Saint louisbased distilled spirits manufacturer and bottler luxco is one of the leading alcohol suppliers in the united states. The missouri company receives bulk alcohol and then blends, packages and ships its own lines of bourbon, brandy, vodka, rum, and tequila, as well as a range of flavored cordials and liqueurs. Recently, as part of a new bottling line to replace its 17year old system, luxco sought a packer that would boost speed while offering better and more consistent control of bottles.
They opted for a 939 versatron &ldquosoft catch&rdquo case packer, manufactured by standardknapp inc., portland, conn. In addition to increasing speed, the packer significantly reduces bottle breakage &ldquoour old drop packer just didn&rsquot do the job properly,&rdquo notes chris wieczorek, plant manager. &ldquothe bottles had a tendency to drop through the head too hard, which created too high a level of breakage.
This has negative effects on our operations, as we have to stop the line and clean up the breakage.&rdquo versatron&rsquos soft catch technology is specifically designed for highspeed packing of fragile containers. It is said to reduce the shock energy by 80 percent over a conventional drop packer.
Reducing shock energy enables the use of thinner gauge bottles resulting in significant savings. Luxco also found that changeovers, which used to average 20 to 30 minutes, now take only 8 to 10 minutes with the new packer, in part because the 939 versatron&rsquos change parts are numbered and color coded, making changeovers simpler to perform. Since luxco packages hundreds of different products, these time savings have a significant impact on productivity and profitability.
Another benefit of the new packer according to luxco&rsquos maintenance manager rick hallquist is that all the maintenance procedures are built into the hmi human machine interface. &ldquodisplaying maintenance on the hmi makes this packer more efficient than most of the plant&rsquos other equipment, because it tells us when it needs to be maintained,&rdquo says hallquist.
Catching eggs for profit as the name suggests, the 939 versatron case packer is versatile&mdashimportant for firms like luxco that pack multiple products. The machine includes a &ldquolaner&rdquo at the upstream end, which divides incoming product from a single file line into the appropriate number of lanes for the particular carton for example a case might be 6 bottles, packed in a 2x3 configuration or 12 bottles, packaged in a 3x4 pattern. According to dave lau, case packer engineering manager for standardknapp, &ldquothe case packer works well for firms like luxco,
which package such a wide variety of products and sizes, including 750 milliliter bottles, 1 liter and 1.75 liter bottles, as well as 6 packs and 12 packs. Versatility plus quick changeover is key.&rdquo a twoaxis servo system allows the versatron to actually &ldquocatch&rdquo the product while it descends into the case. The lift table moves the case to the &ldquoup&rdquo position and waits for a full grid. When the grid is full, the riding strips shift to the side and initiate the bottle descent. The lift table simultaneously moves the case downward on a velocity curve that ultimately achieves the same speed at the point of contact the &ldquosoft catch&rdquo. &ldquoit&rsquos like catching an egg,&rdquo says lau. Luxco&rsquos wieczorek summed up his experience with the new machine this way &ldquoan extremely user friendly drop packer that is consistent, simple to use, and straightforward. We installed an entire new line, and this was one of the best pieces of equipment we purchased. It performs exactly the way it was sold to us and is one of the best equipment purchases we&rsquove made in a long time.&rdquo httpwww.packworld.commachinerycasepackingmorespeedlessbreakagefragilecontai…
