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.