ACI Drying Systems see Copella Fruit
Juice bottles labelled precisely
Application:
Drying fruit juice bottles pre-labelling
‘We operate 7-days per week and our production plans
are flexed daily to produce premium fruit juices in five different
sized bottles from 1.75 litre down to 250ml.’ stated
Operations Manager, David Corbett. ‘Empty bottles are
cleaned and rinsed before filling and capping in a clean air
filtered environment, limiting the exposure to airborne microbes.
As a chilled product, the juice is delivered into the waiting
vessel between temperatures of zero and five degrees centigrade.’
The filled PET bottles are then transported by way of a bespoke
conveyor system incorporating two ACI Airknife systems enabling
the surfaces of the bottles to be completely dried prior to
an automated Krones self-adhesive labelling system.
‘Obviously, a chilled product when entering a higher
temperature will form condensation on its exterior surfaces
and has to be completely dried before labelling.’ added
David Corbett ‘Prior to the installation of the ACI
Airknives, we used to dry the bottle surfaces with a home
made series of air combs working off standard compressed air
in conjunction with a semi-automated production line - a lot
more noisier and a lot more costlier in terms of power consumption.
It was also not totally reliable in terms of giving us a moisture-free
surface when attaching a clear label. As a result the glue
would turn milky or air bubbles would accumulate and the presentation
of the label, and hence the end product on the shelf, would
not be to acceptable standards.’
‘The line was fully automated two years ago and we purchased
our first ACI system having seen its advantages in articles.
The system was positioned 10 metres from the labelling machine
and although it has more than satisfied our drying requirements
we wanted double the insurance, especially on our larger bottles,
and fitted a second in-between the first and the Krones machine
in the last year.
Since the line was fully automated, productivity has risen
from 3,000 bottles an hour to 12,000 per hour. We now get
a quality dried bottled and our concerns of a label ‘skidding’
on the bottle surface have been virtually eliminated. In fact,
we have run the line to its maximum capacity of 18,000 bottles
per hour and the ACI systems coped admirably.’ concluded,
David Corbett.
