As filling technology advances apace, leading players have identified three major emerging trends:

Absolute product safety through hygienic design

Filling performance optimisation

Increased sustainability of systems with reduced materials consumption

These trends are coming to the fore as a result of continuous improvements along the entire production journey, for example, by increasing the degree of automation of filling valves or by using intelligent filling valve components, according to Thomas Ricker, director at Krones.

Block configuration, which mechanically and electronically combining individual machines into a single unit, has also proved to be an excellent tool in further optimising filling processes, says Ricker.

The inline production of PET containers and immediate filling without intermediate conveyors also facilitates the use of lightweight bottles.