In 1980, Castleton Beverage purchased three palletizers. After more than 20 years of continuous service, the producer of Bacardi products decided it was time to retire the machines and replace them with state-of-the-art systems able to meet the challenges facing the beverage and liquor industries. Those included handling more stock keeping units than ever, mixed pallets, higher-speed bottling lines as well as changes in bottling and packaging materials.

During the project kick-off meeting, engineers from Bacardi, their materials handling distributor, and the equipment manufacturer identified the features that would be required in the new palletizers.

They would need to be faster to handle current and future growth trends. They would also have to be able to handle a wide range of products and sizes with speeds of up to 75 cases per minute with maximum flexibility. What's more, the systems need to accommodate packaging changes such as the demand for more display cases and the increasing use of less rigid plastic bottles.

The new palletizers, built specifically for Bacardi's requirements, delivered these special handling capabilities.

To begin, tall case stops and close center rollers aid in the handling of both tall and narrow cases. Extra large faceplates and contact surfaces reduce breakage and that ensures the Bacardi display-ready cases are not shipped bent, creased or crushed. Other features allow for softer transition and gentler handling, which results in less stress on the cases. Cushioned material was placed on surfaces such as the layer backstop and the turner assist mechanism to soften any case contact in the palletizer.

Along with the special backstop and turner assist, the transitions were reduced and made smoother to allow the cases to travel with near precision throughout the entire stacking process.

When more than 40,000 cases had been tested successfully on a prototype machine, a bank of five palletizers was installed at Bacardi. They are extremely quiet, require little maintenance, and can be modified to run slip-sheets with or without pallets beneath.