Britannia Industries Limited, one of the largest Indian food companies, has commissioned its first-ever aseptic filling line for dairy drinks in PET bottles. The supplier of the complete technical solution is Sidel, a company specialized in aseptic PET lines. The new line operates at Britannia’s dairy plant in Ranjangaon, Maharashtra, India, and handles the range of dairy drinks under the Winkin’ Cow brand, present on the market since 2018. The implementation is intended to strengthen the brand’s position in the dairy beverages segment by using flexible plastic packaging while maintaining the required level of food safety.
Britannia entered the dairy beverages market in 2018 by launching value-added dairy drinks under the Winkin’ Cow brand. In line with the development of this segment, the company decided to cooperate with Sidel, described as a global provider of innovative packaging with more than fifty years of experience in aseptic PET packaging. The objective of the project was to design and supply a complete aseptic PET solution for the new dairy plant in Ranjangaon.
"Sidel offered Britannia comprehensive support, enabling it to fully leverage the potential of its dairy drinks" comments Harbinder Kathuria, Vice President Sales for South Asia. "From bottle and label design to packaging validation, this line has enabled Britannia to expand its dairy drinks portfolio and offer Indian consumers, since 2023, safe, high-quality products in more flexible packaging."
Scope of cooperation and project support
As a technology and implementation partner, Sidel supported Britannia at all stages of the line project. This included the development of the line concept and technical planning, installation, commissioning and final start-up of the system. Both parties emphasize that close cooperation made it possible to execute the project in a coordinated way, meeting the assumed deadlines and production parameters.
"The support from Sidel was not limited to supplying the production line equipment but went much further" explains Abhishek Sinha, Chief Sales Transformation Officer at Britannia, formerly Business Head for Dairy and CEO of BBFPL. "Sidel offered us a comprehensive range of services, including the design of new packaging concepts, their validation, recommendations for labels, customized filling tests and shelf-life studies. They provided everything we needed to enter the aseptic PET packaging market and launch our new product with maximum effectiveness."
Aseptic Combi Predis at the Britannia plant
The core element of the new line is Sidel’s integrated Aseptic Combi Predis system. This solution has been installed as a complete production line and is designed to operate at a capacity of 24,000 bottles per hour. The system combines preform sterilization, bottle blowing, filling and capping in a single process. This integrated approach is intended to ensure product integrity and extended shelf life for sensitive beverages.
Aseptic Combi Predis is described as a simple and fast aseptic solution with dry preform decontamination using Predis technology. The process involves injecting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into the preforms just before they enter the oven. The hydrogen peroxide is activated during the existing preform heating stage, which makes it possible to achieve a high level of decontamination while limiting the size of the sterile zone and controlling the risk of potential contamination.
Critical process parameters are continuously monitored to maintain the required sterility of production and protect the integrity of the beverages. This is intended to provide food safety regardless of the type of liquid and the properties of the drink being filled.
Format flexibility and ease of operation
The Aseptic Combi Predis system has been designed to simplify operation for production staff. According to information provided by the partners, the operator can manage the sterilization process without extensive training or causing long downtimes of the installation. The solution is also characterized by flexibility in terms of packaging formats.
The line enables changeovers between three different dairy drink formats, from 180 ml bottles up to 1 l, while maintaining the assumed performance level. From the beverage producer’s perspective, this means the ability to handle various retail unit sizes on a single integrated blowing, filling and capping line.
Environmental aspects and resource consumption
One distinguishing feature of the technology is dry preform decontamination. No process water is used in this step, and the use of chemicals is reduced to a minimum. Compared with conventional wet rinsing and disinfection methods, this is intended to lower water consumption and reduce the amount of chemicals in the production cycle.
According to the information provided by the parties, the use of Aseptic Combi Predis enables Britannia to achieve the required level of food product safety with lower resource consumption and reduced environmental impact. The technology is also claimed to provide a low total cost of ownership of the line, without compromising food safety or ease of production, while maintaining high availability and packaging versatility for multiple stock-keeping units.
