China — Petainer, the global leader in one-way kegs, is partnering with Great Leap Brewing in China to start manufacturing petainerKeg in 2019. This is in response to rapidly growing demand for draught beer in China and the suitability of one-way PET kegs in a country where logistics are complex.
Today’s announcement follows the commencement of Brazilian manufacturing in September with partner Blue PET, marking key steps in Petainer’s growth strategy and commitment to bringing the supply chain closer to the market. Petainer also manufactures in Europe, the US and Australia.
The blow moulding plant in Tianjin, which has a Pet Technologies APF-30 machine, will serve the domestic market as well as becoming the manufacturing hub for Petainer’s Asia region. Great Leap Brewing will also self-manufacture kegs at the facility to support their own business development strategy.
Local manufacturing means that supply chain costs will be reduced, making it even more cost-effective to use petainerKeg compared to other forms of packaging – a further demonstration that Petainer supplies the most sustainable PET keg for global expansion as the only provider able to locally manufacture across the globe, maintaining the lowest carbon impact possible.
The plant will produce Petainer’s 20L Hybrid keg, the first one-way PET keg to use a circular economy design, focused on recycling and reuse. Designed for drinks producers such as breweries as a more cost-effective and sustainable alternative to traditional stainless-steel kegs, the keg provides a low-cost way of entering new domestic and international markets. Petainer’s Classic and USD keg will also be manufactured at the site.
Hugh Ross, Group Chief Executive of Petainer, said: “I am pleased to announce our strategic partnership with Great Leap Brewing. Manufacturing in the world’s biggest beer market is a major step for Petainer and one which allows us to serve the market efficiently and sustainably by bringing the supply chain to the market.”
Carl Setzer, Founder & Brewmaster of Great Leap Brewing, Beijing, said: “The Chinese craft beer market is growing, which means industry has to find a cost-effective, efficient way of transporting beer over long-distances. Petainer’s one-way PET kegs meet this need and protects the quality of the beer.”
Décio Boschetti, BLUE PET said: “We have partnered with Petainer because we recognise the growth opportunities for its products. One-way kegs provide a much more cost-effective alternative to steel kegs without any compromise on product quality and protection.”
Petainer has also invested in its existing sites and has built a new warehouse at its Aš plant in the Czech Republic to provide more storage capacity to meet its current and future ambitious growth plans while also improving sustainability. The introduction of the new warehouse removes 1740 truck deliveries per annum, reducing Petainer’s carbon footprint significantly.
The development follows a similar initiative at Petainer’s Lidköping plant in Sweden, where a new warehouse was built next to the factory to provide more storage capacity, reducing logistics and carbon footprint.
At its Russian plant in Klin, Petainer has invested in injection-moulding capability to localise supply of preforms for the market-leading petainerKeg™. The Russian plant will also have additional warehouse capacity to improve supply chain efficiencies.
Petainer is exhibiting at this year’s Brau Beviale – Hall 4 / 4-137. Brau Beviale takes place from 13 – 15 November in Nuremberg, Germany. For further information about Petainer’s range of products please visit www.petainer.com