Aurora Organic Dairy has installed an Aseptic Combi Predis from Sidel in their second milk plant, a greenfield project in Columbia, Missouri, the US. FDA-approved and part of a complete line, which also features Tetra Pak’s technology, this bottling solution allowed Aurora to expand its organic milk offerings from ultra-pasteurised cartons and HDPE gallon jugs to PET. This choice marks that start of a new journey for Aurora: bottling its UHT milk in PET, ultimately enabling an “attractive and premium” packaging that reaches consumers in new channels.
Colorado-headquartered Aurora was founded in 1976, and has been focusing its business in the field of sustainable and organic milk production. The company has come a long way from converting its first farm in Colorado to organic production in 2003, and building its on-farm milk plant in Platteville, Colorado in 2004. Now, Aurora is a producer and processor of store-brand organic milk and butter for US retailers.
The company’s selling point is their philosophy that starts from crop growing to distribution of their dairy products: the company’s vertically integrated supply chain offers traceability and organic dairy with quality. As they constantly seek to collaborate with companies that share their values around innovation, they chose Sidel’s Aseptic Combi Predis at their new plant in Columbia, Missouri. This solution allows for an expanded product line, namely a variety of products in PET bottles.
Breaking with traditions to sustain core values in a competitive market
As a store-brand organic dairy producer and processor in the US, Aurora continue to challenge themselves in line with their goal: To bring organic milk to mainstream America with the highest quality and freshness, more affordable pricing and improved availability for consumers.
According to Jason Lee, CCO of Aurora Organic Dairy, the beverage category has been quickly changing, which makes it difficult to compete in the traditional liquid dairy products (LDP) market without adapting to change. He explained: “We’re seeing growth opportunities and customer interest in aseptically bottled milk and milk-based products in PET. These observations have opened new door for private brand products to stand out on the shelf – setting them apart from national brands and the more traditional packaging for liquid dairy.
“We continue to work towards our mission by bringing the nutritional benefits of organic dairy products to more people, in more places with a commitment to integrity in everything we do. This is why we relentlessly seek innovations to achieve product differentiation.”
After years of processing ultra-pasteurised milk in gallon jugs and half gallon cartons, Aurora started to bottle low-acid, shelf-stackable organic milk PET in 2019 by choosing Sidel’s Aseptic Combi Predis. By doing so, Aurora benefits from increased marketing opportunities while leveraging a cost-effective and flexible production process. PET packaging allows brand differentiation due to the design freedom it offers, while ensuring strong brand recognition across a complete bottle family from large to on-the-go formats. These properties are valued by Aurora, which is now producing its organic milk bottled in PET 8-, 12-, 16- and 32-ounce squared containers, reminiscent of the classic glass milk bottles used for home delivery in the past.
Big changes made easy
Sidel claimed that its Aseptic Combi Predis offers “the simplest and fast dry preform decontamination on the market, the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and an optimised environmental footprint”. No water is used in this process and the use of chemicals is radically reduced while maintaining a high output, offering ease of operations and ensuring flexible production. The latter aspect was a critical success factor for this project, considering Aurora’s need for producing multiple SKUs and delivering on store brands’ expectations.
Team from Sidel and Aurora have completed the ramp-up and the commercial validation of the aseptic PET complete line, successfully filling the various bottle formats, now available on the market.
Lee concluded: “Our innovation team has been working very closely with the Sidel packaging team to quickly develop new container designs. Sidel has been a great partner throughout this process, and we are extremely excited about the future capabilities this line provides us and our customers.”
