ISM was founded in 1988 and strong performance of its original product, Kola Real led to a strengthening of its operations in January 2000 when it opened another soft drink manufacturing plant in Arequipa, Peru's second biggest city.
The company made its first steps outside of Peru in 2002 with the appointment of two distributors in Chile, and the opened manufacturing facilities in the Dominican Republic in 2005 and Brazil in 2012.
Strong performance in a growing market
In the Dominican Republic, off-trade sales for bottled water increased by 2% in volume in 2016, while sales figures increased by 5% to hit 1.3 billion liters and DOP (Dominican Peso) 12.4 billion, respectively.
While the majority of still bottled water in the country is typically sold in bulk (five-gallon containers), and often delivered to apartments and residences, single-serve products are growing in popularity. ISM’s domestic bottled water market increased its sales by 17%, primarily under its Cool Heaven brand.
In soft drinks, sustained growth continued for several brands, including Kola Real, Frutop, and its 360 energy drink.
The company’s expansion of its product range and presence in international markets is linked to a strong relationship with Sidel, with Angel Idone, Innovation and Engineering Specialist at ISM, citing efficiencies achieved from Sidel equipment as “key for our results”.
“Since 2005, we have been acquiring Sidel blow moulding equipment,” said Idone. “With the blow moulding of PET bottles being the most energy-intensive process within the whole production line, they have helped us generate considerable savings over the years. The high up-time of Sidel equipment also enables us to achieve greater efficiency from the production lines in which it is installed. Moreover, Sidel has helped us reduce our bottles’ weight, that’s why we have further minimized our TCO, which is key for our results.”
The most recent ISM installation is a Sidel Matrix Combi, bottling still water and flavored water at a rate of 36,000 bottles per hour (bph) in the company's Dominican factory, explained Sidel. The new line has allowed ISM to achieve energy savings of around 8%.
Improvements to the production and filling of PET bottles for ISM’s Cool Heaven water and Frutop juices increased efficiency levels up to 4% and contributing to a reduction in operating costs of up to 12%.
“We started working with Industrias San Miguel in Peru more than 10 years ago, and it is particularly pleasing to help the company grow and prosper in pursuit of its business ambitions,” said Federico Avila, Sidel Account Manager Hispanic America. “Our Matrix blowers are perfectly established to support ISM on its journey: delivering the fastest changeover time, the highest oven efficiency, along with the longest uptime on the market, our blow moulding equipment offers customers the significant advantage of the very lowest total cost of ownership possible.”