Biggest investment in filling and packaging technology in the history of Unicer, Portugal

Frank Schneidermann*
Kai Jusek**

Unicer is the beverage company with the highest sales and biggest turnover in Portugal. Unicer's activities range from the production of beer through non-alcoholic beverage preparation to the processing of wine, with the major focus on beer and carbonated water. The company recently decided to center its brewing activities on one specific site. To this end the brewery in Santarém was closed and the brewery in Leça do Balio near Porto began expanding, with a total of €100 million being invested. Carlos César Morais Teixeira, Unicer's COO, has more information. "At the moment we're making one of the most important investments in Portugal which in view of the current crisis is very good for both our country and its people. We primarily decided to focus our activities on our site in Leça do Balio because it has good links to the port in Porto. As a brewery strongly geared towards exports we ship around 11,000 containers a year and are the main user at the port. Our vision for the brewery in Leça do Balio is that it will become one of the most modern and efficient in the world." The drive to modernize the plant, boost efficiency and enlarge the site included the procurement of new filling and packaging technology. Unicer thus ordered no fewer than two turnkey glass lines, one for returnable and one for non-returnable bottles, and, as replacement investments for existing lines, three fillers for glass bottles, three keg washing and racking systems and one pasteurizer. José Pinto, plant manager at Unicer, says, "We made a conscious decision to work together with just one company – and here specifically with KHS as our trusted partner. Looking back, KHS was the right choice. We're very happy about this, for this is a project which is to actively secure our future here at Unicer and one which we'll hardly be able to repeat again on such a grand scale." Joao Marcelo Guimaraes, project manager at Unicer, adds, "It took just 15 months from the planning to the commissioning of our new lines and machines. We could only keep to this tight timeline because our motivated team worked outstandingly well with KHS."  "In short, together with KHS and with the support of Carlsberg our team achieved something which was quite remarkable," says Teixeira proudly.

*Sales Portugal, KHS GmbH, Bad Kreuznach, Germany. Phone: +49 671 852 2266

**KHS representative for Portugal, Pedro de Sintra, Portugal. Phone: +351 219 248223

Number one brewer and water bottler in Portugal

Founded in 1890, in 2015 Unicer will be celebrating its 125th anniversary. "We're making big plans and already starting to organize our 125th birthday," says Teixeira.  "After all, our anniversary goes to show that as an innovative company with plenty of tradition behind it we're very successful and have enjoyed the trust of the Portuguese across three centuries." The Portuguese VIACER Group now holds a 56% share of Unicer, with the remaining 44% belonging to the Carlsberg Group. Important milestones in Unicer's history were the years 1977, 1990, 2001 and 2006. In 1977 the breweries CUFP, Copeja and Imperial, nationalized in 1972 and 1973, were merged to form Unicer or  Uniao Cervejeira E.P. In 1990 the company was privatized and in 2001 Unicer changed its strategy. The group which had primarily concentrated on the brewing and bottled water business was renamed Unicer Bebidas S.A. and diversified to include several other soft drinks companies, and also wine estates and coffee manufacturers. In 2006 Unicer decided to restructure and return to the company's core areas of expertise. This involved selling off some parts of the company. Says Teixeira, "Our renewed concentration on brewing beer and bottling water has since helped us to be very successful." 

Unicer is therefore currently number one in Portugal on both the beer and water markets, in 2013 selling about 3.8 million hectoliters of beer, around 1.7 million hectoliters of water, approximately 315,000 hectoliters of other non-alcoholic beverages and just under 6.5 million liters of wine. At the time of writing Unicer holds a 28% share of the water market; if we single out the carbonated water segment in particular, we discover that Unicer has a 53% market share with its Pedras brand alone. Unicer is big on the beer market with a share of 49%, closely followed by Centralcer at 48%. 

Per capita consumption of beer at 49 liters

Although increasingly less beer is being drunk in Portugal, despite the annual per capita consumption dropping from over 60 liters to 49 liters in the last ten years Unicer has managed to keep its yearly beer sales within Portugal up to 2.2 million hectoliters since 2006. It also currently exports two million hectoliters per annum.  

