Fixed path: Beverage manufacturer dilutes costs with roller upgrade system

A beverage manufacturer in the Midwest was looking for an upgrade to its bottle-packaging conveyor system that would save operating costs in the long term. After installing roller upgrades at the beverage plant, including chains designed for high loads and speeds, the company improved uptime and reduced packaging costs.

The plant was using four live roller conveyors to move packaged product to a merge table, where bottles went through a shrink-wrap tunnel. Next, bottles were conveyed on two lines of rollers to a palletizer. These live roller conveyors required a belt to drive the rollers and move the product, but the belts broke once a month. This prevented product from reaching the palletizer for final preparation and shipment.

The plant’s new conveyor includes both straight and curved chain, support brackets, wear strips and a unique drive shaft support module. Cost savings extend beyond downtime reduction. Prior to the upgrade, bottles needed cardboard sheets to “ride on.” The new system did away with this requirement and created the primary cost savings for the project.

The “B Line,” a 125-foot section between the shrink tunnel and the palletizer, was installed the following year. The elimination of hundreds of semi-precision rollers in both lines has minimized the noise in this part of the plant and virtually eliminated maintenance.

Before the project, each failure caused downtime costs of $1,500. These events occurred 12 times each year, resulting in $18,000 of annual downtime. The additional savings realized by eliminating the cardboard totaled $425,000 annually.

Motion Industries
800-526-9328
motionindustries.com