Gebo Cermex Oversees Reengineering Of Lines At A Bacardi-Martini Bottling Plant

For the establishment of new lines and for the optimization of existing packaging facilities, Gebo Cermex  was  able  to  offer  engineering  expertise,  provision  of  automatic  packaging machines and the integration of complementary systems. For over 20 years, the company has installed, relocated, modified and upgraded a large number of bottling lines for wines and spirits worldwide.  

 

Bacardi-Martini  naturally  chose  Gebo  Cermex  expertise  to  optimize  its  production  facilities  in Beaucaire, southern France. The global giant prepares and bottles vodka, tequila, liqueurs and vermouths  on  this  historic  site.  If  the  various  versions  are  taken  into  account,  20  different products and 24 glass bottle formats, from 200 ml to 2 litres, are processed at the site. The challenge was to respond to the dual problem of speed and flexibility, previously handled by a configuration with 6 separate bottling lines. 

 

2 high-performance lines instead of 6 lines for increased productivity 

In close liaison with the Bacardi-Martini in-house teams, the Gebo Cermex engineers 

reorganized production with a view to combining the best cost for speed and flexibility, overall and at each stage of the bottling process: 

  By abandoning an approach based on lines dedicated to brands or product types. 

  By maintaining a maximum of equipment from the old configuration in order to remain competitive. 

  By installing new machines where necessary to handle the dual requirement of high speed and high flexibility: robotic case packer or labeller with optical orientation, for 

example. 

  By coming up with innovative solutions to facilitate circulation of flows, improve operator ergonomics and optimise format changeover times. 

 

Following a study, the solution proposed by the Gebo Cermex team made it possible to switch from 6 to 2 lines, by specializing the lines, with a high-speed line for large production runs and a high-flexibility line for small and medium sized ones. The productivity target was achieved, since the reduction in the number of lines was accompanied by an increase in the number of bottles produced per minute on the site.  

 

Olivier Goffin, Director of the Beer, Wine and Spirits market at Gebo Cermex, shed light on the thinking behind the project: "We worked on optimizing the efficiency and reliability of the site  while  reducing  floor  space,  which  improves  the  circulation  of  people  and  product flows. It was by reasoning according to the length of the production run, and no longer according to the brand, that we were able to achieve this result, which enables smoother production with far fewer downtimes".  

 

Selecting the best speed/flexibility/cost combination for each item of equipment   

 

Conveying  and  management  of  accumulation  are  performed  by  Gebo  conveyors  and accumulation tables. Each unit is connected to a modular central architecture which groups 

together all parameters and manages the interactions between equipment. Line 1 is equipped with a pressureless combiner which operates at up to 300 bottles per minute. Line 2, boasting high flexibility, allows units to enter the line without applying pressure at a rate of 150 bottles per hour.  

 

To manage the speed of line 1 and the flexibility of line 2, a Cermex "AN" Pick & Place case packing robot was installed. At each cycle, the numerical axis gantry grabs 36 bottles with its customized  gripping  head  and  places  them  6  per  case  in  6  cases  simultaneously  whilst protecting the products and labels at all times. When a new bottle format requires a change of grippers, just  15  minutes  is  needed  to  reposition/replace  them  and restart the  line.  Upstream from the robotic case packer, an F3 case erector positively forms the case with pre-opening of the  outer  flaps  for  guaranteed  efficiency  and  squareness.  Downstream,  the  Cermex  C6  case gluer  seals  the  top  flaps  of  the  case  using  hot-melt  glue.  An  inkjet  printer  then  applies  the barcode and the boxes are conveyed by a spiral elevator to the palletizer. These two items of equipment were included in the Gebo Cermex service supply. 

 

The  EIT (Efficiency  Improvement  Tool)  developed  by  Gebo  is  a  modular  and  scalable system to collect real-time operational information on each of the line's components. It thereby enables  operators  to  identify  the  primary  causes  of  the  stoppages  on  both  lines  and,  more generally, facilitates implementation of action plans for increasing their efficiency. This tool was easily installed in new equipment and existing machines.

 

Much of the equipment being operated on pre-existing lines was retained and reinstalled on  the  2  new  lines.  Mario  Trigueiro,  Gebo  sales  engineer  for  the  Beaucaire  site  pointed  out: 

 

"Our approach was intended to be highly pragmatic, taking into account the expectations of speed add flexibility along with the desire to retain and reuse as much of the existing 

equipment  as  possible  in  order  to  comply  with  the  budgetary  framework.  The  overall layout of lines to factor in the constraints of the existing site was another strong point in 

the Gebo Cermex approach".  

 

The effectiveness of the solution proposed by Gebo Cermex also stems from the fact that two filling machines were positioned on each line. Vermouths and Get are products which require a lengthy machine cleaning and sterilizing process. For this essential operation to be performed in hidden time without blocking the line, the second filling machine takes over when the recipe is changed.