The beverage can has something of a tradition in the Brohl Valley in Germany’s state of Rhineland-Palatinate: this is where, back in 1977, RHODIUS Mineralquellen und Getränke GmbH & Co. KG became the first mineral water bottling plant in Europe to fill its water into tinplate containers – on a system supplied by Dortmund engineering company KHS. Back then a genuine pioneering achievement, the investment was to pave the way for a story of success lasting more than 25 years.
When a deposit was introduced on cans in Germany in 2003, the market at first collapsed. Having advanced to become the market leader in canning, unlike many of its competitors RHODIUS decided to continue to trust in this segment and technology and turned to contract filling to better utilize its little used capacities. Within a few years it was able to compensate for its initial losses, with the share of its total output attributable to contract filling successively increasing to around 50%, with this reaching an impressive 90% for cans. Both major and less well-known brands are filled here, with RHODIUS’ customer base of almost 100 clients heavily fragmented. The same applies to its portfolio that numbers over 150 different products. In 2016 a second KHS line with a rate of up to 50,000 cans per hour was installed to meet the growing demand. Flexibility and hygiene are writ large here: the frequent product and format changeovers on both canning lines have to be as efficient as possible regarding filling and secondary packaging.
RHODIUS and KHS: 50 years side by side
The beverage bottler from the volcanic hills of the Eifel and the engineering company from Dortmund enjoy a close partnership that has grown over many decades. Since purchasing its first KHS canning line in the 1970s, RHODIUS now has three of these plus a PET, keg, BIB and returnable glass line. Chiefly relying on just one technology partner is a strategic decision: “KHS has us convinced when it comes to project planning, installation and commissioning,” claims RHODIUS managing partner Hannes Tack. “And in ongoing operation KHS gives us the greatest possible line availability. Focusing on a single supplier also simplifies day-to-day operation for our technical personnel who work with uniform GUIs, very similar machine functions and a supply of spare parts, for example.” Communication is very much simplified by the business contacts having known each another for years, so that the systems provider is extremely familiar with RHODIUS’ needs and requirements.
In return, KHS also benefits from its proximity to the bottler. “With such an innovative customer, we can explore new avenues together,” explains KHS senior sales manager Gerd Bodenheimer. “For us, RHODIUS is almost like a playground where we can test and further develop our prototypes.” The two companies are also geographically close: Burgbrohl is more or less bang in the middle of four of KHS’ five German plants in Dortmund, Bad Kreuznach, Kleve and Worms. Distances are therefore short when other beverage producers are to be shown a reference project installed for this model customer.
For more information go to: www.khs.com/en/media