All the Right Moves

Moving in step with the times has never been an issue at the Sidel Canada Inc. conveyor manufacturing facility in Laval, Que., where the science of movement and motion lies at the very core of the plant’s manufacturing mandate and raison d’être.

Started up in 1985, the bright and spacious facility aptly projects a strong vibe of positivity and confidence befitting a factory owned by one of the world’s leading beverage processing and packaging equipment manufacturers.

Employing about 270 people, the Laval plant is one of 50 facilities operated around the world by Sidel—part of the multinational conglomerate Tetra Laval Group that also owns the global Tetra Pak aseptic processing and packaging business and DeLaval, a major producer of dairy and farming and machinery headquartered in Sweden.

With over 40,000 Sidel-made machines operating in most countries around the world today, the company’s global reach and market clout is reflective of Sidel’s world-class manufacturing capabilities, engineering expertise and a relentless focus on sustainability—with the Laval plant providing a compelling case for those attributes and skill sets.

Boasting the globally recognized ISO 14001 standard certification for environmental management systems (EMS) and the ISO 45001 accreditation for sound management of occupational health and safety risks, the Laval factory also happens to be one of Sidel’s few designated Centers of Excellence for Engineering, Project Management, and Digital Portfolio.

As such, the Laval facility enjoys a very special status within the Sidel global organization, especially in its North American operations.

Housing over 5,000 square metres of production space and 4,000 square metres of office space, the Laval facility proudly operates as the Americas region hub for Sidel’s engineering, integration, digital and conveying activities, specializing in:

• Design and manufacturing of mechanical conveyors;
• Cap conveyors and preform conveyors;
• Feeding systems for plastic caps and crowns (cap feeders);
• Line control & regulation: management of the conveyors and flows to optimize line efficiency;
• Engineering services and integration of internal or external equipment
• Centre of expertise for Sidel’s worldwide renowned EIT (Efficiency Improvement Tool) operating software.

On the conveyor side of the business, Sidel Canada provides a comprehensive range of conveyors to handle both primary and secondary packaging applications.

For primary packaging, this includes conveyors deigned to handle PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass bottles, HDPE (high-density polyethylene) containers, pouches and other specialty containers.

For secondary packaging, the plant manufactures the heavier-duty case and pack conveyors for handling cardboard boxes or film packs and trays.

All the conveyors made at the plant can be supplied as stand-alone machinery or as part of a complete Sidel turnkey line, as requested by customers.

“The equipment and solutions provided by Sidel Canada are based on the specific requests of our customers,” says technical sales director for North America Mike De Cotiis, who has been with Sidel for a remarkable 38 years.

“Many of the large CPG (consumer-packaged goods) brands in beer, food, pet food, and home and personal care industries in North America have a piece of equipment or a service solution provided by our Canadian plant,” says De Cotiis, citing water bottlers, soft-drink manufacturers, juice producers, and wine and spirit companies as some of the plant’s most active end-use customers.

“Sidel Canada is very well-known for providing line design engineering services to beer and pet food manufacturers,” De Cotiis states, “along with providing equipment and service solutions to many other CPG customers in North America.

“On occasions when our expertise is needed globally, the Laval site supports other Sidel sites with project management and equipment production,” he adds, citing the plant’s extensive talent pool and vast knowledge base provided by some 60-plus engineers employed at the facility.

“The consumer goods industry is highly competitive these days,” says De Cotiis, “and it is experiencing numerous challenges such as a growing number of increasingly complex SKUs (stock-keeping units), operational efficiencies, labour shortages, etc.

“At the same time we are also experiencing an increase in the implementation of sustainable packaging, smart equipment and digital solutions,” he states. “These are the challenges Sidel is working hard to address and provide solutions for.

To help its customers address those challenges with superior machinery design and performance, the Sidel Canada plant incorporated a highly automated manufacturing process to fabricate, assemble and customize each piece of equipment produced in Laval.

“Our fully integrated sheet metal production includes a laser cutting CNC machine fed by two automated multi-shelf towers to run autonomously 24 hours per day per day,” says the plant’s director of industrial operations Adrien Dagonet.

“It also includes two press brakes and nesting and bending programming software with features recognition.

“For plastic part productions, we recently upgraded our CNC router for a high-speed machine,” Dagonet relates.

“All the programming is now performed using Mastercam software that included full machine simulation to ensure safe programs are released to the operators.”

Adds Dagonet: “Our operations are driven by a state-of-the-art ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system directly connected to multiple systems, like VLM (vertical lift module) towers, to manage our inventory, or our engineering vault that takes care of product life-cycle management.”

As Dagonet explains, Sidel’s engineering team makes extensive use of 3D computer simulation technologies to predict and analyze equipment performance and feasibility before it is even built—resulting in significant manufacturing cost-savings and high customer engagement and satisfaction.

“Sidel’s digital and packaging services in particular are always in high demand,” he says. “The expertise in these two solutions is unique to Sidel and unmatched by the competition.

