Replies to post #61245 on Aquagold International Inc (AQUI)

[aquamuscle]

good stuff from old Cott beverage release about Iroquois

Iroquois Water first began bottling its water using contract bottlers, but the company decided to build its own plant. It never had any thoughts of building its plant near the source of its water.

"That would be like putting a paper mill deep in the forest," says Villeneuve.

The company transports its water from the source to the bottling plant in a fleet of stainless-steel tank trucks.

Man, machine work together

Iroquois Water's 60,000-square-foot plant has three bottling lines, including a fully automated line run by industrial robots. Human operators run the line using computer controls. The $5.6-million automated plant machinery is manufactured by Krones AG of Germany. Krones made one concession to land the Iroquois contract. The company typically paints its machinery only red or blue, but it made a special version for Iroquois Water.

"Our machinery is purple and it's gorgeous," says Villeneuve.

Using equipment from a single supplier, he says, is not typical in the bottling industry. Many plants have a production line composed of several different brands of machines. The automated line can produce 24,000 bottles per hour and Villeneuve says the plant will ship 11 million cases per year. Iroquois packaging ranges from 350-mL bottles up to 1.5L containers, as well as 5-gallon jugs used in water-coolers. The line blows its own plastic bottles, which move through the machinery and then emerge as packaged, labeled, and filled, ready to ship to stores.

Currently, 35 employees from Akwesasne, Ontario, Quebec, and New York work at Iroquois, and the company plans to increase its employment to 85 by May. The workers, says Villeneuve, need no experience because of the automated line.

Like the nearby Eisenhower Lock and Moses-Saunders power dam, the Iroquois Water plant has become one of the area's tourist attractions. The plant tour not only includes commercial aspects but also Iroquois cultural information.
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"We teach visitors about our history," says Villeneuve.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3718/is_200202/ai_n9050822