Case Study

Beverages – Line Upgrade

Case Study

Beverages – Line Upgrade

“Due to the chosen bottle having a more tapered neck, the audit revealed that much of the legacy equipment on the line needed to undergo modification or replacement as it was no longer appropriate for the new bottle shape”

For this alcohol brand the goal was to address packaging inconsistencies by providing a uniform bottle shape and size across all formats which would in turn reduce transport and shipping costs, and alleviate sales and marketing headaches. To achieve this the TEG Projects team were engaged.

Client Information

The beverage product manufacturing is a subsector of the food manufacturing industry. This industry produces soft drinks, fruit juices, bottled water and flavoured dairy drinks, as well as sports drinks, energy drinks, ready-to-drink teas, and bottled or canned alcoholic beverages.

Goal

This particular alcohol brand was being sold in a variety of different formats such as a 4 pack, 6 pack, 10 pack and so forth. Some bottles were manufactured and filled in the company’s Australian factories, and some in the New Zealand factories. The two countries used slightly different shape and sized bottles causing issues with sales, marketing, packaging and shipping.

The goal was to address these packaging inconsistencies by providing a uniform bottle shape and size across all formats which would in turn reduce transport and shipping costs, and alleviate sales and marketing headaches. To achieve this TEG Projects were engaged to project manage a line replacement.

Why TEG Projects

TEG Projects has managed and project engineered many initiatives for beverage manufacturers across Australasia and has become a trusted partner on complex projects across the industry. Therefore TEG Projects was the obvious choice to manage this line replacement.

Solution

In order to use one common bottle type and size, agreement was required from all stakeholders across Quality Assurance, Sales and Marketing, and Operations and Manufacturing.

After agreement had been reached on a standardised bottle, current equipment required auditing. Due to the chosen bottle having a more tapered neck, the audit revealed that much of the legacy equipment on the line needed to undergo modification or replacement as it was no longer appropriate for the new bottle shape.

Major changes included; new star wheels for the filler, new set ups for the scroll feeder, level filling vents and the capper. New change parts including star wheels and feeders for the labeler and a complete set of change parts and programming for the packaging machine to handle the new formats. The line capacity needed to remain at around 350-400 bottles /minute.

Challenges

Because the bottle was more tapered and a different shape to the previous bottles, there were unique handling issues in regards to indexing the filler and labeller.

It was also challenging to make these changes and replacements inside a working factory. Production could not be halted and so changing out parts and trialing new ones was particularly difficult and required careful planning.

The greatest pressure for project completion however was that the brand was eager to capitalise on the improvements bottle consistency would have across all functional areas of the business.

Results

By addressing the bottle inconsistencies TEG Projects were able to help improve production output, and capitalize on longer run efficiencies by being able to manufacture in both New Zealand and previous Australian formats. Reduction in shipping and transport costs were achieved, as well as a stable supply chain not solely reliant on overseas supply.

Capabilities

Beverages – Line Upgrade