A plant-based beverage factory 4.0
Ecotone’s investment in its Italian site, and development of a new production line, will enable it to produce an additional 27 million litres of plant-based beverages per year, a 30% increase in production capacity.
This major investment is part of the group’s strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of its production sites, focusing on innovation and automation, while driving forward sustainability throughout its operations.
With the aim of making the Badia Polesine site a flagship of Industry 4.0, the investment focus has been on automation, including the implementation of an internal pallet flow management system via laser-guided vehicles.
A reorganisation of the factory’s production workshop also allows for increased automation,
with 50% of its intra-logistics requiring no human intervention, with a fully automated production flow between bottling and loading pallets into trucks. Allowing for more efficient palletising, the new installation also reduces the use of plastic by 15% and optimises transport with the elimination of 58 tons of CO2.
The factory, which produces organic plant-based drinks for brands including Bjorg, Bonneterre, Isola Bio, Abbott Kinney’s and EcoCesta, now employs 163 people across a site that extends over 14,000 sq mt, making it one of the largest European production sites of its kind.