Delta Beverages New Bottling Plant

Nompumelelo Moyo,

Bulawayo, January, 30 2013- Delta Beverages has installed a new US$12.3 million Polyethylene Terephathlate (PET) plastic bottling line at the Bon Accord plant in Bulawayo.

In an exclusive interview with Radio VOP in Bulawayo, the Southern Region general manager, Cynthia Malaba, said the plant, which is the first of its kind in the Zimbabwe will produce 500ml, 1litre, 350ml and 2litre of sparkling beverages.

“The state of the art plant has a capacity to double production and will do bottling, filling, capping, labelling, wrapping and palatalizing.

“The PET bottling line was acquired from KHS, a Germany based company and it came up with back up spares and technical assistance from KHS South Africa,” said Malaba.

She said that the plant is fitted with syrup making vessels and supported by water purification, high pressure compressor and a refrigeration unit.

She added that the plant will address the growing market demands of Delta’s products mostly in the Southern region areas such as Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Gweru and Plumtree.

“Six engineers and technicians have received special training on maintenance of new equipment in Germany and more engineers and technicians have been trained at Bon Accord plant and the challenge of load shedding has necessitated Delta Beverages to acquire a generator to support the plant and ensure continuous production without interruptions,” Malaba said.

The new machine has rated capacity to run 15 000 bottles per hour, 1 000ml and 2 000ml bottles at 14 500 bottles per hour and 12 000 bottles per hour respectively.

The Delta Beverages Bon Accord Sparkling Beverages plant is the third investment in this beverage category after two packaging lines at the company’s Graniteside plant in Harare.

Meanwhile, Delta Beverages said that they are now highly prepared to supply refreshments during the United Nations World Tourism conference that will be hosted by Zimbabwe in Victoria Falls this year in August.