“We fill a lot more bottles than Ballygowan, for example. The rest is sold in distinctive Munster-red Ishka bottles. As the new bottle spins through another circle it is filled and capped, and passed onwards via a conveyor, where it is labelled and packed – with no human interference.įrom there, in just minutes, the water is placed on trucks headed for Lidl, Aldi, Centra, Mace, Londis, Maxol, Supermac’s and other customers.Ībout 60pc of the water bottled at the plant is for various own-brand labels at various Irish shops and supermarkets. One revolution heats the plastic, the next blows it, as if by magic, into a familiar drinking bottle shape. Small test-tube shaped pre-forms of PET material, shot-glass sized, spin rapidly through intersecting circular holders. “Watch closely and you can see the machine blowing the bottle, but it might be too fast for you,” he says. You’d be surprised how quickly it all adds up.”ĭenis is the technology expert, but Mike takes an obvious pride in the nuts and bolts of the operation. “Since 2003 we’ve probably invested up to €20m – between the site, the capex, the new lines, the technology, staff, innovation. Eventually it will help push turnover from €20m to beyond €30m. The investment in the new line will allow Ishka, which employs more than 40 staff, to fulfil two major new contracts from Irish retailers that have been agreed but not finalised. A brand new kitchen will allow it to add flavours and develop a new range of mixers and flavoured drinks.
Ishka will also install a new glass bottle line aimed at the food service and hospitality sector. Now the firm is embarking on a new €11m investment to add a new high-speed bottling line early next year, capable of producing 36,000 bottles an hour. So we have gone from having one line to three lines,” says Sutton. “New demand created the need for more production more production created the demand for new lines. Growth in bottled water sales has continued since, accelerating during the lockdowns. Ishka was able to meet the new demand and win new contracts. The following summer Ireland basked in a heatwave and bottled water sales went through the roof. Buying a €4m machine straight off an exhibition stand had not been on the agenda that morning. There they spotted the machine and knew immediately it could transform their business. In 2017 the two brothers had travelled to Drinktec in Munich – a huge beverage-industry trade fair. He is particularly proud of the high-speed stretch blow moulding machine on the newest of Ishka’s three production lines. You’ll never taste fresher water,” says Sutton who, alongside his brother Denis, is joint managing director of the family-owned business. Water flows from five deep wells below the hill on which Ishka’s plant is built. He reaches in and grabs from the fast-moving conveyer belt a bottle just filled with cool spring water.