Sidel overcomes COVID-19 travel restrictions with remote bottle line tuning in Guinea

12 Oct 2021 --- Sidel has remotely assisted Nouvelle Brasserie de Guinée (Braguinée) with the tuning of a 1 L bottle line in Guinea. Braguinée is expanding its carbonated soft drink large format production to meet the growing demand for home consumption. 

Sidel mobilized an international, multi-expertise team within three days of Braguinée requesting assistance on the remote tuning of its packaging line. The liquid packaging specialist leveraged its latest remote line-adaptation technologies and digital solutions for larger format quick set-ups.

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Sidel relied on its Remote Video Assistance and Remote Access solutions, ensuring a fast launch of the 1 L bottle line.

The complete packaging line includes a Sidel Combi SF300 for carbonated soft drinks, installed in 2018. The line can now manage on-the-go formats and 1 L bottles for Braguinée’s three flagship brands, running with high efficiency at 22,000 bottles per hour.

An international operation
Sidel’s project team included high-level experts from Pakistan, Italy, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates.Braguinée’s line can now manage on-the-go formats and 1 L bottles.

“Everything was planned in detail, from parts installation to line start-up, and we could count on the expert team at every step of the project,” recalls Amadou Ndiaye, technical director at Braguinée.

“They [Sidel] also showed great teaching skills and, thanks to their digital solutions, quickly transferred Sidel’s expertise to our team.”

“Learning by doing was a great way to develop our operators’ technical skills even further.”

Gaselia Group has partnered with Sidel since 2009. The company was previously producing beverages in small, on-the-go formats (300 ml and 350 ml).

Digital tools for remote support
The line tuning for the larger format involved a combination of complementary digital remote solutions, namely Remote Video Assistance and Remote Access to customer equipment. Sidel relied on its Remote Video Assistance and Remote Access solutions, ensuring a speedy set-up of the 1 L bottle line.

Braguinée’s team could check all mechanical aspects, including correct installation and parts adjustment, machine operations validation, and line efficiency optimization.

The video-supported Augmented Reality feature accurately guided the customer, aided by live chat and “drawing-over” functionalities. Sidel experts could use their hands to point to details in real-time, providing complete “situational awareness.”

“Despite the distance and COVID restrictions, Sidel was able to provide the same high-quality line conversion services to the customer with the help of its digital solutions, enabling greater flexibility in the whole process,” says Hannes Oeschger, lead customer care manager at Sidel.

“The remote services also gave an additional advantage for Braguinée by saving on travel-related project time and costs for the Sidel team.”Braguinée owns the Planet, Bubble Up and American Cola brands.

In related developments, Marcel Kiessling, managing director at Schubert, recently explained how his company helped a Japanese customer install and commission a machine remotely during the pandemic.

Braguinée in the heart of Guinea
Braguinée is a family-owned company and part of the Gaselia Group. It is responsible for the Planet, Bubble Up and American Cola brands and manufactures other beverages such as energy drinks, juices and bottled water.

The company opened its plant, equipped with a Sidel PET packaging line, in 2018 in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. It is reportedly one of the top three manufacturers on the Guinean carbonated soft drink market.

Edited by Joshua Poole

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