Production line observations, studies and evaluations for any beverage category usually focus on several prime factors: equipment capability, machinery speeds and capacities, productive time maximization, and packaging configurations.
In a famous episode of the “I Love Lucy” show, Lucy and Ethel go to work in a candy factory where their packaging skills are put to the test. Chocolates make their way one by one down a conveyor, and the women must wrap each one before it reaches the next packaging station. If one chocolate makes it past them unwrapped, they’ll be fired.
When Kansas City, Mo.-based Boulevard Brewing Co., now a part of Puurs, Belgium-based Duvel Moortgat, realized that the craft brewing business it had been building since 1989 was outgrowing its infrastructure and equipment, the company knew it needed to turn to automation to support its growth.
“The introduction of a robotic palletizer has had a huge impact on our business,” say Product Manager Jason Covington and Business Development Manager Steve Golladay of ITW Warehouse Automation (ITWWA), Arden, N.C.
Tarpon Springs, Fla.-based A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp. will display five active machines, including the Model 330HS case erector, the Model 436 top case sealer, the Model 72AGSS palletizer, the Model 70 Partition Inserter and the Model 206 case packer, at its booth at Pack Expo 2012 in Chicago.
Cause and effect situations are prevalent on product lines in beverage manufacturing plants. Just as a jam upstream can cause proliferation of product downstream, palletizing equipment has been affected by industry trends toward higher line speeds and lighter packages, which has influenced new advancements.