J. García Carrión, a privately held company with headquarters in Jumilla, Spain, offers wines, juices, chilled products, soups, and soft drinks.
The automation upgrades came as a response to increased consumer demand for its wine products, which necessitated the installation of two new PET bottle lines with related end-of-line and warehouse handling equipment.
The company’s approximately $1.6 million Phase Two end-of-line automation system was completed in February by Elettric 80 (www.elettric80.com) and includes two Condor palletizing cells that integrated seamlessly with existing technology. The cells employ model M-410iB palletizing robots from FANUC, equipped with grippers designed by Elettric 80.
The system is capable of handling the estimated 100 pallet configurations used in the facility and incorporates data-tracking capabilities, meaning that each pallet is assigned an individual product identifier. This not only guarantees the correct communication of data to various points in the facility, but it also ensures the synchronized movement of pallets to be labeled.
Pablo Puerta Vizcaino, investments and industrial director at J. García Carrión, says, “As a market leader, we always need to evaluate how technology can be used to improve operational performance. The facility at La Mancha produces 800 million units a year, and now that it is fully automated, it is one of the most efficient plants in Europe.”
