Innovative mineral water from Thailand’s hot springs

Mr Udomkunnatum, what’s special about Rare Beverage’s processes? 

Krones technology makes it possible: Our entire production process runs without anybody touching either kit or product, which guarantees maximised standards of cleanliness and safety. Our “6ty Degrees” mineral water is extracted from a depth of over 200 metres, passed directly to the storage tanks and from there to the production line. In order to guarantee our water’s absolute purity, all of this is done without any human contact whatsoever. The consumer opening our water bottle is the first person to touch it. The special thing here is that the entire pipe system is made of foodgrade stainless steel. And this is what sets us apart from other brands. You see, only very few Thai manufacturers have so far invested in this technology. But we deliberately chose to install it because we make customer safety and product quality our top priority. That’s why we think the systems supplied by Krones are best suited for our plant. 

Mr Udomkunnatum, what advantages do you see in partnering with Krones?

When we founded Rare Beverage, we were looking for a vendor that could offer us the solution best suited to achieve our goal. In the course of our search, we came across Krones, a company with a major market share in Thailand and up-to-the-future technology for producing mineral water. Moreover, we attached particular importance to a space-saving configuration since we wanted to leave the springs’ natural environment as unspoiled as possible. 

So obviously, Krones’ block layout comprising stretch blow-moulder, filler and closer fitted in neatly with our concept as the production line can be erected in a minimised space and does not need many operators. Our current line fills 44,000 520-millilitre bottles per hour and is run by a team of five.

What’s more, Krones Thailand is an important warehousing and spare-parts hub for the Asia-Pacific region. And so we always get prompt support from their team of service technicians. That was yet another crucial aspect for us. 

What role does sustainability play – both in your processes and in your collaboration with Krones? 

Krones shares our focus on sustainability and is therefore able to give us optimum support in achieving our sustainability targets. Since Rare Beverage’s plant is embedded in the beautiful scenery of northern Thailand, we created an architecture that blends in harmoniously with its natural environment. Moreover, we attached major importance to cutting down as few trees as possible. As most of them are centuries old, we want to save them, of course, and we also invest in planting new trees. 

Another aspect to consider is environmental pollution in general and the effects that waste has on our planet. Both are a source of deep concern for us. That’s why we use tethered caps, for example – even though that meant investing more money. But bottle caps substantially contribute towards polluting our world and pose a serious threat for animals, especially for marine life. Knowing that, we want to minimise our environmental impact. We hope to set an example by using tethered caps, especially as this type of closure is still relatively little known outside Europe. But we believe our responsibility is to protect our natural environment, which is why we’ve opted for packaging that can be completely recycled.