In 2013, Twellium took its first steps into the beverage market in Ghana with a PET line from Sidel. The company was incorporated on 4 February, 2013 and commenced production in February, 2014. Recently it invested in two new complete lines making Twellium a major beverage player in the West African sub-region with a total of five production lines – all supplied by Sidel.
Twellium brings beverages - such as still water, carbonated soft drinks (CSD) and sensitive products which have proven popular among European and American consumers - to the African region. Its formula for success is to combine its own pure and natural mineral water with European technology and international standards in the manufacturing process, as well as meeting all the certification and safety standards of the Food and Drugs Authority in Ghana. The award-winning company produces a wide variety of drinks,including Verna Natural Mineral Water, Rasta Choco Malt, Dr. Malt and the Easy range of products. Other products such as Rush Energy Drink, American Cola, Planet and Bubble Up are all produced by Twellium as a franchise of Monarch Beverage Company, a global company headquartered in Atlanta (US).
Over the years Sidel and Twellium have forged a close working relationship based on continual improvement and cooperation. As well as supplying new lines as Twellium has grown, Sidel – with more than 40 years of experience in complete lines for CSD – has also worked on optimising the existing lines and solutions in terms of energy savings and through maintenance support.
A wide product range requires flexibility
As African consumers increasingly enjoy a variety of beverages, Twellium needed to increase production capacity while still securing high flexibility. Hassan Kesserwani and Hussein
Kesserwani, Chairmen of Twellium Industrial Company, explain- “Flexibility is imperative for the company because of the variety of drinks we produce – from carbonated soft drinks to juice drinks with preservatives and the non-alcoholic malt drinks that are popular in the region. In Ghana, our recent investment in a Sidel Matrix™ PET complete line has fulfilled these needs by offering faster changeovers and the ability to handle many different bottle formats.”
In terms of equipment life cycle, the Sidel Matrix range can be easily adapted to meet future production needs and its upgradeable platform allows Twellium to take advantage of any technological developments. All Matrix equipment offers high levels of performance with minimal downtime and easy maintenance. This high efficiency means a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), which, for a fast-growing company like Twellium, was important.
Cutting energy costs while expanding design options
An example of how energy costs have been reduced is the Sidel Matrix blower which consumes less compressed air and electrical power, resulting in energy savings of up to 45%. The Eco Oven technology – patented by Sidel – can be used to upgrade existing blowers and cut energy costs because it uses fewer lamps for heating the preforms. This reduction in energy consumption was particularly welcome because Ghana has faced considerable rises in energy costs.
In addition, Twellium trusted Sidel’s PET packaging expertise and decided to adopt the StarLite™base design. Thisaward-winning and patented base enables bottle weight to be reduced by 20% for 0.5 L bottles, while improving stability and protecting against stress damage during production and transport.
“This was an important consideration for Twellium as logistics in the African region can be a challenge. With the StarLite base, the company saves on raw materials and also on energy as the container can be blown using less air pressure,” says Dominique Martin, Sidel Africa & Maghreb Sales Director.
The importance of service
Throughout the past five years, Sidel has delivered the service necessary to keep all the lines running optimally:from delivering spare parts promptly in order to avoid expensive downtime to ensuring Twellium could take full advantage of options and upgrades that improve the lines.
Consumers in the African region continue to enjoy greater spending power and the Twellium brands have become firmly established in the market. This puts the company in the best position to achieve even greater success.
About Sidel Group
The Sidel Group is formed by the union of two strong brands, Sidel and Gebo Cermex. Together, we are a leading provider of equipment and services for packaging liquid, food, home and personal care products in PET, can, glass and other materials.
With over 37,000 machines installed in more than 190 countries, we have nearly 170 years of proven experience, with a strong focus on advanced systems, line engineering and innovation. Our 5,000+ employees worldwide are passionate about providing complete solutions that fulfil customer needs and boost the performance of their lines, products and businesses.
Delivering this level of performance requires that we continuously understand our customers’ challenges and commit to meeting their unique goals. We do this through dialogue, and by understanding the needs of their markets, production and value chains. We complement this by applying our strong technical knowledge and smart data analytics to support maximum lifetime productivity to its full potential.
