SNO water. The beauty in a bottle!

Water is essential for the human well-being, both for the skin and for the body, as it transports nutrients to every cell of the organism, eliminates toxins, improves blood circulation and lubricates the joints.

SNO natural water originates in Georgia on the southern slope of the central part of the Caucasus, at 1,700 meters above sea level.

Descending to the valley, it forms an underground reservoir, from which it is extracted at a depth of 150 meters to be bottled and distributed by Aqua Geo Ltd, a company that uses cutting-edge bottling and packaging systems such as those recently supplied by SMI.

SMI solutions for SNO water plant

Aqua Geo was founded in 2009 with the aim of marketing locally and abroad the high-quality mineral water that flows from Georgian springs.

For the design and the construction of the production plant of SNO natural water, located in Misaktsieli, a few kilometers from the capital Tbilisi, Aqua Geo collaborated with partners specialized in bottling and packaging advanced technologies.

Investing for increasing efficiency

The growing demand for SNO natural water required new investments for the expansion and modernization of two end-of-lines at the plant of Misaktsieli.

Working in close collaboration with Aqua Geo team, SMI engineers designed an automatic solution for increasing the production efficiency of 0.5 L and 1.5L PET lines.

24,000 bph end of line for PET bottles

The solution includes:
- CSK 50F ERGON shrink wrapper up to 50 packs/minute in film only in 6x4 and 4x3 formats (0.5 L bottles) and 3x2 format (1.5 L bottles)
- Conveyors to carry the loose product out of the filling monobloc; accumulation conveyors before and after the labeller and conveyors to carry the packs from the shrink wrapper to the palletizer
- HA 60 handle applicator
- APS 1550 ERGON palletizer for making 800x1200 and 1000x1200 europallets

Main advantages:
CSK ERGON packer:
- Motorized system of oscillating guides at the machine infeed for the correct channeling of loose containers
- Grouping of loose containers in the desired format carried out continuously
- Compact design film cutting unit with brushless motor-run blade, which makes the cutting operation more precise
- ICOS motors equipped with integrated digital servo-drive (driver), that ensure greater energy efficiency, less noise and reduced wear of components
- Easy maintenance

Conveyor belts:
- Optimal management of product flow, through an accurate study of the accumulation, distribution and handling dynamics
- Format changeover times reduced to a minimum
- High operational reliability, thanks to the structure and components made of AISI 304 stainless steel
- Some of the lowest noise and friction levels in the industry

APS ERGON palletizer
- Compact structure with a central column that combines the functions of empty pallet feeding, insertion of the pads between the layers and palletizing operations
- Reduced maintenance costs and low energy consumption, thanks to the machine simple mechanics and the use of components coming from the robot industry
- Extremely simple automation and management control, thanks to the intuitive and easy-to-use man-machine interface.

End of line for the tertiary packaging

SMI supplied an automatic palletizing system for processing packs arriving from the LSK 35T shrink wrapper installed in 2011.

The solution includes:
- APS 1550 ERGON palletizer for packing 4x3 and 6x4 bundles (0.33 L and 0.5 L PET bottles) and 3x2 bundles (1 L and 1.5 L PET bottles), arriving from LSK 35T shrink wrapper, in 800x1200 and 1000x1200 europallets
- Conveyor belts for processing the packed product at the shrink wrapper outfeed
- Rotating arm wrapper

Main advantages:
- smooth handling of the packs at the outfeed of the existing LSK shrink wrapper
- simple and intuitive man-machine interface
- easy maintenance
- format changeover times reduced for the rapid transition from one production to another

If you want to find out further information on the packaging solution installed at SNO and on the advantages offered by the machines supplied by SMI, we invite you to read the latest issue of our SMI NOW magazine or to contact our sales department.

Marketing Department
SMI S.p.A.
E-mail: info@smigroup.it