Modern technology takes on heritage beer bottles

The distinct heritage feel to Edwin Holden's Bottling Company is deceptive as it recently invested in a Kawasaki Robotics palletising robot for its processing line.

Holden's production manager Mark Hammond explains: "The investment makes sense with a fairly short return on investment. We need to remain competitive, maintain flexibility and protect staff from risks of repetitive lifting of heavy weights.

"We fill five bottle types and pack into eight different-sized cartons varying from 6kg to 13kg, so the design needed to enable flexibility and fast changeovers to handle over 30t per day."

Kawasaki Robot system integrator, PAK Automation, installed the system, which comprises an input area for the cartons of beer bottles, a Kawasaki FD-50N palletising robot and a pallet positioning area.

In operation, pallets are manually positioned into the guarded area of the robot cell and the robot puts cartons in a pre-programmed pattern. The robot positions a separator onto the top of each layer when complete. Full pallets are manually removed and the cycle repeats.

Contact: Kawasaki Robotics