KHS and Belgian-based Martens Brewery continue to pursue their mutual strategy of reducing packaging materials with the brewer further investing in more machines.
Only last year, Martens invested in an Innopack Nature MultiPack (NMP) machine that forms PET bottles in stable packs with the help of dots of adhesive. Now, the Belgian brewer is planning on procuring a second NMP machine from KHS to process cans.
This investment allows the brewery more flexibility, thus allowing the company to meet the growing market demand for environmentally friendly packaging.
Martens has relied on the material-saving NMP system from KHS since 2020, when the long-term partners began producing film-free six-packs of PET bottles for the retail trade in a joint venture.
“The response to the alternative to the classic shrink-film pack was extremely positive,” remembers Jan Martens, brewery boss.
“We are able to convince both our customers and consumers. The great demand shows that eco-friendly packaging is very popular.
“The logical conclusion for Martens was thus to then also apply the tried-and-tested KHS system to its canning operations.”
Thanks to the new system, the Martens will not only be able to form PET bottles, but also cans into stable yet easy-to-separate packs. This makes the use of shrink film or cardboard superfluous, cutting material consumption by up to 90 per cent.
While the brewery uses a machine that fully satisfies its requirements with a maximum output of 54,000 containers per hour, KHS now also has an Innopack NMP for the high-performance range on offer, which can manage up to 90,000 containers every six minutes – or even 108,000 when running at overcapacity.
“By expanding our NMP setup to include cans, Martens can penetrate new markets,” explains Martens.
“Retailers are constantly on the lookout for environmentally friendly packaging options. I’m certain that our resource-saving NMP solutions will attract plenty of interest.
“Martens now has the necessary flexibility to best meet the current needs of the retail trade.”
According to Soren Storbeck, global product account manager for KHS, the packaging solutions provider’s overriding aim is to perfectly cater for all its customers’ requirements.
“We thus believe in providing not just a full portfolio of line and packaging systems and solutions, but also a global service network that’s available to our customers round the clock,” Storbeck continues.
“We’re striving to develop even more efficient and sustainable systems – whether for primary, secondary or tertiary packaging.
“Together with our customers and partners, we’re constantly working on saving even more resources and further strengthening the recycling loop.”
The NMP project at Martens is just one example of the ever-increasing portfolio of sustainable packaging systems engineered by the Dortmund turnkey supplier.
