Nbsppackaging Line Improvements Keep Craft Brewer Focused On The Futuregoal Of Increasing Throughput While Eliminating Packaging Breakageafter Experiencing A Higher Than Desirable Level Of Bottle Breakage With Repurposed Packaging Equipment Midwestern Stalwart Boulevard Brewing Company Approached Standardknapp To Create A Solution To Meet Its Nontraditional Packaging Demands Which Include Four Different Bottle Types Multiple Packaging Sizes And No Carton Dividers The Packaging Company Responded With An Innovative Solution That Picks The Product From The Infeed Conveyor And Gently Places It Into The Bottom Of The Empty Case The Company Now Reports Virtually Zero Packaging Breakage And Has Increased Throughput By About 10 Percent Because Of Increased Efficiency And Less Down Timeboulevard Breweryrsquos Growth Fuels Facility Expansionkansas City Mobased Boulevard Brewing Company Is The 10th Largest Craft And 17th Largest Overall Brewery In The Us Boulevard It Currently Offers Seven Yearround And Five Seasonal Brews As Well As A Rotating Line Of Artisanal Beers Named For Its Iconic Brick Smokestack Packaged In 750ml Bottles 12ounce Fourpacks And Kegsduring 1990 The First Full Year Of Production The Company Sold 1747 Barrels Bbls Of Beer By 2011 The Company Had Sold The Equivalent Of More Than 46 Million 12ounce Servings And Is Aiming On Brewing About 188000 Bbls In 2013 With Growth Like That Itrsquos Not Surprising That The Brewery Reached Capacity In 2005 Boulevard Broke Ground On A 70000 Square Foot Expansion And Now Has A Total Brewing Capacity Of 600000 Bblsalong With The New Facility Boulevard Needed To Invest In A Packaging Line That Could Keep Up With Its Phenomenal Growth As Boulevard Director Of Engineering Mike Utz Explains Boulevard Began Working On A Highspeed Packaging Line In 2008 After The Facility Expansion Was Completed Ldquowe Opted To Go With Repurposed And Reconditioned Equipment For The New Line Which Included A Drop Packerrdquo Boulevard Eventually Selected Used Equipment From Standardknapp A Portland Ctbased Manufacturer Of Packaging Machineryboulevard Had The Unit A 939s Versatron Rebuilt And Converted To Its Product Range Herersquos Where Things Got Tricky While The Equipment Met Boulevardrsquos Need For Speed It Came With A Price Ndash A High Bottle Breakage Rate During Packaging That Was Exacerbated By The Lighter Weight Bottles That Are Becoming The Industry Norm According To Utz The Trend Towards Use Of Light Weight Glass Bottles Saves On Money And Materials But Makes The Bottles Weaker And Less Able To Stand Up To Rugged Drop Packing Also The Company Uses Dividerless Packaging For A Number Of Package Sizes 6 12 And 20 Packs So The Packer Had To Hit Perfectly Because There Were No Separatorsaccording To Utz Ldquowe Wanted To Stick With The Traditional Packaging That Was Part Of Our Image But The Glass On Glass Packaging Led To An Unacceptable Breakage Raterdquonew Picnplace Packaging Module Virtually Eliminates All Packaging Breakagestandardknapp Worked Closely With Boulevard To Find A Solution To The Breakage Issue Brian Stearns Mechanical Engineer For Standardknapp Explains Ldquothe Used Drop Packer Boulevard Brewing Originally Purchased Was Developed For A Different Purpose And More For A Company At A Different Stage In Its Development It Was Not Well Suited For Their Capacity And Their Need For Different Bottle And Case Types Which Is Why They Experienced Breakagerdquothe Solution Boulevard Arrived At Involved Retrofitting The 939s Versatron Case Packer With A Brand New Upgrade Called The Picnplace Module Which Picks The Product From The Infeed Conveyor And Gently Places It Into The Bottom Of The Empty Case It Gave Boulevard Soft Container Handling And Is Engineered To Grab Product In The Optimum Most Secure Position Or Spot The Module Virtually Eliminated Packaging Breakagethe 2axis Servo Controlled Picnplace Acts Just Like A Personrsquos Arms Offering Smooth Operation The System Is Easy To Program And Easy To Maintain Consistent Operation The Plc Configurable Placement Profiles Make It Easy To Configure Gripping Action And The Distance That The Product Travels Into The Case Is Easily Set From The Operator Interfacethe Picnplacersquos Heavy Duty Construction Includes Mechanical Grippers With Long Life And High Uptime Is Engineered To Run 247 It Packs Every Last Bottle And No Human Assistance Is Needed To Complete The Processthe Picnplace Was Initially Developed For Increasing Speed In Lowering Head Applications But Was Later Considered An Option That Would Work Well For Dealing With The Trend Toward Lighter Glass And Partitionless Packaging Stearns Explains That The Industry Is Moving In The Direction Of Reducing Packaging Materials So Everyone Is Going Towards Thinner Glass And Partitionless Cartons Ldquoyou Need Extremely Versatile Equipment To Be Able To Handle All Those Different Bottle Types And Do It All At High Speedsrdquo Installing The New Unit At Boulevard Was A Winwin For Both Companies Ndash Boulevard Instantly Solved Its Packaging Breakage Problem And Standard Knapp Confirmed That Picnplacersquos Is The Perfect Option For Partitionless Packagingthe New Module Was Installed Quickly And Easily At The End Of 2012 Over The Long Holiday Weekend After A Bit Of Testing That Included Handplacing Bottles To Check Out Carton Size Boulevard Began With A 4hour Shift The First Day And Moved To 100 Percent Production By The Following Day The Quick Commissioning And Optimization Schedule Was Helped By The Fact That Workers Were Already Familiar With The Machine And Only Had To Make A Very Small Change To Go From Droppacking To The Picnplace Moduleldquowe Now Have Just About Zero Breakage At The Packaging Steprdquo Says Boulevardrsquos Utz Who Notes That They Set Production Records During The Second Week Of Operation Increasing Throughput By About 10 Percent Ldquowe Sent More Finished Cases Down To Our Palletizer Than Ever Before The Machine Is Not Faster But The Efficiency Is Much Greater And There Is Less Down Time Less Disruption To The Flow Of Beer And More Packagesrdquohe Notes That Before The Module Was Installed Workers Were Faced With Frequent Shutdowns And Had To Stop The Line To Clean Out The Packer And Start It Up Again They Also Had Been Faced With Contamination Further Down The Line Ldquostandardknapp Worked With Us To Resolve The Problems And Provided An Engineered Solution That Could Fit Into The Existing Footprint Which Was Important Since The Packaging Line Is Shoehorned Into The Space And We Did Not Have A Lot Of Extra Spacerdquo Says Utzhe Adds That He Was Very Pleased With The Engineering Of The Equipment Ldquoretrofitting The New System To The Existing Machine Was Done Very Well This Was A Novel Concept In The Packaging Industry And I Was Impressed With Their Commitment To Making It Work And The Quality Of The Solution Once Delivered This Solution Allowed Us To Keep Our Packaging The Way It Was Which Was An Important Benefit For Boulevardrdquosince Its Installation At Boulevard Brewing Company Several Other Brewers Have Visited The Site To Watch It In Action Ldquoeveryone Who Lays Their Eyes On It Is Excited And Canrsquot Wait To Get Their Hands On Itrdquo Says Stearnsnbsp
