Application: Drying beer bottle prior to
labelling
The Kaluga Brewing Company (KBC), based in the Kaluga Oblast
region of Central Russia, represents a $100 million investment
by South African Breweries (SAB). Recent activity has seen
a technological overhaul with the removal of the soft-drink
production machinery and 75% of its original brewing facilities.
The company have recently launched the Zolataya Boschka (Golden
Barrel) label from the Kaluga site principally for the home
market but also brews under licence, Holsten, Miller &
the Czech Staropramen beer.
In fact, the Kaluga Brewery was the first Eastern European
brewery to bottle cold-filtered Miller. However, new processes
can impact on the technology employed as Nikolay Zlatev, Maintenance
Manager for KBC discovered. 'We developed a rusty crown cork
issue on our Miller Beer filling lines. The compressed air
nozzle system was unable to eliminate the rusting.' stated
Zlatev.
Zlatev investigated alternative methods to eliminate this
problem and after reading about the success of such systems
on ACIs website, he was convinced that ACI Airknives could
be the solution to Kaluga's drying problems.
The ACI Drying System is a complete stand-alone unit that
is designed to be integrated into existing lines with minimal
disruption - units simply straddle the line without any modifications
to the production line. Predominantly used in the bottling
and canning industries, there are several variations of unit
that form ACI’s DRI-Line Series.
Initially ordering a single system, the 'overnight' success
in drying the sides, caps, and neck areas of Miller bottles,
has resulted in further systems being installed. With production
60% up on previous years and with Russian beer drinkers reportedly
consuming 30 litres of beer per head a year, a completed third
production line will boost productivity at Kaluga Brewing.