“We see a lot of customer satisfaction in the positive feedback received through our surveys in the request for custom-tailored Technology Days at the plant,” he adds.

As De Cotiis points out, “We always aim to deliver high-performing packaging solutions to our customers, so Sidel’s equipment, packaging, and engineering solutions are customized to meet our customers’ specific needs.

“In addition, we provide a variety of services including packaging design, maintenance, line assessments, moulds and line conversions, line improvement, rPET bottle production, 365 technical assistance and training,” he continues.

“Additionally, Sidel’s SSO e-commerce platform provides fast and tailored access to our customers to order any services they need.”

According to Claudia De la Vega, Sidel’s regional communications director for the Americas, sustainability is always at the heart of the company’s equipment design and performance attributes, which is entirely fitting for a trail-blazing enterprise that has achieved significant breakthroughs in the lightweighting of plastic bottles used on its equipment, as well as commercializing the use of containers with high PCR content, among other pioneering efforts.

“Maximizing resource utilization and energy reduction is a key Sidel commitment that we seek to achieve through highly productive, innovative and sustainable solutions,” De la Vega states.

“Our Innovation Roadmap for Net Zero prioritizes advanced efficiency, availability and collaboration, like our EVO-ON app suite that leverages Cloud computing and AI (artificial intelligence,” she notes.

“Other notable innovations include our Hydra Ultrasonic bottle washer and EvoFilm Stretch wrap technology, which demonstrate our dedication to sustainability by reducing water and energy consumption,” De la Vega continues.

“Our Sustainable Packaging Framework and StarLITE R bottle for carbonated soft drinks showcase our commitment to circularity and quality,” she states.

“And our ongoing market research and collaboration with the Sustainable Packaging Advisory Board clearly indicate our determination to remain at the forefront of innovation in the packaging industry.”

As part of the company’s efforts to promote the vaunted Circular Economy model, Sidel takes extra care to ensure that all the products and equipment it makes are built for longevity, ease-of-maintenance and recyclability.

According to Sidel, the company’s wide range of container conveying systems—built to handle a wide range of container shapes and formats in different configurations—are designed around a modular mechatronic approach ensuring their reliability and adaptability to production changes when processing PET or glass bottles, metal cans, or beverage cartons.

Designed to facilitate easy line integration, Sidel’s conveyors stand out with an abundance of performance enhancing features that include:

• Simple wiring to existing interfaces thanks to hybrid cabling;
• Compliance with most common technical standards, machine specifications and line networks;
• Easy integration to automation architecture centralizing line parameters;
• Flowing conveying movement to preventing pressure on the products and obstructions on the line;
• Conveying parameters adapted to the characteristics of the container to convey;
• Dry or wet lubrication for a smooth conveying;
• Ultrasonic sensors for improved line reliability compared to traditional technologies;
• Fast and easy format changeovers thanks to pre-set control programs and pre-programmed intuitive operator panel;
• Automatic adjustment of guiding system to bottle formats in lanes;
• Multi-format mechanical design and functional drive design enabling fast format change with minimum settings:
• Sturdy design and materials (stainless steel);
• Standardized drives, chains, pneumatics and computer;
• Simplification and reduction of automation equipment (control cabinets, wiring, captors, actuators) thanks to decentralized and modular mechatronic architecture and hybrid cabling.

To respond to environmental and economic concerns, Sidel is applying ‘ecodesign’ principles to its conveyors with two main focuses: optimizing energy and fluid consumption as well as designing equipment that require fewer parts and less material for construction and maintenance without altering performance.

“With a firm pledge to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, we prioritize sustainability at every stage of our operations,” she states.

As founding member of the global R-Cycle group, Sidel is also actively helping to spearhead the adoption of a digital product passport for sustainable plastic packaging though an open tracing standard,” De la Vega confides.

“Based on GS1 standards, this initiative facilitates the seamless exchange of packaging information across the value chain—from manufacturers to recyclers,” De la Vega states, while lauding the benefits of closer collaboration and partnerships with other progressive like-minded companies.

“Collaboration is key to achieving our sustainability goals,” she states. “We have initiated various projects under the R-Cycle umbrella, including the pooling of packaging information, which underscores our commitment to driving positive change and helping achieve an effective Circular Economy.

“Through R-cycle, we engage with a network of over 30 dedicated members and more than 50 companies and organizations to explore projects and innovations aimed at advancing sustainable solutions.”

Says De la Vega: “At Sidel, we believe in a world where packaged goods are safe, accessible and enjoyable.

“We believe that we have a responsibility to protect the planet and its people in all we do,” she states. “That is why for over 170 years, we have been innovating and partnering with producers to deliver high-performing packaging solutions in the beverage, food and home and personal care markets.

“We take pride knowing that every day, people all over the world consume products packaged by our solutions—solutions that are developed to the highest quality and performance standards—and with a passion for partnering with customers to empower their goals for generations to come,” De la Vega concludes.

“Our vision is clear: We shape the future of the packaging industry by providing our customers with high-performance solutions for product protection, desirability, availability and sustainability.”