Anniversary: 30 Years of Contikeg
Fully automated, KHS rotary keg line offers extensive advantages
"Competence in solutions": at KHS, the internationally active manufacturer of filling and packaging equipment for the beverage, food, and non-food industries, this slogan is reality. This means that great importance is attached to finding an all-round solution right across the board that focuses on turnkey plant and systems competence that is beyond compare. This technological competence is successfully mirrored among other things in the field of KHS keg plant engineering. And in this area of business, the concern is celebrating a very special anniversary this year, namely 30 years of the Contikeg. For three decades now, fully automatic rotary Contikeg machines have supplemented the range of fully automatic line equipment and semi-automatic machines for keg washing and filling. A full package of peripheral machines for turnkey keg systems is also included in the spectrum of KHS keg equipment. A Contikeg line also has a long service life, as demonstrated by the setup in operation at the Zipf brewery in Austria. It went into operation in 1983 and this year is celebrating its 25th anniversary. According to the company, it is still giving the best results at a capacity of 500 kegs per hour. Brauerei Zipf fills both 30-liter and 50-liter kegs. Contikeg series machines can now be found all over the world. In the last 30 years over 200 Contikeg lines have gone into commission, with a good proportion delivered to well-known global players such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Diageo, Kirin, and Brau und Brunnen. The advantages of investment Investing in a rotary keg line is recommended where high filling capacities are required. As opposed to using several linear keg machines arranged in parallel to one another, plant equipment that works on the continuous carousel principle permits constant keg and product flow. Other advantages of the rotary keg system are its low space requirements, less wiring, increased ease of maintenance, and a minimum of machine operators. Another big plus of the Contikeg setup is that the fully automated line uses Ethernet technologies. Communication within the system takes place almost in real time. This increases the availability of the line. Authorized machine operators can supervise processes online. Over the past 30 years the range of performance of the Contikeg has grown with the increasing demands of the customer. For example, in 1989 the Kirin brewery group commissioned the first high-performance Contikeg line with a capacity of 1,000 7-liter to 25-liter kegs per hour. Another milestone in the history of the Contikeg is the Contikeg line installed at the Scottish Courage brewery in Great Britain in 2002, which is able to process 1,000 kegs holding 100 liters an hour. As world market leader in the field of keg system technology, with the Contikeg KHS also provides top technical performance in the high-end keg segment, enabling filling capacities of up to 1,200 kegs per hour with the Contikeg series. Various sizes of keg can be processed, from the 5-liter container to the 100-liter version. Besides beer, kegs can also be filled with carbonated soft drinks, water, wine, and fruit beverages without fruit pulp. As is usual with KHS systems, over the course of time the Contikeg has undergone continuous further development in tune with the requirements of the market. Besides its high performance, the distinguishing features of the Contikeg include best filling quality, a sophisticated hygienic design concept, low wear, maximum availability, easy maintenance, long service life, and low-noise operation. In full keeping with the motto "Competence in solutions", for the Contikeg generation of keg lines KHS also provides the all-round package of expertise and service that always comes with its plant technology, with each package individually tailored to suit the customer's specific requirements.
