Foiled again

The Taxomatic is a "labeler" in the sense that it operates a lot like a cold-glue rotary labeler. It’s called "Taxomatic" because it’s a modified version of a machine Krones builds for application of government-required tax strips to bottles of spirits.

Cans enter the 18-station rotary system through a feedscrew. A label pallet picks up food-contact-approved adhesive from a glue roll and then picks a foil "label" from a magazine. The foil is transferred to a gripper device that puts the foil on the can lid. In a second carousel the foil is gently pressed around the top of the can.

Supplied by Hueck Folien represented in the United States by Hueck Foils the 13-micron foil labels are printed flexo in four or five colors. At Petropolis the labels are applied at 500/min to 350-mL aluminum cans. The cans are then shrink bundled in either 12- or 24-count bundles.

In use now since October the foil overwraps are not cheap. Petropolis’s Douglas Cervejacrystal says the foil adds about U.S.$2.33 to the cost of a 12-pack. The brewery is obviously willing to think that Brazilian beer drinkers will pay the upcharge in return for knowing that the can surface they drink from is unsoiled.