A switch to plastic at Beam

PET bottles for Beam’s spirits bring a revamped packaging line to the Frankfort, KY, plant. Unscrambler, vision inspection, and wraparound case packer are all new.

Servo-driven case packer
Servo-driven case packer

A recent switch from glass to PET on three bottle sizes at the Frankfort, KY, plant of Beam Global Spirits & Wine required three new pieces of packaging equipment.

“The project was driven by the potential for cost savings,” says corporate packaging engineer Robert Land. “Not just the cost of the bottle but the corrugated, too. The wraparound case we now use is cheaper than the case we used before because with plastic bottles there is no need for a partition insert to keep the bottles from rattling against each other and possibly breaking.”

The newly installed case packer at Beam is the Axiom from Douglas Machine.

“We looked at several options, and we saw the Douglas machine at other plants in the spirits manufacturing sector,” says Land. “We liked how flexible this machine is. We do 200-mL bottles in a 48-count case and 375-mL bottles in a 24-count case. And in the future we’ll be looking at other configurations. The servo-driven Douglas machine makes it easy to switch from one to another.”

The case packer’s servo-driven functionality is in plain view when it comes to flap folding. Flap traps and minor-flap tuckers are servo driven to control their speed and timing. Servo-driven flap traps operate consistently at all speeds to capture the case during setup, one of the most critical areas affecting efficiency. Precise control of tucker speed and timing is the best method for folding at the flap score line.

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