Watch the moulding process
in action
(The animation has been kindly provided by one of our suppliers)
Blow moulding
Since 2000, we have produced all our plastic bottles on site in our factories, rather than purchasing them ready-made.
Although this has increased the amount of energy we use in our factories, the increase is more than offset by the 90% reduction in deliveries needed from our suppliers, saving 4m road miles per year.
Instead of whole bottles, which take a lot of space, our suppliers provide us with custom-designed preforms, which we soften and blow with hot air in a special moulder at the start of our production lines.
Fruit Shoot preforms are delivered from our suppliers in cases of 18,000 units. These are opened and lifted onto a high-level conveyor where they are turned opening side up and sorted into single file.
On arrival at the blow moulder, the preforms are inverted onto a wheel and passed quickly through a heat tunnel where hot air (approx. 180 degrees centigrade) softens the plastic so it can expand easily.
Each softened preform is encased in a mould which holds it to the correct shape as hot air is blown inside it.
The moulder on our Fruit Shoot line is capable of blowing 36,000 x 200 ml bottles per hour - that's 10 bottles per second. Britvic produces around 25,000 tonnes of plastic bottles a year using this method.