Most exports go to Angola

Unicer beers are represented throughout the whole of Portugal and especially in the region around Porto with a 85% share of the market and on the Algarve with a 56% share. The chief market outside Portugal is Angola, a former Portuguese colony to which Unicer shipped about 1.1 million hectoliters of beer in 2013. Further growth is expected here thanks to an annual increase in the per capita consumption of approximately 10%. Teixeira explains. "Mid 2000 our great success in Angola prompted us to think about opening a brewery there. Two years ago we purchased a suitable site and received the necessary approval. We'll soon be starting to build our first Unicer brewery outside Portugal here which is due for completion at the end of 2015." Another of Unicer's focus markets is Mozambique in Africa. Sales here may have been modest to date but now this rapidly growing beer market is expected to yield annual sales of 20 million liters of beer in five years' time. Another region which is attracting ever greater interest on this front is Saudi Arabia. In order to meet local market requirements Unicer only supplies the Saudis with completely alcohol-free beer at 0.0% AbV.

Represented in over 50 countries around the world

Unicer is also very active in Brazil. Teixeira tells us more. "Brazil is one of the largest and fastest growing beer markets in the world. We'd like to profit from this which is why we've especially adapted our brand beers to suit Brazilian tastes and recently started having them brewed here under license. With them we're primarily aiming to reach the Portuguese population in Brazil." The clear target in Brazil is to raise current yearly sales of 100,000 liters to 10 million liters in the three years. By way of comparison, Unicer supplies the countries of Europe with just 28 million liters of beer per annum and expects this figure to stay the same in the coming years. All told, Unicer distributes its beers to over 50 countries of the world and is especially well represented where Portuguese communities have formed. 

Super Bock the top seller

Both in Portugal and throughout the rest of the world the top seller among Unicer's brand beers is Super Bock. It's available in several different varieties, these being Original, Classic, Stout, Abadia Gourmet, Green and Alcohol Free. Unicer realizes 84% of its total beer sales with Super Bock alone, much of which is – and always has been – attributed to Super Bock Original. This established lager is very popular for its quality and excellent taste which Pinto describes as being strong, with both a malty fruitiness and decided taste of hops. To date 35 medals from the international institute for quality selection, Monde Selection, 33 of which are gold, underline that. 

Another 12% of all beer sales is notched up by the oldest brand beer on the Portuguese market: Pils Cristal. Approximately 3% of all sales is ascribed to Carlsberg's Super Premium brand, with the Cheers range, which includes a non-alcoholic beer and various flavors of mixed beer beverage, accounting for the remaining approximately 1 %.

Unicer only implements special image marketing for Super Bock, with this brand very much in evidence at diverse concerts (Super Rock) and sporting events (as sponsor to FC Porto and Sporting Clube de Portugal). "This helps Super Bock to be seen as a likeable brand with a premium character which at the same time is accessible to everybody," claims Teixeira. 

Trend for glass 0.2 and 0.25-liter bottles

People both in Portugal and outside the country like to drink Unicer brand beers in small bottles, with over 50% of all product being filled into the glass 0.2 and 0.25-liter bottle at present. This trend for small bottles isn't the only one, with ring pulls also becoming increasingly popular. Says Teixeira, "Two or three years ago we were mainly filling glass 0.33-liter bottles and closing most of them with the classic crown cork. Consumers then discovered their love of the small bottle which fits nicely into your hand, is quick to open with its ring pull and can be easily carried around. In Angola and Brazil especially, and also more and more in Portugal, we're seeing small bottles being sold in buckets of ice in bars and restaurants. We're reckoning on a further increase in the demand for glass 0.2 and 0.25-liter bottles in the future."

Investment in two turnkey lines and replacement investments in several machines for existing lines

It's therefore hardly surprising that the two new KHS turnkey glass lines for Unicer, one for returnable bottles and one for non-returnables, are primarily destined for the filling and packaging of small containers. Both fill glass 0.2 and 0.25-liter bottles at a rate of up to 60,000 bottles per hour. Both lines are designed to bottle various types of container so that they can easily cater for any future changes in consumer demand. In addition to the turnkey lines KHS also delivered two fillers and a double-deck pasteurizer to Unicer for an existing returnable glass line with a capacity of up to 88,000 0.33-liter bottles per hour, a rinser/filler monoblock for an active one-way glass line which outputs up to 50,000 0.33-liter bottles per hour and three Innokeg Till Transomat 5/1 DUOs which were incorporated into a keg line already in operation and rack up to 540 kegs per hour.

