When it comes to cartoning beverage cans and bottles, the typical limit tends to be in the 300 cartons/min range. But when customer feedback made it clear that higher surge speeds would be a big help, the machinery builders at R.A Jones, part of the Coesia Group, responded by developing the Meridian XR MPS-300, an R.A Jones cartoner that incorporates a Speed-up Kit designed specifically to meet this need.
“It was largely a matter of stepping back and looking at some of the proven technology we have in other machines to see how we could address this need,” said Rich Clifton, Beverage and Robotics Portfolio Manager. “Our Orbi-Track technology seemed like the right fit. We knew it was proven and robust. We just had to find a way to adapt it to the Meridian XR.”
The machine on display at PACK EXPO has a nominal speed of 300 cartons/min but can accommodate 345 cartons/min when line conditions call for it. “What it means on the plant floor is that our customers are now able to run their upstream fillers more efficiently because they can empty their accumulation tables at a faster rate than what is typically seen in the industry,” said Clifton. “It’s not like they’re going to run at surge speed all day long, but if they can do it for 25 minutes or so as many times as they need to in the course of the day, that helps a lot.”
