The Customer
Home to over 300 brands, the customer is Europe’s largest beer manufacturer and the second largest beer company in the world. With 160 breweries based across more than 70 countries, the customer produces local, regional and international brands of specialty beers and ciders.
This production line was based in Brazil. Having previously worked with us, the customer had every confidence that Secomak could meet their demanding expectations.
The Challenge
Passing through the filler at speed, the bottles on this beer production line needed to be rinsed to ensure any overfill was removed. The rinse process is usually a basic solution, operating like a shower head and allowing water to spread across the belt and be transported around the rest of the line.
The customer had transitioned to a dry lubricated chain production line and wanted to avoid carry-over of moisture from the rinse process to the rest of the line. They wanted a combined rinse system including a powerful drying solution to capture as much water as possible.
The Solution
The Secomak PowerGuide traditionally removes water from the entire surface of the bottle. This particular model was customised to integrate a rinsing module within the body of the dryer to create a “Rinse & Dry” solution in a single, compact and fully enclosed unit, a key requirement of the project.
Running the line at 60,000 bottles p/hr, the rinse module utilises multiple nozzles in a single manifold, removing any contaminants from the surface of the bottle. The PowerGuide’s rinse module is developed for a fixed operational point, requiring no operational changes when switching between product sizes.
This immediately moves onto the drying module, where Secomak’s revolutionary DryGuide™ Technology removes all moisture across the surface of the bottle. Drying the bottle as close as possible to the filler is essential to help avoid water moving further down the line, which Secomak developed and delivered to the customer, meeting their requirements.
The PowerGuide Rinse and Dry solution was installed on 2 production lines, which are responsible for 13 different format or product changes. Different sizes of round-necked bottles are used on each line depending on production schedules, including:
- 250ml
- 330ml
- 355ml
- 600ml
- 660ml
Supplying multinational organisations around the world, Secomak has equipped brands such as ABInBev, Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, Pepsi and Magners with drying solutions for over 40 years. This expertise has driven development of the PowerGuide Drying Machine.
The Benefits
The fully enclosed “Rinse & Dry” PowerGuide prevents water from escaping, minimising moisture leakage across the rest of the customer’s dry lubricated chain production line, resulting in water being confined to a specific point in the production process. Combining rinsing and drying into a single machine ensures that only 1 location requires a power source, plumbing and ongoing maintenance. The PowerGuide’s gullwing doors aid access and its compact footprint help save on valuable floor space, allowing a shorter production line and the inherent cost savings that go with that.
Utilising revolutionary DryGuide™ Technology, the PowerGuide’s drying fixture is integrated into the guidance system, permanently fixing it into the optimum position for unrivalled performance and efficiency. The PowerGuide’s drying module boasts set positions and quick changes between bottle sizes, with no tools required, eliminating operator error and minimising disruption to the production line during product changeover.
Powered by efficient and reliable centrifugal blower technology, the PowerGuide requires minimal maintenance. Engineered using food grade components and with straightforward installation into existing production lines, the PowerGuide offers industry leading drying performance, ease-of-use and reliability combined with Secomak’s expert technical support.
The PowerGuide’s acoustic properties keeps noise levels to a minimum, ensuring the machine is safe for staff to operate.
Ask us to find out how the Secomak PowerGuide can help with your rinsing or drying application for bottles, cans or jars.
Technical Specification
