Filling and packaging line for wine with maximised flexibility

Mulled wine, wines, dealer’s brands and contract-bottled products are being handled in numerous variants on the new filling and packaging line from Krones at Georg F. Raum GmbH, Hersbruck, Germany.
The client stipulated that all the products involved, irrespective of whether they’re hot, warm, cold-sterile non-carbonated, cold-sterile carbonated or cloudy, have to be bottled on a single filler rated at 10,000 containers an hour. Other requirements included high levels of hygienic safety for what are sometimes microbiologically susceptible products, fast change-overs to different bottle formats for a range comprising approximately 350 articles, and flexibility in terms of end-of-the-line packaging.

The line’s principal components are these

• The Pressant bulk-glass sweep-off depalletiser handles five different bottles: the 1.0-litre mulled-wine bottle, the 1.0-lire Schlegel bottle, and the Bordeaux bottle in the 1.0-litre, 0,75-litre and 0.375- litre sizes.
• The Mecafill VKPV-CF filler, a counterpressure design with fill level correction, provides responsive flexibility in terms of filling temperature: the filler can cope equally well with cold-sterile filling of wine, mulled-wine bottling at 60°C, and filling soft drinks like children’s punch at 79°C. Automatic interior and exterior cleaning is provided by a Krones VarioDos foam-cleaning system.
• The filler is synchronised with a double-channel Variojet rinser and a screw-capper. All three of these units are accommodated in an enclosed cleanroom featuring air-filter technology.
• The Checkmat system handles all the monitoring functions required, while the bottles are dressed by a Universella labeller.
• At the dry end, the line can create six-bottle and 24-bottle cartons, plus displays with 33-bottle and 44-bottle large-size trays. This flexibility is provided by a Variocart carton erector, a Smartpac packer with replaceable heads, and a large-size-tray erector, plus a Modulpal palletiser with upstream carton orientation.

Only three operators are required for the line in each shift. “We used to need up to seven people, because the display packaging and the pallet strapping had to be done by hand. The new line’s automated features have enabled us to streamline the whole operation.” – that’s the verdict of the company’s top management.