Quality Meets Quality
Compelling new KHS line equipment for vodka producer Polmos in Lublin
As a part of the comprehensive modernizing measures at Polish vodka producer Polmos, a member of the Stock Spirits Group, the company invested specifically in KHS filling and packaging technology. On the one hand, it was a matter of investing in a new KHS turnkey line for filling glass bottles with vodka and vodka-based beverages and modernizing the company’s existing lines with KHS packaging technology on the other. Innovative KHS filling and packaging technology has enabled Polmos to achieve its objective of using technical systems, which, with little operator involvement, are highly efficient and at the same time are extremely flexible in operation. The new KHS turnkey line is a high-capacity filling system capable of filling 36,000 100 ml or 200-ml-glass bottles per hour. It replaces an existing system and achieves double the output capacity without taking up additional space. The KHS line is designed for maximum flexibility. Although only 100 ml and 200 ml-glass bottles are filled at the present time, this may well change in the future. And this line is able to process all kinds of different bottle shapes and sizes, including 0.5-liter bottles. A wide variety of contour bottles can also be processed in addition to regular cylindrical glass bottles. New glass bottles are delivered to Polmos loaded on pallets with inverted trays. A forklift truck transports the pallets to the pallet conveyor belt from where they are conveyed directly to the Innopal ASN new glass depalletizer. The Innopal ASN depalletizing robot operates fully automatically with level compensation. The container transfer height is infinitely variable. The pallets are accurately positioned by means of adjustable side centering units. Each layer to be depalletized is centered by a four-sided pushoff car ensuring reliable depalletizing right down to the last layer. The Innopal ASN works with an automatically adjustable head section. Since a push of a button is all that is needed to change depalletizing heads in order to process a different type of bottle, machine adjustments are completed quickly. A handling robot integrated into the concept grasps the inverted trays positioned between the individual layers of new glass bottles and the pallets, and brings them to the awaiting magazines. The glass bottles are then single-filed without pressure and examined for possible damage to the bottle mouths and flaws in the glass. ‘Bad' bottles are automatically rejected while ‘good' bottles are sent to the mechanically controlled single-channel Innoclean FR-EM rinser which rinses the bottles with the product, i.e. a vodka solution. The rinser is equipped with a container to collect the vodka solution, which is then is filtered and circulated within the rinsing system. The heart of the line is the mechanically controlled single-chamber Innofill MF-UP filling system. The filling process is broken down into the following steps: The filling valve is first opened by lifting the bottle. While the product flows into the glass bottle, the air contained in the bottle is discharged through the return air tube. The filling process ends as soon as the level of liquid reaches the lower edge of the filling tube. Central height adjustment is one of the advantages offered by this filling system. At the end of the filling process when the product contacts the filling tube, the filling valve is closed after the bottle is pulled down and the bottle mouth is pulled off from the seal. The specific effect of the vacuum is to draw any product out of the return air tube and return it to the ring bowl. The return air tube is closed pneumatically thereby preventing air from being sucked into the filler bowl. A distinct advantage of this controlled vacuum system is that no-drip filling is guaranteed and there is no loss of alcohol or flavor. The modular Innoket SE labeling machine stands for maximum flexibility in labeling the freshly filled glass bottles. Next to two cold glue labeling stations it is equipped with a tax revenue stamp application station. It applies body and back labels as well as tax revenue stamps. The machine’s modular design will enable Polmos to implement any new future labeling requirements. The labeling carousel can be flexibly equipped with labeling stations. Should Polmos opt for other labeling processes such as self-adhesive labeling for example, the only necessary investment would be in new labeling stations. When it comes to converting to new labeling stations, all that is necessary on the Innoket SE 2090 is to simply dock and undock the stations. When labeling stations are changed, all the stations can always be automatically synchronized by the software and computer. An additional mark of its flexibility is the fact that the table of the Innoket SE 2090 is designed to accommodate two more labeling stations or one more labeling station and a camera-based alignment system – one option after the other. After labeling, the 100 ml glass bottles go directly to the Innopack Kisters SP 050 B shrink packer where they are wrapped in packs of sixteen bottles each either with transparent or printed film. The Innopack Kisters SP 050 B can accommodate alternative formations if required. Reproducible adjustments using spindles and central positioning units both simplify and speed up changeover. The next station for the shrink packs is the Innopack WP 040 V wrap-around packer, which packs six shrink packs in wrap-around packaging - a number that should not at all be seen as static. Polmos currently specifies that only 200 ml glass bottles are to be wrapped in wrap-around packaging. Glass bottles of this size are forwarded via a bypass straight to the Innopack WP 040 V where they are packed in wrap-around cartons of 24 bottles each according to Polmos' current standard practice. Here too the motto is: additional formations easily doable as required. An Innopal PBL palletizer handles the task of palletizing interlocking stacks of wrap-around cartons on pallets. The result is perfect layer patterns and high overall stability of the pallet load. Polmos is just as satisfied with the KHS turnkey line as it is with its additional investment in individual KHS machines. Just recently, a new Innopal ASN new glass depalletizer and a new Innopack WP 030 B wrap around packer were also integrated into existing lines. All told, KHS turnkey plant engineering for Polmos is high-performance plant engineering at its finest. It provides high-quality filling and packaging technology for the highest quality product of one of Poland’s major vodka producers. Here too top quality meets top quality in the truest sense of the word.