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Flexible end-of-line robotics let Molson Coors mix formats

With more than 30 brands and an ever-widening array of pack formats, container sizes, and distribution channels, Molson Coors needed agile end-of-line equipment.

Molson Coors' flexible end-of-line robotics handles many pack formats.
Molson Coors' flexible end-of-line robotics handles many pack formats.

Upon opening a new production plant in British Columbia, Canada, Molson Coors needed an intelligent end-of-line automation solution to package filled glass bottles in a wide variety of paperboard and corrugated case formats and layouts. The challenge was to integrate three individual processes—carton and case erecting, bottle loading, and case sealing—into one seamless system with a consistently high output. “It was very important for us to find a solution that could ensure the flexibility needed to quickly respond to changing market needs and preferences,” says Connie Jones, Senior Project Manager, Molson Coors.

The solution was the Innopack TLM, a state-of-the-art bottle packaging system developed jointly by KHS and Schubert. The high-performance, space-saving system merges the KHS bottle packer with Schubert’s TLM packaging system. The resulting Innopack TLM offers a single, smooth process with minimum changeover and start-up time.

“Traditionally, production lines for processing baskets, RSC boxes and wrap-around cartons are linked by conveyors. The Innopack TLM, however, integrates the individual modules with a significantly higher degree of flexibility,” says Max Schwaiger, Product Support, KHS.

The new packaging line for Molson Coors now packs six different formats: 6-packs in trays, 12-, 15- and 18-packs in cartons, 6-pack baskets in RSC boxes, baskets or wrap-arounds, as well as 24-pack RSC cases, all at speeds of up to 720 bottles/min. The Innopack TLM provides the brewer with the necessary flexibility in terms of formats and packaging schemes, and kept up with the prodigious throughput. Currently, 341 mL and 355 mL bottle sizes are packed and further sizes are possible.

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