs.

Savanna Dry, an alcohol-free version of light cider flavoured with lemon or chili, is filled into 330 mL and 500 mL glass bottles with crown corks that are retailed singularly or in packs of up to six containers.

The Savanna brand had an output of up to 60,000 330-millilitre bottles/h, which needed to increase to cope with the demand over summer.

“We needed to be able to expand our capacity by 30% within a very short time indeed,” said Sharief Gallie, head of Manufacturing South Africa at Distell.

Distell’s Savanna is a popular cider brand in South Africa. Image credit: Frank Reinhold

Distell has enjoyed a relationship with Dortmund systems supplier KHS for around 20 years now, so contacted the company for this project.

“KHS was the only supplier who could promise to hand over turnkey machines to us on time within a period of seven-and-a-half months. All other manufacturers would’ve needed at least five months more,” Gallie said.

The only real challenge lay outside the KHS sphere of influence: owing to industrial disruptions caused by problems with the supply chain during the pandemic. At the time, there were temporary shortfalls in the replenishment of glass bottles, meaning that alternatives had to be found onsite; 15 million litres were then filled into cans. When the pandemic disruption was over by the end of 2021, everything could then continue according to plan, and 25 million litres of cider were filled in December alone — more than ever before within the space of one month.

The line includes a depalletiser, a rinser, the filler, flash pasteuriser, warmer, two packaging machines — a shrink and a tray packer — and a robot palletiser, among other equipment. Gallie is especially pleased with the performance of the two KHS Innoket Neo Flex labelling machines.

The filled and sealed glass bottles are fed to one of two labelling machines where they are dressed with a transparent film label for a no-label look. Image credit: Frank Reinhold

Satisfied with his procurement, Gallie sees no reason to sit back and take it easy. By no means does the new non-returnable glass line indicate that the company’s maximum filling and packaging capacity has been reached. Far from it: the steep rise in demand has prompted the planning of further projects with KHS that include a ninth line for Springs and a canning line for Stellenbosch which together will mark a further chapter in the success story of Savanna and the joint partnership of the two companies.

Top image caption: A robot palletiser readies the packed products for their journey to retail outlets, bars and restaurants. Image credit: Frank Reinhold