Abstract: At the Belgian family business Inex, a PET production line integrating Contipure AseptBloc was put into operation in June 2024, starting to flexibly and reliably fill various dairy products for the company.
At the Belgian family business Inex, a PET production line integrated with Contipure AseptBloc was put into operation in June 2024, beginning to flexibly and reliably fill various dairy products for the company.
Inex employs 450 people and is currently managed by the fourth generation of the family. Last year, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary. Inex produces a variety of fresh dairy products and long-lasting dairy products, covering categories such as milk, yogurt, and cream; the company produces its own branded products as well as providing filling services for other companies.
I am truly very satisfied with our cooperation with Krones. Communication between both parties has always been efficient and solution-oriented. If we purchase another production line, I hope to work with this team again.
— Jens Corijn, Automation Engineer at Inex
Customer Demand-Oriented
“Meeting customer needs is our primary goal,” emphasized Steven Dierickx, General Manager of Inex. To achieve this goal, the company has installed 23 filling lines in its factory, operating three shifts, with an annual dairy production of nearly 300 million liters. To improve flexibility and capacity, Inex decided to purchase a new PET bottle filling line.
The company signed a contract with Krones for a new production line in March 2023. This production line is used to replace an HDPE filling line that was put into operation in 1975. Installation work started a year later, and the production line was put into operation at the end of June 2024, timely meeting the requirements of the new standards. Jens Corijn discovers something new every time he enters the production workshop, “The stability and precision of this production line are truly amazing, and it is currently our fastest production line,” he shared. The speed of the new production line has doubled compared to the old one, and each shift only requires two to three people to oversee the machines, reducing the number of personnel by half compared to before.
This production line includes a set of Contipure AseptBloc equipment specially developed and designed for the low-speed field, with a capacity of 20,000 bottles per hour. With the help of a compact filling machine and optimized machine design, this new combined machine layout is very compact, saving space while ensuring high efficiency and quality-oriented practicality, which highly aligns with Inex company’s philosophy. Jens Corijn communicates weekly with the Krones Neutraubling team to ensure everything progresses as planned. If necessary, both parties can make decisions immediately. This plays a decisive role in the smooth progress of the project and the close cooperation between both parties.
Flexible, fast, and space-saving
“We are mainly impressed by three aspects,” said Jens Corijn. As mentioned earlier, the first advantage of this new unit is its small footprint. The new filling line must be installed in a space of 1,500 square meters. Of course, this is not difficult for the Krones design team, as the unit features a simplified structure, optimized material transport, and fewer starwheels and cavities. All of these greatly reduce the footprint. The unit integrates multiple process modules, making the layout extremely streamlined. Another highlight is that this compact configuration is placed in a cleanroom, which is not only smaller in size but also provides more convenient access for maintenance and cleaning.
In addition to the compact structure, the flexibility of the entire filling line also plays a decisive role. “Our customers have very different needs, and of course, we want to meet all of them,” emphasized Steven Dierickx. As the general manager of the company, he attaches great importance to the flexibility of packaging. “We are not looking for machines that can only fill standard products; we need solutions that can flexibly produce a large variety of different products,” summarized Jens Corijn. Therefore, they use a Sleevematic, which can apply both half-body sleeves and full-body sleeves. Then, the Variopac Pro completes the packaging of various PET bottles, from compact 6-bottle packs to large 24-bottle packs. Afterwards, lamination, boxing, or packaging into wrap-around cartons is carried out. Jens Corijn explained: “In this way, according to customer requirements, each product can achieve the best display and transportation effect.”
The third determining factor is that Krones can guarantee fast delivery. According to EU regulations, from July 3, 2024, only PET bottles with fixed connection caps (tethered caps) are allowed to enter the market. In response, Inex must react quickly. Krones guaranteed the delivery and commissioning of the new filling line and took full responsibility for the project as the general contractor, demonstrating the reliability of a cooperative partner. Previously, Inex only used Krones standalone machines; this Contipure AseptBloc production line is the first turnkey project.
Full-process aseptic
The uniqueness of Contipure AseptBloc lies in directly connecting blowing, filling, and capping in a single sterile process chain without the need for conveyor belts in between. This not only reduces the footprint but also facilitates daily operations. “We have centralized the touchscreen layout, making operation more convenient and enabling quick product changeovers,” Jens Corijn expressed great satisfaction with this. Currently, Inex company uses this production line to fill 500 ml bottles, employing two different bottle colors and seven cap colors.
For all these processes, in addition to flexibility and efficiency, quality is also a focus. The production line is equipped with four sets of Checkmat detection systems, used respectively for preforms, bottle caps, and label detection. For dairy products, hygiene performance is particularly critical. The preforms are sterilized using gaseous hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and the bottles remain in a sterile environment until capping is completed. In addition, empty bottle rejection or sampling operations can be performed without breaking the sterile environment, without interrupting the production process.
About Inex Company
The milk processed by Inex Company all comes from local farms. The milk source comes from specific herds of cows, which spend more than 120 days a year, at least 6 hours a day, grazing on grass. The factory is about a 20-minute drive from the city of Ghent. Inex Company’s dairy products are sold to more than 30 countries, with Belgium and the Netherlands currently being its largest markets. The company’s customers include supermarkets, restaurants, and hotels. Its cream has won the “Superior Taste Award” all year round and is loved by chefs. Many local primary schools choose Inex Company’s dairy drinks, and many primary school students have grown up with the brand.
Source: Krones
