As brands expand their portfolios to include a variety of beverages, they require automated mixing and blending systems that are flexible enough
to handle different types of batches efficiently. To accommodate the varying ingredients and functional claims associated with these different products, beverage-makers seek to utilize automated systems that can handle this complexity and depth within a portfolio, explains Kevin Henretta, chief engineer for SensiBlend and chief technical officer of Hygeia Industries Inc., the brand’s Wilmette, Ill.-based parent company.
“The sports drink market is a great example,” Henretta says. “The number of ingredients is increasing as sports drinks are really becoming more like energy drinks or health drinks with double-digit numbers of ingredients. The depth refers to the many different variations that now exist — different flavors, caffeine versus non-caffeine, real sugar versus artificial sugar, targeted toward men’s health or women’s health, etc. An automated system that can adapt from one product to the next and hit a wide range of capacities is desired when the product range is like this.”