KHS deliberately chosen as "manufacturer of the best filling technology" and trusted supplier

Back to José Pinto. "Right from the start we knew that we wanted to run the entire filling and packaging technology project with one single supplier.  We also opted for KHS because we associate the KHS brand with top filling equipment and it's this which has to be totally right so that we can ensure the quality of our beer in the bottle and in the keg over a long period of time. We of course intended to invest in the most modern KHS glass bottling system on the market for our beer and thus went for the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS.  Before making our final decision, we visited several other breweries that already use this filling system and took a closer look at it. We were met by a really positive response from everyone we spoke to about it. By the way, when we now have reference visits from those interested in the machine, we're just as enthusiastic about our five Innofill Glass DRS-ZMSs." 

One of the major features of the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS is that it's been built in full accordance with the principles of hygienic design, resulting in a great number of pluses over previous systems, such as enhanced filling quality and line availability through short cleaning times and reduced costs for maintenance, power, water and cleaning agents. The Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS has an open design with curves and slopes instead of corners and crevices, allowing liquids to run off quickly. In place of the conventional front filler table a bottle transfer frame connects the stars and closure modules using a pipe construction with no flanges. These are secured with hygienic sealing systems on the exterior and equipped with servo or direct drives, making gears and couplings redundant. This in turn means reduced maintenance costs and a low consumption of energy.  The lightweight construction of the lift cylinder table and tubular ring bowl also reduces the driving forces needed. On the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS media is fed in through hygienic pantograph joints which do not present any microbiological points of contact when the height of the filler is adjusted. The filling valves are compact and easy to mount. A compact valve manifold is used which thanks to its vertical construction takes up half as much space as the classic valve manifold.

Very gentle filling with minimum oxygen pickup in the product assured

The Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS operates with fill level probes. The pressurizing process with inert gas is preceded by triple pre-evacuation and double CO2 purging. After pressurization, the liquid valve opens and conducts the product over a swirler to the inner walls of the bottle. High filling valve outputs are achieved during the fast filling phase in the uncritical, cylindrical part of the bottle. A slow filling phase takes place in the narrow bottle neck for exact fill level measurement which is initiated by a probe signal. A pulse from the probe closes the liquid valve at the precise fill level. This is followed by pre-snifting and final snifting. Pressure-controlled snifting takes place with little foam. The filling process is carried out independently of speed. The filling phase setpoints and thus the fill levels for all valves can be changed centrally even during the filling process. On the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS the swirler that forms a film on the bottle wall has been aerodynamically optimized through modification of the number and shape of its blades. This enables very gentle filling and ensures further minimized oxygen pickup in the product. 

KHS filling systems a major part of Unicer's quality concept

Pinto smiles. "I can only keep on emphasizing how happy we are with our new KHS fillers. They operate with minimum oxygen pickup and are a major part of our quality concept. They also adhere to our sustainability strategy as they help us to save a considerable amount of energy, water and cleaning media." 

Sustainability plays an important role

Guimaraes adds, "For reasons of sustainability we also chose to use the KHS Eco+ vacuum pump for pre-evacuation on all of the new glass bottlers we ordered. Compared to conventional water ring pumps it saves us almost 100% in water. As the frequency is precisely controlled on the KHS Eco+ vacuum pump it always runs at its optimum operating point and thus uses much less electricity  in comparison. As a pipe-in-pipe system is used, with beer as the coolant, we don't need any conventional cooling agents either. In my view this system from KHS has also been carefully thought out."  

Three Innokeg Till Transomat 5/1 DUOs for top keg racking results

Unicer is also extremely satisfied with the three new Innokeg Till Transomat 5/1 DUOs it ordered which wash, sterilize and rack the kegs on the brewery's kegging line. Pinto states, "We're seeing excellent cleaning action here thanks to the use of pulsed sprays. DFC [direct flow control] filling also has us convinced, as here we can control the racking speed at all times while keeping the oxygen and gas pickup in the product to an absolute minimum, as on our Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS. Here, too, we believe the setup couldn't be any better."

Overall concept convincing

Pinto and Guimaraes are just as enthused by their other KHS machines. On the non-returnable turnkey line these are an Innopal ASN depalletizer, an Innoclean EM single-channel rinser placed upstream of the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS, which can be run on either air or water, and the downstream crown corker and ring pull crowner, an Innopas PII SC double-deck pasteurizer, an Innoket SE labeler, an Innopack Kisters WSP Advanced wrap-around shrink packer and an Innopal PB1HS palletizer with robot grouping. A consistent, complete system from KHS. 

On the turnkey line for returnable containers, which has been designed so that on additional investment it can also process one-way glass bottles in the future, Unicer's KHS machines are a crowner monoblocked with an Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS, an Innopal RS3 palletizer and depalletizer, an Innopack PPZ crater and decrater, an Innopal RK sorting robot, an Innoclean KW crate washer, an Innoclean DM bottle washer and an Innopas PII SC double-deck pasteurizer.

