Brewery tastes efficiency with a rotary case packer
With a rotary case packer, Yuengling Brewery improves line efficiency to 93%.
By Noel P. Bodenburg, Managing Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/1/2007
The Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pa., may be one of the nation’s oldest breweries, but it is on the cutting edge of case packing technology.
The brewery was looking to improve packing speeds and line efficiency as well as reduce bottle and label damage. It decided to implement a high-speed, low-maintenance continuous motion, rotary case packer that was designed to maximize placement accuracy and minimize bottle damage.
After the installation, Yuengling claims it achieved a line efficiency of 93% with the machine running well above 98%.
The case packer at the Yuengling plant is configured to run at speeds of up to 45 cases per minute, putting seven varieties of 12-ounce bottled beers into 24-pack boxes. The bottles are placed into four six-pack hand carriers within the cases.
With a dual-axis servo grouper and gripper heads, the packer grips the top of bottles and gently lowers them into the case or tray, avoiding damage to both the labels and bottles. The six-head system can pack up to 50 cases per minute in bottle counts of 6, 12, 18 or 24. The machine also incorporates a pressureless zero-gap infeed, a technology that ensures smooth bottle laning and balanced, jam-resistant operation.
The packer’s changeover and smart automatic fault recovery systems further ensure maximum uptime with minimum operator intervention.
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