Isbre's competitors. In
September 2008, Isbre began shipping water in bulk via flexitanks (food grade plastic
containers holding 24,000 liters [6,300 gallons)) to existing U.S. bottling plants ... with
excess production capacity. This approach ("Flexitank to U.S.") allows Isbre to expand
capacity and lower its unit cost while being capital lean. Due to lower U.S. raw material
(bottles ... caps, cartons, etc.) and labor costs, the Flexitank to U.S. strategy produces U.S.
landed cost savings of approximately $4.00 per case versus the cost of importing bottled
product