In the green Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland, where nature offers its best and offers tranquility and views of indescribable beauty, there is the amazing coexistence with modernity and technology of Holderhof Produkte, a leading food company in the production of fruit juices. The company turned to SMI for the supply of a new aseptic line for the production of quality juices with a thousand therapeutic virtues, designed according to the most rigorous measures to respect the environment.
In a bottle… All the freshness of a meadow
Christof Schenk was 20 years old, when in 2000, he founded Holderhof Produckte AG with the aim to produce and sell products made from Elderberry flowers and berries. The first Elderberry trees were planted in 1998 and the first product Elderwood wine, became the object of his graduate thesis in agriculture. The success of this new product prompted the Swiss company to expand the Elderberry plantation and at the same time expand their business.
At first there were only seven employees, today the company employs 25 people and, apart from Elderberry, they also cultivate currants, raspberries, herbs and berries. This allows them to continue their efforts of innovation and diversification that is the basis of their very wide and varied, current production range.
Since 2012 this Swiss company has produced syrups, fresh fruit juices and “soft drinks” within the PET container, bottling line at their factory in Henau, in the canton of San Gallo, while the production of syrups in glass bottles dates back to 2017.
The great attention paid to the surrounding environment and the desire to protect and preserve it from future contamination, has considerably influenced the company’s production choices. SMI solutions for Holderhof At the bottom of the success of Holderhof Produkte AG there is a deep love for and great attention paid to, nature and to the quality of the final products.
There is no reason to doubt the quality of a product that is 100% natural, which results from the use of excellent, organic, raw materials, subject to scrupulous controls, from the gathering, to the production, and the distribution to the consumer.
To satisfy the various tastes of the latter, the Henau based company continuously develops and introduces new products, marketed under its own brand or for third parties, both in Switzerland and in the rest of the world.
The aseptic line solution provided by SMI, starts from these considerations: from the need to have an extremely flexible system, to process the many products offered by Holderhof, and from the importance of having hi-tech production systems, that preserve the surrounding natural environment.
The 8,800 bottles/hour line includes the EBS 4 ERGON rotary stretch-blow moulder for the production of 17 different bottles in PET with different capacities; the net weight filling and capping monobloc for liquid products; the LSK 30T ERGON shrink wrapper for manufacturing different types of packs in film only, tray only and tray+- film; the palletizing automatic system from the APS 1550 P ERGON and SWM line supervisor.
Main advantages:
– Solution for an aseptic bottling line including: rotary stretch-blow molding machine for the production of a large number of bottles of various capacities; net weight filler; automatic shrink wrapper to produce various bundles in film-only, tray-only or tray + film configurations and an automatic palletization system to process different palletisation schemes. Net weight filling and capping block of liquid products
– High flexibility to quickly switch from one bottle to another. Considering the production speeds, the customer could have chosen between rotary or linear stretch-blow molding solutions.
Holderhof Produkte opted for SMI’s EBS E ERGON rotary technology, because it offers the advantage of being more flexible in the production of various types of bottles, of different capacities, which require frequent format changes.
EBS E ERGON stretch blow molding machine with extremely versatile preform heating oven: it can process different types of PET or rPET preforms. In fact, the Swiss company is increasing its use of preforms made largely with recycled resin
– The SMI solution for stretch-blow molding of containers adopts eco-compatible technologies, such as the two-stage air recovery system, which ensures a significant reduction in energy consumption and related costs
– Filling with weight dosing technology: the ideal solution for filling sensitive products such as juices and syrups
– Reduced and simplified maintenance operations, which also make it possible to optimize the consumption of washing liquids during the cleaning phases of the system
– High flexibility, both in the secondary packaging of the more than 35 formats processed by the LSK 30T ERGON shrinkwrapper and in the tertiary packaging created by the APS 1550 palletiser, which allows to quickly switch from one pack format to another and from one palletisation scheme to another
– Simple and quick management of work programs by the machine operator and scheduled maintenance interventions
– Reduced energy consumption, which is a “must” for Holderhof Produkte AG, particularly demanding in adopting solutions that protect the surrounding environment
– Simple and intuitive management and control of the production line, thanks to the POSYC® HMI system dedicated to monitoring line operation and controlling product flow and conveyor speed
– Continuous supervision of the bottling line, thanks to the SWM supervisor system, which ensures rapid and efficient monitoring of line operation, even remotely via smartphone and tablet
– The SWM Supervisor control system, developed according to Industry 4.0 and IoT principles, combines the typical production data collection and monitoring functions with a series of tools to simplify the control and management of the plant and improve its productivity and safety and cost containment.
Products for every taste
The Holderhof Produkte production range is constantly expanding and includes:
• Refreshing drinks: organic drinks based on natural extracts, fruit juices and tea
• Organic and conventional syrups: produced with the best Swiss fruit, 100% organic, available in PET and glass bottles;
• Fresh juices, both with fruit and pulp
• Fruit wines: with fresh fruit and with an alcohol content of less than 10%, which makes them particularly suitable as an aperitif
• Organic Energy Drink
• Elderberry syrup, rich in fiber, tannins and dyes, a valuable ally from a medical point of view to prevent heart and circulatory diseases; a natural purifier, rich in vitamins (especially vitamin C) and free amino acids
• Private label products: Holderhof is an ideal partner for the production, filling and packaging of various beverage formats for third parties in PET or glass bottles.
The Holderhof elderberry plantations
Elderberry trees provide the raw materials that Holderhof Produkte AG needs for its products. The fruit syrups are made with organic, natural, fruit juices, made with fruits from the plantations located between Lake Constance and the Toggenburg district and in which dozens of farmers work. The hand-picked harvest, of flowers and berries, is the most time-consuming work, but at the same time ensures a high, quality raw material. Only a few hours pass between harvesting and processing, a fundamental aspect to guarantee natural, fresh, tasty, quality products.
For centuries, elderberry, together with chamomile, has been one of the main remedies of herbal medicine, appreciated for its wealth of beneficial properties, especially with regards to its antibacterial and antiviral functions. The medicinal-herbal properties are mainly contained in the fruits and flowers. From the processing of this plant, both the elderberry syrup of the same name and decoctions, herbal teas and cosmetic preparations are obtained.
The flowers can be harvested between May and June, while for the berries you have to wait until the end of August when they are fully ripe. Ripe berries reach an almost black colour, very similar to blueberries, while if they are red, they have an unripe taste and can also be irritating.
An immense open-air garden that looks to the future
In the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, near the spectacular Lake Constance, an international area spanning Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, everything is surrounded by immense, rolling hills and extensive fruit plantations.
The Holderhof Produkte AG Company is located in the heart of this fairytale landscape, where nature and modernity coexist harmoniously and where the love for art, hospitality and “joie de vivre” come together in a single environment. This area of Switzerland is home to numerous companies operating on a global scale, many of which, such as Holderhof, are leaders in their industry.
Dominating this extraordinary Swiss territory, is the famous Lake Constance, a body of water worthy of protection, surrounded by lush vegetation, with plantations of fruit trees and vines that extend as far as the eye can see; a territory to be savored, in the slow rolling of its sweet hills, where villages with ancient charm are hidden, witnesses of a distant history. Glimpses full of charm, in which nature and its rhythms have always been the protagonists.
