Flexipart creates new, clean and dust free bottle blowing area

Part of the Spadel Group, Brecon Beacons Natural Waters has gone from a cottage industry to a major commercial operation supplying high quality mineral waters to many UK national retail chains. In 2003 a new bottle blowing area needed to be created within the company’s existing warehouse facility. This new area had to be protected from contamination by the day-to-day operation of the warehouse as, once formed, bottles are automatically fed directly to the clean area where the water is bottled. Brecon Beacons Natural Waters selected a system called Flexipart from Galebreaker for the job.

Brecon Waters’ Engineering Maintenance Manager, Colin Edwards, knew exactly what he wanted, “We had four specific requirements – good value, flexibility, quick and dust free installation. Flexipart met them all, no one else could come anywhere near.” The Flexipart system is made from a translucent material that gives 60% light transmission with built in fire retardant properties. The new bottle blowing area consists of a three sided partition, eight metres high and forty metres long, fixed to an existing wall. The whole being tensioned in four directions keeping the material taught, wrinkle free and looking good. Sections are joined using the Flexipart ‘v’ jointing system that makes adding or removing sections easy. Two remote control roller doors, designed for frequent access and made from the same Flexipart material, were fitted. Built into the Flexipart system are clear PVC vision windows to help maintain a safe working area. Crash barriers, of the same design used on motorways, were fitted at floor level to prevent fork lift contact. The system was installed in February this year and took three days to complete.

Brecon Water operate two bottle blowing machines, the newest producing 16,000 bottles per hour. Expansion of the area could be very simply and quickly achieved by extending the length of the Flexipart wall. As the bottle blowing area directly feeds the bottling area it has to be both sealed and maintained as a clean area, with rigorous checks for any dust contamination. A major benefit of the Flexipart system is that, unlike other construction materials such as plaster board or brick, there is no dust generated during build up. Flexipart also effectively contains the noise levels of the bottle blowing machines.