Intelligent KHS inspection systems part of the order

Intelligent KHS inspection systems have been integrated into both turnkey lines. These include the Innocheck FMS filler management system, an Innocheck FHS fill level check, an Innocheck CCI crooked cap inspector, an Innocheck LGKI empty bottle crate inspection unit (used on the returnable turnkey line to identify various types of bottle and crate and pass them onto their relevant transfer channels) and an Innocheck VKK full bottle crate inspector (also on the returnable turnkey line). The relevant software for the various inspection systems is stored centrally in the Innocheck CUB which can be easily adapted to cater for Unicer's required individual standards. The hardware is just as flexible; should a computer module in the control unit reach its limits of performance, all that's needed is to open the CUB terminal and plug in another module, for example. 

Optimum interplay of all components on all counts

Pinto has more praise for KHS. "We're not just very pleased with the outstanding quality of each individual machine; the optimum interplay of all components is of course also extremely important.  And we have this on all counts with our new KHS plant engineering, partly thanks to what we consider to be an extremely good line layout."

Line simulation a helpful decision-maker

The interplay of all of Unicer's machinery on the turnkey lines was tested in a line simulation process prior to the company placing their order. Says Guimaraes, "We told KHS what level of line efficiency we wanted and KHS simulated the line operation for us, showing us in detail which parameters we had to keep to to achieve the required efficiency." 

Any simulation project begins by specifying the exact target. This is followed – as in the case of Unicer – by entering global data into the simulation system, such as container and pack dimensions. Following this the various sections of the machines and lines are depicted in the layout quickly and systematically with the help of an extensive database. In this way all machine models are supplied with standard operating parameters and specific characteristic values, such as their own response to disturbances. The Innosim line simulation program visualizes the course of the line according to the line design right down to the last detail.  For example, within a matter of minutes the program can simulate several days of shift operation. Innosim enables any weak points on the line to be quickly rectified; if, for instance, frequent machine stops appear to be linked with an insufficient buffer size, the amount of buffer in the system can be accordingly increased and the line resimulated under the altered conditions. Machines can also be swapped over on the simulation model. For example, if the palletizer seems to be running at permanent overload, a single-station machine can be replaced by one with two stations. 

Says Pinto, "The experts at KHS simulated our prospective line in Dortmund and we watched the results of the process online in real time in Leça do Balio. In order to get a feel for our future lines, we played around with data and facts. We had the program show us what effect different percentages of foreign bottles and crates would have on the line's behavior, for example. This gave our operators an advance impression of what effect any changes to conditions would have on the filling and packaging technology and helped prepare them to use our new lines."

Extensive KHS training provided

Another major aspect that now contributes to the high efficiency of the KHS lines is that KHS began training operators long before the new technical equipment was installed at the plant. Training courses were run both on site in Portugal as well as at various KHS factories. Unicer personnel provided plenty of help installing 'their' lines and machines and in doing so gained more detailed expertise on the new technology. 

The result? High line efficiency

Says Guimaraes, "Not least we owe it to our motivated employees that our line efficiency is even higher than KHS predicted. We were therefore able to commission both of our KHS turnkey lines with an efficiency of well over 90%. This really is a great achievement!" In addition Pinto claims, "It was also very important for us that despite replacing machines on our existing lines and launching our new turnkey lines we were still able to supply our customers and maintain our excellent service.  This was only as perfect as it was because KHS kept strictly to all given deadlines and we were able to implement everything in the timeframe we'd set ourselves, namely 15 months from planning to commissioning."

Big step towards further growth

"With a total of five filling and crowning systems, two with an additional rinser, two labelers, three packers, three palletizers, two depalletizers, three pasteurizers, one crate washer, six keg washing and racking lines, a full range of inspection technology and over 1,000 meters of conveyors, together with KHS we've carried out the biggest filling and packaging technology project in the history of Unicer thus far," exclaims Teixeira.  "With this investment we've come a lot closer to reaching our goal of generating further growth and turning Leça do Balio into a brewery which regarding its beer quality, line efficiency, service and sustainability of production is the world leader." 

Target for 2020: to double turnover

Unicer also has great plans for the future. To sum up, Teixeira tells us that "For the future we could envisage us setting up more Unicer breweries throughout the world. Our general target is to double our sales by 2020 to approximately €1,000 million."